Een mooie mailwisseling met contactpersoon LPA

Een paar dagen geleden ontving ik een e-mail van de organisatie van de Legacy Photography Awards (LPA) dat de ingestuurde foto van Merlin bij deze wedstrijd de Honorable Mention – Gold Award kreeg
en ook ontving ik eergisteren in de e-mail het certificaat en de badge die hierbij horen.
Daarna ontspon zich een mooie e-mail wisseling met de organisator van deze Awards.

De Legacy Photography Awards schrijft maandelijks een wedstrijd uit en in maart is daar voor de derde keer dit jaar aan meegedaan om mee te kunnen dingen voor de titel International Photographer of the Year.

In de e-mail van een paar dagen geleden, stond dat de foto van Merlin de waardering Honorable Mention – Gold had gekregen en eergisteren ontving ik het certificaat en de badge die hierbij horen.

Nadat ik de contactpersoon had bedankt, kregen we een leuke, maar vooral ook inspirerende mailwisseling, waarbij ik de aftrap deed.

“Dear ***,

Thank you so much for your quick reply and of course for the badges and certificate!
It means a lot to me and also for my model and her parents.

Once again I want to say that I appreciate it so much that you take so much time to write your review and my photo is not the only one you have to write a review for.
So the amount of time and effort that you put into it, is more than appreciated!

You’ll see another photo of my appearing in the April contest.

Have a wonderful weekend ahead!

With kind regards,

Tjeerd Doosje
Studio Tjeerd”

Waarop de contactpersoon reageerde:
“Aw! My sincere thanks again, Tjeerd!!

I really spend many days to write these messages which are part of the comments of my colleagues during the voting.
We think it is important that all participants receive these personalised words because you should know what we have valued in your photos.

Your kind comments make us realise that the effort is worthwhile and of course keep sending them to me at each edition!

And we are already looking forward to seeing your new work!

Have a great weekend!!!

***”

Het is mooi hoe de contactpersoon reageert op mijn e-mail en met hoeveel passie zij en de organisatie telkens weer bij de foto zo’n mooi review schrijft, maar dat dat niet alleen voor mijn foto is die ik heb ingestuurd, maar dat zij dat blijkbaar bij alle foto’s doen en dat dat dus een flink aantal dagen kost.
Dat vraag natuurlijk om een reactie van mijn kant.

“You’re most welcome, ***!

I can vividly imagine how many time it takes to write all those personal reviews.
As being a teacher and mentor myself, I write a letter that accompanies the report for my mentor students every two months or so.
It takes time to write something personal and not something general.
Students and parents appreciate that a lot and I often hear that it gave them food for thought.
But that’s “only” for around 30 people I’ve to write it down.

You on the otherhand, have this “excercise” every month and for a lot more of photos than I have students.
I’m not sure how many response and appreciation you get from the other photographers who submitted a photo or photos, because sometimes people think this kind of review is obvious, but believe me, that isn’t.
I’ve sent photos to galleries and contests all over the world, which has won me several international prizes, but only few of them gave a review like you do.
So in that sense your review is much more valuable to me as a photographer.

What I want to add is that you can easily increase the registration fee (€10-€15 would be appropriate in my humble opninion), because the review all by itself is worth the amount of money and pays for your time and efforts.
It’s truly really nice to read what you’ve seen in my photos, what attracts your eye, because I also learn from your review and the way other people see my work.

I’m already handpicking which photo I’ll send in for April.

Again: have a wonderful weekend ahead and also big compliments and thank you’s for the team for doing this kind of contests!

Tjeerd”

De contactpersoon reageert daar weer vrij snel op en legt in haar e-mail uit hoe zij en haar organisatie tegen bepaalde dingen aankijken, waaronder ook het inschrijfgeld voor de maandelijkse wedstrijden.

“I really don’t know what to say, you are so kind that you leave me speechless!! 🙂

For us feedback is essential. As you say, there are those who take it for granted and don’t give it any importance, and there are those who value it, as in your case. We receive some emails of thanks but very few as beautiful as yours.

As you also send personalised messages, you know the effort it requires but also the satisfaction when someone thanks you or knowing that your words make your students think.

Sometimes we are asked how to improve a particular photo or how to improve a whole system of work in general.

Of course, this is beyond our capabilities, although we try to help as much as possible. It is difficult to put ourselves in the shoes of another photographer through messages and indicate the points of improvement, but we can give them clues on how to make changes that may be of help to them.

We think you are absolutely right about the price and we could probably raise the fee a bit, but we keep the price low because we know that there are photographers who can’t afford to pay more. We have received messages from some participants telling us about their current situation and it saddens us to know that they have to make an effort to participate every month, so as long as it is possible, we will keep this fee because we value their effort 🙂

Thank you for the great talk, it’s a real pleasure to be able to talk to people as kind as you.

Enjoy your weekend 🙂

***“

Tussen de regels door valt op te maken dat deze organisatie en de contactpersoon in het bijzonder, het hart op de goede plaats heeft en wérkelijk kijkt naar de mens: iets dat zo weinig meer lijkt voor te komen tegenwoordig.
Zoiets raakt me als mens en als fotograaf.

“Dear ***,

Thank you so much for your reply!

It’s so nice to read that you appreciate my emails as well!

It’s a pity you don’t receive many emails like mine, because you deserve thát kind of attention and value for your work.

I can imagine you get the question to improve a particular photo.
And I can understand it as well, because as a photographer you want to continualy grow, but as you mention it: I think it’s not the right place to ask, although it’s very nice to read that you would like to help that photographer as well.
You – and your team – seem very kind people to me, with the heart on the right place; a beautiful person as a human.
And so I can understand the way you price your contest, thinking about the financial capacity of photographers. It’s also the way I price my photoshoots and when hearing the situation people are in, I can decide (and most often do) to give a huge discount on the shoot or give it for free.
In my opinion growth should never be dependent of a financial situation or in other words: money should never be the stumbling block in growing as a model (or in your case: photographer).
And we all know how hard it is nowadays financially spoken in this genre.

Your words confirms the way you deal with people: truly seeing the other person and unfortunately that doesn’t happen very often.

Thank you as well for the great talk. It is heart-warming to meet real people again who care and pay attention to others, seeing the person behind the profession.

Have a great weekend as well!

Tjeerd”

En opnieuw bevestigt de contactpersoon in haar antwoord hoe zij en haar organisatie tegen het humane aankijken.

“Good morning, Tjeerd

Thank you very much again for your comments, they really make us feel that our efforts are valued.

And we are glad to know that you share our concern for not holding back the evolution of a model or a photographer for lack of money.
Unfortunately something that shouldn’t be a barrier nowadays seems to be becoming an increasingly insurmountable obstacle.

And in fact, we do help anyone who asks us questions about how to improve a photograph. Or at least we give our point of view on how to do it.
Sometimes it’s as simple as changing a colour or lowering its saturation.
Sometimes it’s more complex and requires changes in the way of lighting. But even that can be improved with a couple of tips.
It doesn’t cost us anything and sometimes it can get a photographer out of trouble.
If the problem is deeper, if there is a lack of basic knowledge, things are more complicated and there is little we can do 🙂

It’s a pleasure to talk to you and to discover that there are more people who see photography (and in a certain way life itself) in the same way as we do.
We are always at your disposal for whatever you need.

Warm regards.

***”

En als afsluitende e-mail van deze mooie, menselijke e-mailwisseling, schrijf ik:

“Good morning, ***,

Thank you once again for your reply.

It’s so nice to read that we are on the same wavelength so to speak according the way we treat people and see where we can help with the means we have.

It’s also very nice to read that you’re trying to help other photographers from your point of view.
That is on the technical aspect of a photo and you can give tips.
I think it’s more difficult to advice on the art side of a photo, because the experience of art is different and personal for everyone.

It certainly was great to talk with you!
Thank you that I can always reach out to you whenever I need something from you!

Have a fantastic weekend, dear ***!

Warm regards,

Tjeerd”

Elke fotograaf die deze blog mocht lezen, zou er nu wel van overtuigd moeten zijn dat het een prachtige organisatie is die maandelijks een wedstrijd organiseert en dat het alleen daarom al haast een must-have is om daar aan mee te doen.
Er zit absoluut geen financieel gewin achter deze organisatie, maar de tijd en moeite die in het organiseren en becommentariëren van alle foto’s gaat zitten, is het inschrijfgeld méér dan waard.

Een aanrader dus, die Legacy Photography Awards!

Laatste berichten over de Legacy Photography Awards:
LPA March 2024: Certificaat en Badge ontvangen
Merlin (1807-2) krijgt Honorable Mention – Gold waardering
Inzending Legacy Photography Awards – March

Voor een volledig overzicht met betrekking tot de Awards, volg deze link.

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