Contest Season is Upon us!

The Atlanta Photojournalism contest deadline is in a few days. Usually this means it's time to start digging through everything you shot in the past year, pull out your best, stick it on a disk and drop it in the mail. This is the first major-national-photojournalism-contest of the year.

By sorting through your images in November, when January comes around (And about 5 more MAJOR photojournalism contests), it should be a snap to get your images together.

Although this year most of my images are already together. I have been going through all of my best work over and over, within the past few months, as I've been building my website and trying to market myself. Looking through my old stuff has become nostalgic.

It reminds me how much I enjoyed shooting for a newspaper. It was relaxing and I was very happy. It was really like losing a part of me. When I look back on the images that I made while I was there, it brings up memories of those good times. I don't think newspapers are the same anymore, and after talking to former colleagues the happy times at newspapers may be over (At least in the short term.)

Life right now is chaotic and stressful. I am scrounging for assignments, developing a brand for my company and marketing myself. I am starting a brand new company from almost nothing except my experience. I went from a place where it felt like everyone knew my name, to a place where I am just another bright star among trillions. I feel like I moved from one universe to another and I need to find a way to shine brighter than the rest so I'm noticed again.

My work has taken over my life in the past few weeks and even getting out the door to find time to run has been difficult.

Things are starting to slowly turn. This next week will be the second week, since I left the newspaper, that I have enough work to survive financially. I hope to see this continue. I hope to get back to some normalacy.

When next years contests roll around it may be a new experience for me. My focus in photography will probably shift away from the contests that might get me noticed by others at the newspapers. I need to find a whole new set of places to display my work to my peers and have them judge it.

Some will argue that contests mean nothing, but that is a discussion for another day. I am going to leave you with my entry to the Atlanta Contest.