Many of us enjoy the challenge of trying to make photos that judges score highly, but we also should keep in mind some advice from famed writer Susan Sontag:
"Photographs, like any form of art and expression, are not quantifiable. One can find flaws and make suggestions for improvement up to a point. After that point, the quality of the image has more to do with how it feels to you, how it strikes your sense of meaning and beauty, how you identify with it. None of this works on a scale of 1-9."
So, why do we keep score in our competitions? Just for the fun of it. So enjoy the process, learn what you can from it, and keep plugging away at making photos that fulfill yourself first--and others secondarily.
Gerry
