Beauty and Nature

Last week I got a call from Brunei Shutters concerning ‘Brunei Shutters’ photography competition. I was selected last Sunday to take part in the competition. I was asked to go to the Marine Centre at The Empire Hotel in the morning. My husband came with me as my assistant. He carried my bag, my tripod (which I did not use that day) and he helped me with changing my lens. I was free to move around and with his presence, he made it a whole lot easy for me.

I got hundreds of shots, I deleted those that I felt were not visually stimulating. I made the decisions after we were done with each activity. My main concern was that I needed the storage, and so I was willing to make the cut on the spot.

I would love to upload some of the images that I got, but unfortunately, when I signed up for this competition, one of the rules and regulations stated that photographers no longer own the copyright of all of the images that they took.

What I noticed so far, whenever Brunei (government or private sectors) holds a photography competition, that rule is always there. To be honest, I am bothered by that rule. I joined international photography competition and what I found is that the photographers still own the copyrights to their submitted images.

One thing that struck me is that, the feeling that I experience when submitting my images to the international photography competition. That feeling is safe, I feel respected, I feel valued, appreciated and in all of those feelings, the one thing that stood out the most is that I am honoured to be involved in the competition. At the back of my mind, this little voice said to me, the organiser understands that the photographers created the images, in the process of creation, the photographers put themselves out there in whatever condition to get the shots. The organiser is not only value the output (prints) but also the photographers themselves.

That feeling is totally different when I submitted my prints/images to our local photography competition. I have known and met some photographers who felt it was not worth their time and effort, especially with their lost of the copyright of their images. On top of my head, that rule implies that the organiser can do whatever they want with the submitted images without having them feeling guilty for not compensating photographers appropriately. It feels a lot like they are taking advantage of photographers.

That rule alone have a great affect on the local photography competitions, not a lot of very good photographers are willing to join the competition, resulting in less number of participants, especially from professional photographers.

The quality of the images submitted from the participants are most likely not up to standard because the level of the playing field is not extensive. Those whose are excited to join in are mostly amateur photographers with a few intermediate and a lot less of the pros.

The feeling of whole competition is just mediocre when it could be great and exceptional.

And do not get me started on the judging process. I have heard stories and they are stories only, I haven’t experience them, so that is another whole topic that I am not going to get into for now.

On a high note, I get to know the friendly people behind the scene, the crew were amazingly supportive, the whole event was really fun, I got to experience shooting something that was different. It was challenging for me and I am glad that I joined the Brunei Shutters photography competition.

p.s my mobile phone is officially dead after it got splashed by the ocean’s waves during the event. I am without mobile phone now. My husband and I also got sunburnt from the heat. My arms are badly ‘fried’ compared to my face. I know the pain will last for a while and I just have to endure it until it lasts. What I take with me are the wonderful memories and the exalting experience of that Sunday Morning.