SILVER

The nerves were running high as I waited on the judging of my prints entered in the AIPP Victorian awards... There is always an anxiety, this is where peers and colleagues (and in my case even an old Uni lecturer) judge the competence of not only the composition, but the printing and 'story' of the image. I watched as some of my images "bombed" - there's always different opinions, and what a client or even I think is perfection a third party may not see it as a stand out image. One judge explained it like this "a gold image has to be printed to perfection for tonal quality and the image itself must stay with me forever... It has to stand out."

So as I watched online to get an idea of how I was scoring I somehow happened upon all the images that were missing out on awards... It wasn't until I watched the replay of my category the following morning that I saw my image of Bailey, Miley, and Tyler judged... (I'd had to try and fit in watching the judging with chasing after my children and getting them to bed etc... So I'd missed this images being scored.)

It was 7am and I was eager to see how I did... I watched as the scores came up, and heard the comments (all of which were really constructive) ... "this print has won a silver award." - golf applause.... I beamed, my children looked at me oddly, and my heart was racing.

Now on to the national awards... The APPA's in late May. A few edits and tweaks and perfecting of some details and I go through the nervous anxiety all over again.