An empty case. Much like mine...
An empty case. Much like mine…

Yet another IPC 2015 delaying tactic… my personal musings & Wootnessy thoughts…

So, y’all are turning on the steam and getting it done. If you haven’t gotten your IPC entries finished, you’re in the middle of the end of it.

Or maybe not.

I’ve resigned myself to the impending, looming truth that I will be paying the late fee and have therefore embraced a 2.2 week extension on the deadline. Some of you all may just want to face the fact you’re not going to make it; take the stress off, admit it now and go enjoy the rest of your day.

Aside from this entry-angst we all seem to have a subconscious desire to inflict upon ourselves repeatedly – I rather quite enjoy IPC. It’s my favorite competition.

Because it’s not so competitive.

I absolutely enjoy watching the IPC live-streaming and cheering on other makers, some friends, some unknown, that are being judged for merits and loans. It’s darned near patriotic, the feeling of satisfaction and joy I get from IPC. It’s the true spirit of competition; trying our darndest, working our hardest, cheering on our colleagues, and sometimes commiserating with them.

Yes, in the grand scheme of things – there is a settling out of strata – emerging triumphantly at the top are those who earn a Diamond Photographer of the Year title – there are multiple levels of achievement depending on the number of merits and/or loans received – and it is possible to come away disappointed…

BUT…

Everyone has the same opportunity to achieve; the number of loans, merits and medals is not restricted. And in that sense, the competition between makers loses its sharp edge.

And that pretty much makes me breathe a sigh of relief.

Because sometimes I really dislike competition.

I know. I probably shouldn’t say that. That’s a pretty hard statement coming from someone who professes to love it to a fairly extreme level.

But sometimes, it really has its days.

And generally those are the days that there is a competition with trophies. For some reason trophies bring out the absolute worst side of some competitors. And since I’m pretty active in competition, whether it be working a print crew, judging, competing, or just observing someone else’s competition – I wind up seeing a lot of bad behavior resulting from trophies. I’m kind of over trophies.

Trophies are awesome, but when the joys of competition are eclipsed by bad feelings among my competitor friends because they’ve taken competing for trophies to a personal level – *sigh* – well, that’s when it’s one of those days. And those days make me kind of dislike competition. Just a little bit.

So IPC, with its rewards in plentiful supply and the bulk of competition occurring within ourselves, is at the top end of my scale of appreciation. And it places competition back on the list of things I enjoy.

And that…brings me Wootness.

*Technically, the Grand Imaging Awards, selected later this fall from the IPC Loan Images, ARE trophies from IPC, but since voting occurs several months down the road and winners are not announced until IUSA 2016, that angst does not occur during or near IPC 2015 judging and the veil of Wootness is not pierced.

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