Win $11,000 plus a Leica Monochrom! B&W contest.
It’s that time again but with only TWO days to go before the deadline to submit and image is here. TWO DAYS! The last time I-SHOT-IT had their B&W contest the winner walked away with $25,000 US dollars and a Leica Monochrom camera valued at $7995. The cool part was that the winner came from THIS WEBSITE because I posted about it, he acted, he entered and he won. Amazing.
I would freak out if I won $25k and a Monochrom.
What I am speaking of is a Black & White photo contest over at I-SHOT-IT.COM. They have many contests running at any given time but their B&W contest, to me, is the creme of the crop just due to the beautiful entries and the awesome prizes.
I-SHOT-IT has contests that are free to enter and some are fee based, but one thing is constant…and that is that the quality of entries is superb. If you want to enter I suggest you have a strong contender. If you do, who knows, you may get lucky and win. Of course you may not but that is all part of the fun.
So just wanted to post ad I have not posted about the contest at all this quarter and since the winner came from here last time, maybe it can happen again. Good luck to anyone who enters!
You can enter the B&W Premium contest here to be in the running for the cash and camera prize.
Steve
I’ve know of people getting calls from friends who run corporate competitions to see if they were interested in the prize, if so just enter it and they will help them win it.
I shot it is a business. Nothing against businesses, they have all the rights to make money. But when it comes to contests, the platform should be transparent such that participants understand how it works. I Shot It is a business venture which tries to make profits by charging a fee to contest participants. The fees are used to finance an advertising budget (see the ad on this side), to compensate judges (Th. Overgaard is one of them), to fund cash and camera prices awarded to contestants. Leica owns 25% of I Shot It. This explains, why the camera price is always a Leica, as I Shot IT purchases these cameras from Leica Camera AG, i.e. the camera company. Interestingly enough, except for the MM, the Leica cameras which can be won are the ones which are the slowest sellers in the marketplace. I.e. Leica wins twice, as Leica Camera AG sells its slow movers to I Shot It and eventually by participating in I Shot It profits as a 25% shareholder. This much transparency must be, imho.
Yes and see my comment above. Transparency too when there is a 2011 Leica Oskar Barnack winner and current clear relationship to Thorsten Overgaard wins the I-SHOT-IT competition judged by you-know-who! Funny how there is never an explanation about this one….
There were also some negative comments and criticism on FaceBook, and none of the staff has deigned to answer …
I can say that the judgments of these competitions leave me a little puzzled?
example:
the last competition “child” the judge wrote in his biography: “children doing what they do best – being children”
but then in addition to the winning photo, even all (all, excluding none) photos with “mark of excellence” were photos of children posing like fashion models …
for charity, nice pictures, but had nothing to do with the yardstick declared by the court.
that is, my question is, and if the place of the beautiful child there had been a bad boy? would have won anyway? it rewards the best picture or best boy?
I myself had beautiful photos of children posing, but I chose not my best photo, but where there was “a child who was a child”
if my English is not good, the blame lies with “google translator”
Looking at the results of the first competition it seems the jury has a tendency to prefer images of people. Nothing wrong with it but you may consider this for your contributions. For sure this is not the competition for the average photographer.
$20 entry fee oh I see how it works.
Thanks for the heads up. I have officially entered my first photography competition!
From the previous blog post on this site one of the comments said the following. I’m staying clear…not that I could win anyway.
Mike says:
May 20, 2013 at 9:41 am
There is one problem however with the i-shot-it. The previous winner of the b&w competition, Jan Grarup, is being actively endorsed by Thorsten Overgaard on his site. There is no mention that the winner is Grarup but the image ( protected from regular right click ) does have the copyright claiming Mr Grarup.Do we look at it as conflict of interests or plain unethical?
While Jan Grarup is an exceptional photographer worthy of the award, it feels wrong to have the main juror of the competition give it out to someone for who he is running a fundraiser on overgaard.dk
hopefully, Leica getting in will fix this problem and make the competition more transparent and WITH RULES on who cannot enter.
Cheers ya’ll.
Do not want to be asore loser. I agree. I would not wast my money again.
Wow! Though the winning photo is beautiful, this fact is sad and corrupt.
I had noticed and thought too. but I did not want to go through the usual Italian cheater and thinks that all are cheaters …
but …
Are photographers outside of the US eligible to take part?
http://i-shot-it.com/faqs.php
That should answer any questions.
sorry, just signed up and they have an FAQ after you sign up!
Part of me wants to scream, “Stop telling them about it! I won’t stand a chance of winning with so much competition!” while another says, “More! More! Pump up that prize, ’cause it’s gonna be MINE!”
So many mixed emotions. Oi. I can’t help but wonder if we’ll have to wait a month before winners are determined and announced again.
I can’t find it on the site, but does it have to be a shot from a Leica? Man, I would loooove to have a Monochrom…
Any camera is permitted – be sure to give your very best, the quality of many entries is astonishing!
Not the least a real motivation for everybody loving and promoting photography.
Cheers
Unfortunately not, there’s a well know Leica photographer, who is actually sponsored by Leica who entered this competition with one of his better known images. If you know anything about Leica, which the judges do since they use leicas, you’ll recognize this shot straight away. If it wins the whole thing is a scam, don’t get me wrong it’s a fantastic shot but surely there’s a conflict of interest here ?
Well, that would be sort of a conflict of interest, I agree. If someone is sponsored by Leica they should not be allowed to enter since Leica has in interest in the company just as I would never enter as I SHOT IT are sponsors of this site. But I can tell you that the last B&W contest was won by a reader of this site. 25k US cash and the MM. They are not scammers, this I can tell you.
Like Jan Grarup??? Head in sand?
If a photographer states on their website “Since May 2011 I have a close relation with Transcontinenta BV, importer of Leica in the Netherlands.”, has Leica links on their site then to me that’s a conflict of interest. The first picture on his website is of an Indian girl which was given a “mark of exellence” in a previous competition.
People are entering this competition in good faith but it seems to be biased and unfair, whether it’s a scam I don’t know but I would demand a refund if I had paid $20 entry fee.
People just want a level playing field and a fair chance, this isn’t right.
I can’t see any conflict there at I Shot It. The company has built up a well know reputation and high degree of awareness and quality control in the competition process. Leica Camera AG is all about reputation of the brand and I think they very carefully pick their partners. – In general all entries are anonymous to the judges. Once in a while very famous photographs are entered and everybody dealing professionally with photography knows who shot them – I don’t see a problem at all with this as long as the judges still concentrate on evaluating the content of the picture – as professionals, they do. If a photographer shoots a great picture he can be awarded more than one prize – it’s not a democratic process, it’s art.
I also think the discussion about conflict of interest is going to far there … if you think a little harder, how many conflicts of interest would you find e.g. in sports or in your own life – you couldn’t do anything. Only the very strong conflicts are a problem. More trust in the integrity of the judges and their results over time!
Btw. such an obvious manipulation would not be in the interest of Leica and the company knows that for sure.
End of story.
“The aim of I SHOT IT was to create a photo competition website where judges make a decision on the image alone, and nothing else. We didn’t want the judges to be influences by any title, description, or even the EXIF data.”
A photographer who is connected with Leica, has Leica links on their site, has been awarded a previous I Shot It prize so is known to the judges as a Leica user, then yes, this is a conflict of interest if the above quote from the I Shot It faqs is to be believed.
At the very least people entering the competition should be told that Leica connected, sponsored photographers are allowed to enter and that judges know them. that way enterents themselves can decide if they still want to enter.
Steve is being very honest showing high morals by saying he wouldn’t enter the competition because of his Leica connections, but at the moment there’s nothing in the rules preventing him from entering.
if you’re going to make a big deal that the competition is free from “influences by any title, description, or even the EXIF data.”, then there’s definitely a problem here.
I disagree, because the judges do not care if it is a Leica user or not when they look at the to be evaluated photograph.
It has nothing to do with moral standards on such a low degree of pure theoretical conflict. I think the above I Shot It quote is entirely honored by the judges when taking their decision. It is my believe that they act very professionally.
Thank you.
Matthias, from what you write, I think you live in the only place in the world where all men are good and perfect.
I do not think leica want to cheat the users.
I do not think that the site is a scam.
but the system on which it is based does not protect users “ingenuous” to be “intelligent” and “shrewd”. and you know, that where there are men, and where there is money, these characters are not lacking.
nobody forbids to a friend of a judge to agree with it to “cheat”.
many winning pictures are always posted on the last day.
surely you will tell me that a professional judge who does not compromise ever so … but you can exclude it?
then if you add to this that the staff does not care and does not respond to complaints …. then increase the doubts …
Hopefully since it’s been highlighted here, and the fact that Steve’s site is part sponsored by I Shot/Leica then maybe the concerns can be taken seriously.
These are large amounts of money and expensive camera equipment in prizes we’re talking about, some people are entering the competition with three images at $20 each. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for the I Shot team to explain the situation regarding Leica sponsored/Leica connected photographers and entrants who are known to the judges.
How many people would enter if they knew past winners were not only sponsored by Leica but personally knew the judges ?
it’s about fairness and transparency.