SCPG: Ultimate Shooter’s League
Welcome to the Ultimate Shooter’s League! This is where you’ll find information on Southern California’s ONLY competitive photography circuit. Competition is a great way to quickly improve your photography skills while seeing how other inspired artists interpret the same challenges you participate in. It is our goal at the SoCal Photography Group to encourage creativity, innovation, and motivation to live outside the box.
As artists with unique perspectives of the world around us, recognition is earned through your ability to present visual interpretations. With a peer-based voting system, you are judged amongst colleagues for creativity, concept delivery, mastery of light, and post-production.
These contests are your sandboxes. There is no set panel of judges for this group; those who enter are those with a vote. If your images can please the wide-ranging and distinct tastes of your peers, you will be appropriately recognized and celebrated. Even if you don’t win, the experience you gain with shooting with unique purposes and goals can only help you expand your horizon. It takes time to develop your creative style and techniques, and we hope to provide all the events and opportunities to do just that.
Photographers who can consistently produce quality images will be rewarded with an assortment of prizes, such as free passes to the hugely popular Ultimate Shootouts, along with goodies and cash prizes. We hope that you find this group and it’s events to be just what you needed to get out and shoot, while making tons of new friends who are just as passionate as you are. Are you ready to take it to the next level?
Season 2: January – June 2011
The USL is now entering Season 2 of competition, which goes from January 2011 through June 2011. The opportunities to earn rank points have been expanded, and we’ve also created free opportunities to participate. Please see below for the various ways to earn points towards your ranking.
Photo Challenges
Photo challenges come in two flavors; free and premium. We have members from all over the southwest United States, and this is an easy way for us to be creative from home.
Free challenges only require each participant to take the challenge phrase or concept and present it for judging. Images can be taken anywhere, anytime, and does not have to be from official SCPG events.
Votes are gathered from those who enter, and the winner will receive points towards their ranking. If you are able to win three photo challenges (does not have to be in a row), you will receive one free pass to an Ultimate Shootout event.
Free Photo Challenge – Point Distribution
| 1st Place | 10 points |
| 2nd Place | 9 points |
| 3rd Place | 8 Points |
| 4th Place | 7 Points |
| 5th Place | 6 Points |
| 6th Place | 5 Points |
| 7th Place | 4 Points |
| 8th Place | 3 Points |
| 9th Place | 2 Points |
| 10th Place | 1 Points |
Premium challenges are those with a small entry fee to enter, with the Top 3 photographers receiving a portion of the entry fees (think poker tournaments). Premium challenges will be on a slightly higher scale along with the possibility of winning cash prizes that may be applied towards Ultimate Shootout discounts.
The prize distribution are as follows:
1st Place: 60% of total pot (after Paypal fees)
2nd Place: 20%
3rd Place: 10%
The dollar value of each prize will be announced after all entries have been received. The SCPG will retain a 10% administrative fee for premium contests.
Premium Photo Challenges – Point Distribution
| 1st Place | 15 points |
| 2nd Place | 14 points |
| 3rd Place | 13 Points |
| 4th Place | 12 Points |
| 5th Place | 11 Points |
| 6th Place | 10 Points |
| 7th Place | 9 Points |
| 8th Place | 8 Points |
| 9th Place | 7 Points |
| 10th Place | 6 Points |
Ultimate Shootouts
This is the big one! Entry into this contest is included with your ticket to the Ultimate Shootout events. There are three contests available for the Ultimate Shootouts:
- Big Shot of the Day
- Photographer of the Day
- Team Battle
Big Shot of the Day. This contest is for the single best shot of each event. Photographers may submit up to two images for voting, and are required to cast a vote for other photographers. Unlike the previous two contests, rank points are not earned from this contest, but free and discounted passes towards the next Ultimate Shootout are. Points are earned from the overall Photographer of the Day contest.
Photographer of the Day. This is a sum of votes received for both photos a photographer enters into voting. This is about overall consistency, with rank points as follows:
Photographer of the Day Point Distribution (Ultimate Shootouts)
| 1st Place | 40 points |
| 2nd Place | 35 points |
| 3rd Place | 30 Points |
| 4th Place | 28 Points |
| 5th Place | 27 Points |
| 6th Place | 26 Points |
| 7th Place | 25 Points |
| 8th Place | 24 Points |
| 9th Place | 23 Points |
| 10th Place | 22 Points |
| All Others | 15 Points |
Note: Every photographer that enters TWO images for voting receives a 10 point entry bonus!
Tie-breakers
- In the event of a tie, the prevailing image will be that which receives the most first-place votes.
- In the event that a tie has the same number of first-place votes, the image with the most second-place votes will prevail.
- Tie-breakers will only be done for the top 3 images due to the higher number of points available (especially at the Ultimate Shootouts).
Team Battle. This is just for fun since it was pretty one-sided in Season 1 
If things are more competitive, it’ll be back for Season 3. Votes are recorded and confidential, with results posted as a percentage of total votes received.
It’s a lot to digest, BUT here’s the quick and easy format:
- Look out for contests (add facebook.com/ryanllora)
- Enter images
- Vote
Prizes to be rewarded
1st place wins $400
2nd place wins $150
3rd place wins $50
Pro-Tip: The more you participate, the more chances you have to win points!
