This will be almost verbatim from my 2014 post…

Now that you’ve printed your photograph, prior to, or even after, mounting and framing your piece, you should sign and date it.

DO NOT print an intrusive watermark or logo onto the photograph. While such things are common when distributing your prints or publishing them online, it is not a part of your photo and should not be included in a “work of art”, and make no mistake, you are submitting a work of art to this competition.

Once you sign the piece, you consider it finished and ready for public viewing.

Recto or Verso
There are two surfaces usually available to sign, the front (Recto) or the back (Verso). Traditionally most artists use Recto Signatures. This lends to easy identification of the artist. Verso Signatures are often used by artists who think that their pieces are easily identifiable and need not intrude upon the image with a signature.  It is important to note that in the 2014 editing of the competition, the chief judge had mentioned a preference for Verso Signatures, this was not mentioned in 2012 but it is food for thought.

Because this competition is time sensitive, the date of the piece is important. In the traditional arts it may well take many years to complete a piece, and that completion date is what is important. In Photography this process usually tends to be faster. The date I put on the recto surface under my signature is usually the date (month) it was printed, but I have sometimes used the Capture date when it seemed to me that that date was important.

As photography goes, here is my suggestion:
Use only photographs taken within the stipulated time period, this may be queried with the secretariat, but I think this is the safest way to approach it.  Sign and Date your piece, whether you use a Recto Signature or Verso Signature, it doesn’t matter.  On the Verso side, affix something, a card, a sticker, that may contain such details as you would like to be known about the photo; I suggest the following basic information (for your own purpose as well as for anyone looking to purchase the piece):

Photographer’s Name:
Capture Date:
Date Completed:
About the photo:

When talking about the photo, remember that you are trying to express something through your art, this should complement or augment the photograph.

Optionally, you may also include such things as location (GPS co-ordinates, village name, country, etc) as well as technical information such as the EXIF information

Every piece is unique, show us what you have to offer 🙂

Michael C. Lam works in Graphic layout for a living, one of his images gained the Bronze medal in the 2012 GVACE, he was shortlisted for the 2014 GVACE, was an exhibiting artist in the Un | Fixed Homeland curated exhibition at Aljira, New Jersey in 2016, and an exhibiting artist at the 2016 VISIONS Curated Exhibition. Some of his work can be seen on his site The Michael Lam Collection