Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/07/02

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Subject: [Leica] Re: decisive moment question on PAW: make it your project too
From: Andrew Nemeth <azn@nemeng.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 14:05:14 +1000

Alastair Firkin <firkin@ncable.net.au> wrote:

> but it means that all of you who would like to see
> a prospective mass of images representing the first 5 years of this
> "age" get out there, record, document, experiment, and SUBMIT.


Hmmm... for the benefit of potential FOM2 contributors,
allow me to share my experiences from my participation
in the project last year.

Initially I was quite enthusiastic when I found out about it
as I do a lot of everyday-life candid people photography as an
after-work hobby.  When I contacted Mr Firkin he was quite
enthusiastic in having me participate too.

So over the space of a few months I submitted over 20 images
and after a few misunderstandings (Leica shots only, only
those taken after a certain date etc.), 21 images were part
of the final selection to be submitted to the (anonymous)
judges.

I was quite hopeful that 2-4 would make the final cut of 100.
In fact, only 1 image made it.  Out of 21 submissions...

Hmmm... so I bit my lip and consoled myself with the thought
that perhaps the field of entries were so strong that my
material just wasn't good enough (which is odd actually,
considering that I make a living with my photography and
more than a few high profile www-sites - even Leica's - link
to my images).

So I went and had a look at the 100 "winners".  Gasp.  No matter
how hard I tried to look at it objectively, almost a third of the
final 100 were so substandard that it is clear the FOM judges'
idea of good (or even competent) photography and mine were
completely at odds.

From what I could figure out, judging criteria was based solely
on the following:

o  B&W trumps colour - grainy Tri-X gets extra marks

o  highest marks accrue to the person with the widest
   angle lens (surely it is no coincidence that my only
   accepted image - a 360-degree panorama - was the
   widest-angle shot submitted by anyone?)

o  don't bother to compose or frame or even
   straighten the camera - the larger and more
   random the tilt the more worthy the image

o  don't bother about timing or focus - if the "light
   is good" (whatever that means) then it doesn't matter
   that to the uninitiated the shot is just a meaningless
   blur.

o  a photograph of a person from behind (preferably
   *of* their behind) is more valuable than any shot
   from the front or side where you can see their face

o  3rd-world images, preferably of peasant children,
   will always trump anything taken in the west

o  all readily identifiable Noctilux images make
   the cut by default

Of course this is not an exhaustive list.  But it was instructive
enough for me to realise that my participation in this project
was a total waste of time.

So I smiled, shook my head and dropped out.

Hope this helps others who are maybe thinking of participating.






Andrew N.
<http://nemeng.com>


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Replies: Reply from Alastair Firkin <firkin@ncable.net.au> ([Leica] Re: decisive moment question on PAW: make it your project too)