We have six photographers for Scenic Cycle III. Because this cycle is judged anonymously, this will be the only post where we have each of the shots listed with the names of the photographers in the captions!

Their first shots will be coming this weekend, but in the meantime, here are their audition portfolio shots! Click on an image to view it in a larger size. Use your browser’s back button to come back to this page.

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We’ll be meeting our photographers tomorrow, but for today we’re going to talk about our judges, who will be graciously providing feedback to our contestants each week.

Odharnait “Ona” Greene – Previous judge, host of Scenic Cycle II and most recently Fresh Faces, failed model, Challenge Winner of 2018, poet, mom friend, and avid drunk, Ona has agreed to give loving tribute to the shots each week this cycle. Welcome back Ona!

Elessia Sedai – Fat Cat Chronicles veteran and most recently Ona’s partner in crime, as well as our Challenge Winner of 2019, Elessia started out as a community judge and is now one of our MVPs on the judging and hosting team. Welcome back, Elessia!

Ni’ko Shae – Host of Runway Cycle, and winner of Classic Cycle 11, Ni’ko is temporarily back from a nice vacation in PSO2 to give the photographers some flowery feedback and prolific puns every week. Welcome back, Ni’ko!

And introducing our newest community judge, Reese Direson – A participant in Fresh Faces Cycle 2, Reese is joining us as a judge to bring us a fresh perspective to Scenic Cycle III as well. Reese has worked on set design and fabrication out in the offline world, and we’re excited to see what advice and thoughts he will bring to the table!

Katarh Mest – Your host! ENTM veteran, and winner of Runway Cycle 1, Katarh started out as a community judge in 2014 thanks to her penchant for glamour design, and became the co-manager of ENTM with Kai Ulric in 2017. Now she manages the website, in addition to hosting cycles and judging.

Announcing ENTM’s Scenic Cycle III!

Scenic Cycle is our unique, anonymously judged landscape photography cycle. Unlike our model focused classic cycles, Scenic Cycle hides your characters behind the lens of the Gpose camera and challenges you to put your background and compositional skills to the test instead.

The deadline for photographer and judge submissions is July 24th.

The contest is scheduled to run from July 30th to September 3rd.

Photographers Needed

Scenic cycle is a smaller, more intimate challenge with no community judging, since all our shots are submitted under a veil of secrecy. The anonymous submission each week allows our judges to weigh each screenshot wholly on its own merits, without any fear of possible bias.

Scenic Cycle is open to ENTM veterans and newcomers alike. You do not have to have entered any other ENTM cycle before to participate. You do, however, have to commit to at least six new unique screenshots created for this contest during late July through August 2021. It is also strongly recommended that you be at least level 70 with access to the Shadowbringers zones, although it is not a hard requirement for the contest. (Just saying – your competitors might accidentally spoil you if you’re not careful.)

A maximum of 12 contestants will be accepted.

Each week, a shot will be shared to the public and judges will release their critiques as well. The judges will rank each shot, and a winner will be announced for that week. At the end of the cycle, all the weekly rankings will be tallied, and a winner announced. Only after the judges have voted will the name of the photographer be matched to each shot.

To audition for Scenic Cycle III: Please send Admin Katarh Mest a portfolio (via a Discord DM) with the following:

* Your character name
* Your server and data center
* Audition Screenshot:  

A Gpose screenshot that is taken while flying using the Picture Frame border.   (Not the Instant Camera frame, or any of the ornamental frames. Only Picture Frame!)   

This screenshot can be in any weather, at any time of day, in any zone where flying is allowed.   The Square Enix copyright information must be visible on your shot.  No Reshade or Gshade allowed:  the challenge of ENTM is to use only in game tools to produce a beautiful photograph.  Other than the requirement of the Picture Frame, you can also use any other effects or filters you want for this audition shot.  Send me the prettiest picture you can!

Please >>>click right here<<<< to join the ENTM Discord community if you have not done so already!

Call for Judges

In addition to our photographers, we would like to have a panel of 3-4 judges. The responsibility of the judges are to review the shots each week, rank them, and write up a brief critique sharing your thoughts on the technical and artistic composition of the photograph submission. Like our photographers, this is a six week commitment, but the way our schedule works judges usually have a full weekend to review and critique their shots! Depending on how many photographers we have, critiques may be split into groupings to avoid too much work for each judge.

To apply to be a judge, you must have at least one of the following qualifications:

• Be an “All Star” for a prior ENTM contest (3rd place or higher or a yearly challenge winner)
• Have been a judge for us before
• Be a moderator or admin for one of our Community Partners, including other members of Hydalaen International
• Have a real world qualification, such as being a professional artist, photographer, or other trained or experienced individual.

To apply to be a judge, please send a DM to Admin Katarh Mest with your character name, your server, and your qualification! New judges are always welcome to give us a fresh perspective.