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So we're two out of three. The first week went pretty smoothly in retrospect - little controversy and lots of beautiful photos. Week two turned into a bit of a gong show when Ian Millar was declared the winner with a shot that he had published in his own magazine - Modest Bike. That precipitated rule change number one - no published photos. Week three looked tricky from the outset. I googled the photographer Sterling had chosen as the winner and visited his Web site - bissig.ch. The site wasn't remarkable - with the exception of Martin's wicked photos - but there were some things that concerned me. The first issue was his 'customer list' prominently displayed on the left hand side of his homepage; Red Bull, Norco, Credit Suisse, some big names to be sure. The next concern was his clients gallery listing 84 gigs that presumably were done for cash money - Swiss Francs even. For 2005 it listed 36 shots in various Euro publications.
I decided not to jump to any conclusions and I emailed Martin to ask him some questions. He assured me that his main source of income is not photography - he actually works in a travel agency. For me that settled it - he complied with the rules as we had written them because his main cash source was the agency. I thought that would be the end of it - proving that even at my age one can be naive two weeks in a row.
Our bulletin boards lit up like they haven't since...well since last week actually. The educated consensus - and the mob consensus - was that Martin was a pro and that he shouldn't be allowed to compete in the contest. That wasn't correct based on the definition of pro outlined above, but looking at Martin's client list and his photos it's pretty easy to come to the conclusion that he is indeed a professional - whether he fits our definition of pro or not. You might say he is a victim of his own skill, hard work and his great eye for composition.
The only factor that wasn't debated was whether this shot was worthy. Photo ~ Martin Bissig Click image to enlarge.
After much discussion - even more than last week - we have decided to amend the rules yet again and hopefully for the last time. Looking for something ironclad I consulted a few amateur shooters I know who take really nice images. I asked them how many times they had been published and each of them could count the images they had published on one hand. My original thought was to say that if you had published 10 images you wouldn't be eligible for our little contest - at least from here on in. One of the amateurs thought this was too tight because you might get 10 shots published in one go if you sell images for a feature article.
So here it is. If you have sold more than five campaigns to print publications you are not considered an amateur in the eyes of Money Shot. Each campaign can have multiple images but if for example you sold a photo used for an ad and another used in a story in the same magazine that would count as two campaigns. One story with 5 images counts as one campaign.
Herr Bissig didn't do anything wrong (several the images he submitted had been published before - but not the winning one) but according to the rules as originally written he was eligible to enter. In fact we are beyond stoked to have his amazing images on our site. By tweaking the rules yet again we are trying to level the playing field for the weekend photogs without disqualifying aspiring pros who haven't yet had a big break. We want to make sure that Joe Shooter has a chance of winning a week and maybe taking home the Rocky Slayer 90. For his part I will send Martin an nsmb hoodie or something else to try to compensate for rough ride we've given him. Please forgive us Martin - and thanks for helping us get this sorted out!
Year one is always a challenge - but with the help of our critics the road ahead appears to be looking a little smoother. Hopefully I'm not being naive again.
The good news is that we are still getting fantastic shots submitted from all over the world. Have a look at the week four gallery here.
Congrats to Scottie Duncan - you sir are now the winner of week
Click
here to see all the images Martin Bissig posted last week. and click here
to see his Web site.
Money Shot prizes were provided by the following sponsors - thanks very much!
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For more info on the contest click here. To check out this week's prize click here.
Check the week four entries here.
