"All feedback is good feedback." That's what I remind myself when I get results like those from the Tower Circuit in Serbia.

This circuit only had three categories: Open Color, Open Monochrome, and Nature. Nature's always been an Achilles' heel, but it didn't cost anything extra to enter, so what the heck. And there were five judgings, so that's 20 chances to get a photo accepted.

They say that Thomas Edison failed a thousand times before he got his light bulb to work. Well, I'm twenty tries closer to that mark. It's becoming clear that my nature photos aren't the kind of sit-in-a-blind-in-Africa-with-an-800mm-lens-while-a-lion-humps-a-lioness photos that they're looking for.* And that's OK. I had a few lucky successes early on that gave me a false sense of possibility. So going forward I'll still enter when there's no extra cost to it, but otherwise it just doesn't seem worth my entry fee.

(*True story: I typed this example without having looked at the photos that were actually accepted in this competition. But here's that exact photo. And also here. And here too, but with cheetahs. And for good measure, kingfishers, toads, and fruit flies. Wildlife photographers love their pictures of animals fucking. I have a few, too, but human animals don't meet their definition of "nature.")

I didn't do a whole lot better in the color category. Three acceptances--two of one photo, one of another--out of twenty. But, the one accepted twice was a figurative photo accepted for the first time. And monochrome was better, with eight acceptances out of twenty, a decent ratio, including another photo accepted for the first time, and one that received an Honorable Mention.

Deep Roots (Open Monochrome PIDM): Salon Honorable Mention Misty Morning (Open Monochrome PIDM): Accepted x4 Morning Light (Open Color PIDC): Accepted x2 Classic (Open Monochrome PIDM): Accepted

Here's the full list of figurative images:

• "Deep roots," Skye, Boxcar Canyon, January 2023: accepted once, but awarded Honorable Mention
• "Misty morning," Bunny Luna, July 2019: accepted four times, and for the first time
• "Morning light," Spencer Parks, July 2016: accepted twice, for the first time
• "Classic," Invy Rose, Puyallup, October 2011: accepted once