[Leica] comments from one of the judges

[kididdoc at cox.net (Steve Barbour)]

thanks Brian...helpful and interesting...Steve


On May 5, 2007, at 6:26 AM, 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.
>
>
>
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