Canon just announced its Little League baseball photo contest, which it runs each year. Yet another photo contest would not normally be news, except this one looks to be impossibly easy to win, and the prizes are significant.
Past Winning Photos
Check out these photos which won the contest in previous years:
I certainly wouldn't want to put down any other photographer, but I am very surprised to see that this was the very best photo submitted to the contest in a previous year. It won first place. The colors in the photo are obviously off, the sharpness is not there, and the composition is suspect.
The second place photo from a previous year sports a dramatically tilted horizon, a poor composition, and inaccurate color.
In 2014, the competition for the contest only became a tiny bit more stiff, with a few photos that looked decent.
Again, I wouldn't dream of putting down another photographer, but after seeing the type of photos that has been winning this contest each year, I think some talented Improve Photography readers could absolutely sweep this contest for 2017.
Prizes for the Winners
It's surprising to see the quality of the winning photos from past years, considering the fact that the prizes are rather significant. Here's the booty for the winner of this year's contest:
- A trip to the Little League World Series which includes the opportunity to meet Mark Texeira, and $2,250 in spending money while you're there
- Canon Pixma TS9020 Printer
- Canon Rebel T7i
- Photo displayed at the Little League World Series Museum for a year
- $50 of baseball merchandise
Rules of the Contest
I see no mention in the contest rules about whether post-processing is allowed, if composites are allowed, if the photo can be staged, etc. Therefore, it looks to me that there are basically no holds barred.
The rules seem to only be legalese about who is eligible to enter, not using trademarks in the photo, etc.
No word on whether the person running the contest is allowed to compete in the contest against his customers. Maybe we'll leave that up to Shutter Fest.
“No word on whether the person running the contest is allowed to compete in the contest against his customers.”
Damn Jim…you throwing boulders!