INTERVIEW WITH CHILD PHOTO COMPETITION
Have you ever looked at all the amazing winning images in a photography competition and thought “wow, I’d love to win that” but then you never enter your images? What's stopping you? Fear of failure? Don't know which of your images to chose from? There are so many reasons why entering competitions can be rewarding and valuable to your creative growth even if you don’t win. Validation, recognition and discipline are just a few.
One of most successful online photographic competitions at the moment is Child Photo Competition. It has grown so much in such a short space of time, from an idea in someones head to one of the worlds most recognized international competitions. It is so popular it can even help photographers to launch their careers.
We reached out to the creator of this amazing platform, because we wanted to know more. Please meet Milica Tepavac.
GA: Thank you so much for allowing us to interview you. Your competition has been such a huge influence to many of us here at Gather Academy over the last few years. We love what you do. We would like to get to know you better. Who is the person/persons behind Child Photo Competition and how did it come about?
MT: I am Milica Tepavac (“c” is pronounced like “tz” in Lenny Kravitz's last name, lol). You can find me on Instagram as: @milica.tepavacI have been a professional photographer since 2007, but have been passionately into photography since I was 7 years old I think. It’s horribly hard for me to talk about myself since I do so many different things and I guess I play many different roles, too.I am an industrial engineer by education, but I also worked as a marketing manager in big corporations for 7 years. I am 38 years old. I am a single mom to adorable boy, Jude, who is 7 years old. He was born in USA where I lived for several years.
I am a huge lover of music, dance and art, and lately I also paint a lot. I love doing graphic design and creating patterns in my free time. I read a lot, and I am greatly interested in spiritual development and energy work, psychology, neuroplasticity and hypnotherapy, social issues, geo-politics and so, so many other things. I am also addicted to learning. I am one of those people who, after I have put my child to bed, I will simultaneously be doing a course forhypnotherapy whilst watching a David Lynch Master Class about movie making and art.
I started creating CPC 8 years ago when I lived in USA, while I was pregnant. At that point, I had been working as a child and family photographer for quite some time (I also have a rich background in classic portraiture, street photography and photographing women) but I truly missed the “old school” approach to photography that I had grown up with while I was living in Europe.
I missed photo gatherings with my photography colleagues, I missed learning about photography (from the perspective of history of art and fine art) and back then, I felt truly frustrated that child photography was mostly really cheesy and kind of boring.I truly believe that child photography can be the most sophisticated form of art. I started imagining a platform that would be 100% devoted to child photography and child photographers. You should see my business plan! I still keep it as a memory. It was a collage/vision board with tons of cut outs and photographs and drawings!
My idea was to create a platform with high standards, that would attract the world’s highest quality photographs when it comes to child photography. A place where you could come, submit your work and get a real picture where you truly were in a world scene. My idea was also to do a constant promotion (via Inspiring Monday blog), free of charge so photographers can inspire each other, learn from each other while analyzing photographs and use the CPC platform to boost their social media presence.
Whilst I was brainstorming about what type of format this platform should use, I had the idea for photography contests. One of the reasons I decided on this current format is because at that point, all photography contests were a mix of all possible genres: from nudes, architecture, and portrait to landscape. I was confused and I was wondering how photographs can be judged properly if a competition had so many different categories and genres?
Maybe I was crazy back then, but I literally created demand for a contest that would be devoted 100% to artistic and high quality child photography. I was completely aware that this type of contest would be narrow and maybe too specialized, but I truly believed that the world needed this kind of photography contest. It seems I was right. Only 3 years later, B&W Child Photo Competition became one of the most popular photography contests in the world. Most importantly, CPC contests became a synonym for high-quality child photography and place where you submit to see where you are in the world. Truly the most important thing, that makes my heart so happy, is that CPC has truly discovered so many great artists, helped enormously in launching their careers or in lifting their already existing careers to a higher level.
There is something truly powerful in helping others. I achieved so much more happiness (in photography) via CPC and helping others than I ever did while I was working as a family photographer and running my photo business.
GA: Can you tell us about your photography journey?
MT: Photography has been with me literally all my life. Since I was a little child, I was in love in photography and I was spending a lot of my childhood looking at stunning black and white photographs in various magazines. I was also making my own collages from them.Later, when I was 8 years old (I think), I purchased an old Zenit from some gypsy lady and, ever since then, I have photographed like a mad person. Since I grew up in an Eastern European working-class family, in a socialist regime, my family never recognized the importance of art or my interest in art and photography. I was attending a local photo school when I was 10 years old and I kept photographing, but I simply wasn’t raised in the spirit that you can live from the art or that you can dream or do anything different than a “secure job in a government institution”, so my further education went in a completely different direction and photography continued to be my “hobby” for the next 15 years or so. In the meantime, I finished the University for Technical Science for Industrial Engineer. But, once again, the situation in my country was tough and I couldn’t find the job in that field and somehow I ended up in marketing. For 7 years, I was working as a marketing manager for big brands in my country. I was photographing every single day after I would finish a tough corporate day, and that was the best part of my day. I was living for those moments.In 2006 or 2007, Flickr was becoming truly popular and I had an account there. I managed to become quite a popular photographer there. 2007 was the first time that I started even thinking to photograph for money. So, at that time, I became the first child photographer in my country, but, I was doing it only on weekends after I finished my working week in corporate.
Later on, I moved to USA and I worked there for several years as a family photographer and when I was pregnant (like I already mentioned) I started creating CPC idea. Today, I barely ever photograph families, I accept only few clients a year. For the last few years, I am selling my fine art prints online.
GA: Which photographers inspire you and your work?
MT: Since I photograph other things, not just children, I would say that I am greatly inspired by film noir look and emotions from 80s. I am a romantic soul and I love timeless work. I don’t really create anything similar to these photographers, but I will name some that I absolutely adore!
- Sebastian Selgado –
I could look at his photographs all night and day, over and over again. It’s incredible that his documentary photographs, along with his mind-blowing composition, have that almost fashion, commercial look. I feel a lot of emotions in his work. In fact, they are overwhelming. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that this man has seen in his life. I am glad he found the way to heal himself after everything he was witnessing. I understand he got tired from people and their evil, greedy side. That’s why his private project of planting the trees and book Genesis makes me speechless. What a man and photographer!
- Helmut Newton – Maybe it’s not appropriate to mention this name since I am into child photography, but there is a big reason why I will do it. Helmut is an incredible example what we can create and how powerfully we can play with our subconscious mind and subconscious of the viewer. Even if we (like Helmut often did) set up our camera on Auto mode! His thing was to find a great model (something we should all pay attention to in portrait photography) and create the scenes that will stay forever in our mind. And often, we don’t have to do anything special, just be alert and capture our perfect model. When you think more about all this, often the most memorable photographs have just one WOW thing: it’s either model, or contrast and lightening, or decisive moment…Helmut’s thing was human sexuality and he knew what he is doing. I truly admire him for that.
- Richard Avedon –
He is someone who inspired me greatly. He showed me that is absolutely possible to do both commercial and private work. He also showed me that you can mix and match things that no one did before. He was truly incredible at mixing social and documentary photography with high fashion and celebrities. He would add some drama and raw life where there is too much glitter and he would add some imagination, spark and glitter where it is too rough. Just WOW.
- Joseph Kudelka – I could watch his work 24h a day. So much poetry and beauty in rough, social surroundings. But the story doesn’t end here…then you notice how he perfectly frames everything in magnificent composition, the way he implements patterns, his perspectives, subjects he finds interesting…Genius!
- Elliott Erwitt – His humour and love towards life is something that melts my heart every time I look at his work.
- Vivian Maier – The lady herself is one of the biggest mysteries in photography world. I remember very well when she was discovered in 2010 and when everyone started talking about her. I was crazy lucky to live in Chicago in January 2011 to see her exhibition! What a moment in my life! What can I say about her? I guess everyone should see a movie about her “Finding Vivian Maier” and analyse her portfolio. Mind-blowing! I still cannot believe how much she was photographing. Tonnes and tonnes of photographs and so many of them are pure masterpieces!
- Henri Cartier-Bresson – Decisive Moment was his Trademark so he is known as The God of Decisive Moment. Enough said All the love for his work!
- Sally Mann – This woman is a brave and sensitive, artistic soul. Can you be more old school, raw and honesty than Sally?
I could go on and on…not to mention so many AMAZING photographers on CPC Contests whose work I am following with great interest!
GA: Do you have any advice for someone starting out on their photographic journey?
MT: Kind of. To me, it doesn’t matter if it is photography, your love life, parenting or private life…the advice would be the same:
1. Get to know yourself and who you truly are.
2. See where you are currently and which cards you have got to play with (don’t moan and complain. It is what it is. There is a reason for it.)
3. Set a plan - where do you want to be? (literally practice dreaming about big things) and once you feel comfortable in your own skin, start creating magic from that place. But try to find that sweet spot where you feel peace, not anxiety. This is truly important, because when you are in a state of anxiety and fear, you usually create more chaos, pain and illness instead of the life of your dreams.
We all have a different life journey. Some of us find their soul mate in high school and live happily ever after until the end of life and some of us need to kiss a lot of frogs in order to find a prince, if ever! Some people get born in rich and secure families and countries and have easy access to knowledge, prosperity, and life chances. Some other people need to survive several wars just to stay alive and then deal with PTSD before they can even start thinking about creating their own business or living any form of normal life.
You get the idea…What I am trying to say, is be honest with yourself, see where you are, where you want to be and create YOUR OWN thing, your own life, your own work without comparing, copying or pasting. Be honest. Find yourself, find your style, find your joy of creating. Later on, you can decide if you want to do it as a profession or not, and in which form.
GA: What three things would you tell a photographer who is trying to turn their passion into a business?
MT: I guess we can apply the same answer. But I would add that even if you have a crazy talent for photography, even if you adore photography, it doesn’t always mean it should be your business. Sometimes it can be the love of your life and some source of income, but maybe not a business.
GA: Typically how many judges are there on the CPC panel? And what are they looking for in a winning image?
MT: Normally, we have two regular judges on CPC Portrait Awards and sometimes guest judges. When it comes to B&W Child, we usually have 3-4 judges.
Very quickly, I realized it’s a horrible idea to have too many judges. It might sound awesome and “serious” to have a big judging panel, but what I realized along the way is that not every great photographer is a good judge. In fact, most great photographers simply don’t have that special thing that makes a great photography judge in the same time. So, if you have too many judges with “big names” and less big names, results can be chaotic and probably not objective or “copy paste” from other contests. It can happen that some average photographs stand out because they are “safe” and likeable, but some true master pieces can be unnoticed. I see this is often happening in various contests in the world.
This is exactly what I wanted to avoid when I created CPC. I realized, if I wanted to keep this contest a high-quality and objective one, at the same time truly open to discovering new talents, the judging process in the first round must be “blind” and the judges have to be people with incredible artistic touch, ideally with a great education in history of art, and lastly, but not least they must be BRAVE so they can pick their favourites that might be easily unnoticed in many other contests or by the rest of the judging panel. I also love when judges have their own, unique style. Of course, their pick is never random. They know what they are doing, trust me! I have learned so much from them in the last 6 years (watching how and why Raquel Chiceri or Marko Nad are choosing their favourites is one of the best learning experiences I have had). I’ve learned how to spot great photographs and talent very quickly. I’ve learned how to analyse photographs down to their tiny little details and so much more. Absolutely amazing experience! And plus, it is kind of crazy when you look at hundreds and hundreds of photographs every single day for 6 years (until a few months ago, I was the one who was picking the photographs for Inspiring Monday blog).
GA: What would be the best advice you would give to someone entering your competition?
MT: Photography competitions and CPC especially require from a photographer to think quite differently, especially if the photographer is used to working with clients (family and portraits sessions).
When we work for clients, we get in the mood of producing photographs that will please our clients for sure and we spend a lot of time on “business side” of photography, instead of creating art. We often get lost, because we start producing “the same look” photographs, something that will sell and get a lot of likes on social media. I don’t even want to mention how many copy-paste photographs we can see nowadays. Did you notice how many amazing and talented photographers lose themselves once they start working family sessions and weddings? It’s almost like we are selling our soul to the devil.
I would suggest to all photographers that are entering our contests to think outside of the box (but not to overthink), to take their time and produce photographs that they will adore. Those photographs should be honest as much as possible and the result of “connection” with something higher than ourselves and material plane where we spend all of our time. Call it connection, call it flow…but those photographs really should be your intimate side, your honest side, a project where you are experimenting, exploring your limits, finding yourself. I guess that process of creating is similar to a musician that is in a flow while perfectly playing his instrument with closed eyes and enjoying himself without being bothered how many likes and applauses he will get. He is in tune and creates magic. That’s something no one is immune to. Especially not the judges on CPC. That’s what art is. It’s a form of trans probably. Certainly, a very special place where we can go with our mind and our emotions. When our judges see “that special photograph” with an incredible decisive moment, or a photograph with mind-blowing composition, incredible story or a powerful emotion, be sure it will be noticed and most probably highly awarded. That’s why so manypeople REMEMBER our winners and finalists.
Photography competitions should be (in my opinion) seen as a place where you can rest your soul and send the work you’ve been truly enjoying creating. I really think that as a society we need more art, more honesty, humanity and uniqueness. Instead of looking what someone else is doing, comparing or copying someone, or blindly following trends, just be you! Connect with your inner self and show us what you’ve created while you were enjoying yourself.
While Instagram is requiring from you to post every day so you can be in thealgorithm game, we encourage you to take your time (but photograph as much as possible) and send us the photographs where you felt that incredible “that’s it” excitement while you were creating it. Sometimes, depending on who enters the contest, we have a category winner with a “lucky shot”, but we get goosebumps and we go crazy happy when we have aphotographer who enters with 5-10 photographs and they are all magical and unique.
GA: Is there anything on the horizon for CPC that you would like to share with us?
MT: We are finally changing the look of our website! Believe it or not. :)
