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What joy is had, or what at all is achieved by submitting very clearly off-topic photographs in an online photo contest?
With the little bit of downtime I have over Christmas (which sadly isn’t much) I have spent a little time looking at some online photography communities that I am part of.
What I don’t really understand though is why so many blatantly off-topic photographs end up being submitted to contests with a clearly defined topic. To what end? What is the point in submitting an image that is clearly so far off-topic?
For instance, I wouldn’t submit the photo above to a contests where the topic was portraits? Doesn’t matter how enticing the prize is, isn’t it common sense that you’re not going to get anywhere with an off topic photo?
Is it just an attempt to get more views in the time before it is removed by moderators? I personally don’t click through to view an off-topic image in a contest gallery, unless maybe it is a spectacular image in it’s own right and even then I’d be hesitant to “support” the off-topic image by giving them views if that’s the goal.
I guess I’m just here today to complain because I was looking through the submissions gallery of a contest I was thinking of entering and in the first 30 or so photographs, about 8 or so were completely off-topic. Almost…
