[Leica] Re: comments from one of the judges

[montoid at earthlink.net (Montie)]

Judging by the comments this month I'm starting to think that several of us
are beginning to take this photo contest
a tad too serious.  How can we?  This is a Leica and just about everything
else photographic list.  There are probably
more visual communication genres exercised, discussed, and displayed here by
people from every conceivable imaging
background than anywhere else I can think of at the moment.  If Walt, a
career photojournalist, looks at some Fine Art
images and feels they are "Heavy on graphics and generally light on content"
is anyone surprised?  After all, there is no
"defining moment" ...different genre altogether.  Others with different
experiences may interpret those same images as
having powerful themes with rich content...so what?  Should we care?

Years back, when not flailing around on a flight deck, or on an extended
combat camera assignment, I taught photo courses
for many years (earning extra geeters as a contract instructor for Central
Texas College and City Colleges of Chicago AS in
Photography Programs) When my students would get into it  I.e. "how'd this
guy win a Pulitzer when this guy's work is clearly
superior"...etc etc, I would explain the age old adage that photography is a
language of the senses and that viewing it, to a
large degree, depends for effect on the psychology, culture, and experience
of the viewer, which may be quite different from
those of other viewers or of the photographer himself.  It would then get
quiet, and I could go out for a ciggy :-)  The point...
sure, sometimes there's a clear winner, but when several strong entries are
in the running, the inadvertent subjectivity of the
judges will usually prevail...or point #2...maybe the best photograph
doesn't always win...because there isn't one  ;-)

My understanding as to the original purpose of the LUG contest was to induce
more Luggers to get out there and shoot and
have some fun with a little competition.  To that end IMO it's a success and
will only get better if we keep the ego factor low
and the FUN factor high.  Can the guide lines improve?  Sure!  Will everyone
be happy?  Of course not.  I have just one
suggestion:  Brian has conveniently built a suggestion feature into the
contest website, let's use it.  Judges should briefly describe
why they felt the images they selected were good.

A final word on my very unpopular winner this month.  I did screw up the
title...my orig idea was "In memory of those who have
fallen"  but I hate long titles. "Kristy Prep" was my fav for the month
also.  It was posted early in the month and I remember
telling my better half that I felt it would be a winner.

Montie


>Walt wrote:

>It seems many of our winners fit into the same category on a monthly
basis. Heavy on graphics and generally light on content. I'd prefer to
see judging based upon capturing those moments Leicas were made for.
/*Kristy Prep, */I think is an excellent example and would have put it
as #1. Although agreeing with the judge who thinks it's the best I can't
go along with his/her criticism. Dead space is something one deals with
with filling newspapers with images. What it generally means is we need
more space for ads, let's crop the hell out of everything. Sometimes, I
think, the eye needs a place to rest on an image. /*Kristy*/ can be
cropped but it loses an overall balance. Make it tight enough and the
hands seem to emerge from some dark place in a not too comfortable
manner. Ofter talking too much about an image does seem to detract. When
we can simply look and absorb. Unlike our judge, the hands don't MAKE it
for me. It is Kristy's acquiescences to the routine I find  has me
involved.

/*Hot Lips*/, on the other hand could sure use a bit of tightening up.
Nice image, great expression, but too loose. Steve's other image,/*White
Crosses*/, should have been a winner. Content, which fits the contest
criteria. Not that a monthly category should be limiting, but sometimes
a category does add a bit of discipline.

Mad's  /*Aros*/. to me, is more interesting than what placed first.
Graphic, mysterious and intriguing. Neal's /*Boom*,/ has great timing
and color. Degree of difficulty on that shot should count for something.
William's /*Colameter */and Neal's /*Barnflag */jumped out at me as well.

One other thing. Steve's self-portrait with the red hat. how the heck
did he do that?

Walt

Brian Reid wrote:
> I was pleased to see that 81 images had been submitted in April, the
> highest number ever. However, I found the overall quality of the
> images in the April contest below the level of previous months. In
> going through the images, I could only award one or two stars to most
> images, with just a few getting 3 stars. In contrast, in previous
> months I have often given out 4 or 5 stars to the images I liked best.
>
> I think that the theme "red" was interpreted too literally by many
> contestants. As a result, there are many mediocre images that I think
> were entered only because there was something red in them. I would
> encourage people to interpret the theme more broadly in the future,
> especially since Brian has instructed the judges to simply rate the
> images on their photographic merits and not on how closely they follow
> the theme.
>
> On the positive side: the images that appear among the winners and
> honorable mentions were also my favorites, so I guess I was in synch
> with the other judges (and I do not know who they are). The winning
> image is a beautiful abstract, well lit and well composed, although
> the title seems a bit out of place, given the connotations of the
> phrase. I also gave 3 stars to "Hot Lips"--just a fun portrait, well
> photographed.
>
> My overall favorite image of the contest, though, was the third-place
> image, "Kristy Prep". I like the light, the way the woman's face
> stands out, and one can interpret the image on many levels: is she an
> object being prepared for exhibition? The hands applying the make-up
> greatly add to the image, indeed they MAKE the image, for me at least.
> Personally, I would crop the image a bit tighter; there is a lot of
> dead space on the top and left sides of the image which detracts from
> the composition.