Like most here I rarely put images into comps',but many friends have recently prompted me to put a few images in a couple of comps lately,and I ended up doing well.A major event in local area has a photo comp,and locals asked me to put some of my bird images in,a professional photographer comes up from Brisbane and puts lots of entries in and wins all the advanced sections,except advanced nature-this years entries I put won first and second,so its three years in a row,I really did not think I stood a chance this year-as only got images printed a few days before event.
Anyhow,as a result of all these wins and editorials lately,I have people seeking me out for paid tutorials in the field,so maybe all that hard work in years gone by has finally had a great result.