Considerations and Variables Facing the Image maker and the Judges
As most of you all are aware there has been a lot of conversation and comments, as of late, about our competition critique and discussion. I think this is great and very healthy for our club. I’m delighted to see this degree of interest – over 60 prints entered in each of the last two competitions – WOW!
I know the purpose of this program is to discuss our competitions and how we score and evaluate our images. It actually goes much deeper than that. It address our whole philosophy of the what, why, where and for what we make images. I understand that just by making that statement or having the audacity to use the “p” word (philosophy), I may have some of you rolling your eyes. I hope not. I don’t want this program to be an exercise in futility. If you don’t hear what you want to hear – don’t tune it out – keep an open mind and be ready at least to consider what is presented here this evening. Some of you have heard part of what we will discuss – for others it will be new. So bear with it and keep in mind that this discussion needs your input. Remember - Judging & Judges Aren’t Fair. There is no such thing as a totally objective judge. Take from this program (as well as from a critique of your images) that which is useful and helpful to you and discard the rest.
What Do Competitions Encourage?
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Involvement.
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Desire for Ribbons? (Another notch in the old camera grip.)
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Desire for Feedback – Pro or Con?
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Affirmation or Reinforcement of your work?
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To Learn? (New ways of seeing, techniques, expression, etc…)
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Mediocrity? (Do what the Club or Judge likes.)
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Suppression or Encouragement Creativity & Originality?
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Carbon copies of what has been accepted before?
I hope items #1, #3, #4 and #5 are your reasons and not the others.
Where Do We Want To Go As A Club?
So where do we want to go as a club? There is no answer that will satisfy everyone. For one thing, we all have different goals and aspirations. For some of our member’s photography is only a now and then hobby, others are serious amateurs, others are professional photographers and some others aspire to be either professional or at least a serious amateur.
To answer this question we need to do some soul searching as well as evaluation of what we as a club want and that meets most of our needs. This is like the question – How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only One. But the light bulb has to want to change.
When I was starting out in photography, I was encouraged by several of my friends, who were full time professional photographers, to enter my images in photographic competitions. Yet, in the same breath they said that they almost never entered them. Why then was I supposed to enter?
Years later I came to understand the reason. They, the professional photographers, realized that competitions are the only exposure to outside criticism that the aspiring photographer may get. It is a chance for them to pit their work against their peers, to see how well they react to critical judgment, and see if they can take it in stride. It is a testing of the photographer as well as the merits of his work. My friends
were introducing me to failure and that it is no reason to become discouraged or quit.
I know, from various conversations I have heard, that there are some concerns with the Club’s judging and how images are being scored. When I have asked various members how they scored a particular image or why they scored it high or low, I was surprised at some of the answers… “I liked the image.” “ I felt that the photographer must have worked very hard to achieve the image. I didn’t care for it that much but I gave extra points for the effort.” “I liked the subject.” “ It was obvious that the photographer went out of his way to get the image.” DUH! Isn’t this what we’re supposed to be doing?
Effort = Learning = our Reward, it does not necessarily equal a ribbon. I don’t care what the photographer has done to achieve the image – if it’s a poor image; it’s a poor image. It either does or doesn’t comply with the intent of the Assigned category. If the judge cannot tell by looking at your image whether it meets the intent of the Assigned category or not, you shouldn’t expect it to do well. Another thing, don’t enter images from your archives that at first glance appear to meet the intent of the assignment but in fact were shot for a totally different reason. You are cheating your self and defeating the purpose of the Assigned category. By doing this you are going after ribbons not learning. If you have an image that you wish feedback on, put it in the Open category.
The comments by club members that I mentioned earlier were not good or valid reasons for awarding points. Do not award points for effort or that the image satisfies your bias, regardless of excellence of execution, compliance, creativeness or quality.
We need to give our fellow photographers their fair due – accolades as well as criticism. We’re not a competing for a Nobel Prize or an Oscar – we just want to learn and have fun doing it. The content of our competition print discussions has lapsed into the doldrums and we hear the same litany over and over, ad nausea.“We’ll basically, I like it, and there is good use of the rule of thirds. I’d like to see the horizon line a littlelower, but it’s a nice print.”“Yeah, I like it too… I like the way the diagonal pulls you into the picture. You could lower the horizon
line by cropping an inch or so off the bottom. All in all it’s a fine print.”
Stating that you like a print does little to help the printmaker. Critical and aesthetic analysis needs to happen. True examination is not occurring both in our discussions and by the judges, as is evident by what images place and how they compare to what is said in our print discussions.
It is important not to confuse good workmanship with creative ability. The task is to evaluate the print for what it is, not how it would be if you had done it.
Whether your role is photographer and printmaker or photographer and judge/critique, you should look at images as a new work of art rather than a carefully detailed reconstruction. Compromise ultimately leads to mediocrity and repetition. As the English author, Somerset Maugham said, “Only a mediocre person is always at his best.” If you are asked to judge, be willing to stretch, to be creative. You should keep in mind that we acquire, from the study of creative photographers, a greater discernment and a more differentiated ability to perceive. Louis Pasture said it, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” I think that is where most of us aspire to be.
I think if you will put aside your personal feelings about an image you are judging and score it based on the parameters on the score sheet of Mechanics, Composition, Impact, Initiative and Compliance, you may surprise yourself at the total score you end up awarding an image. I will guarantee that it will be different than if you had given it a single score. DON’T try and make your score components total to fit a redetermined score. Just score an image fairly based on the 3 or 4 components on the score sheet and let it be whatever it works out to be. This may be hard for some to work with – please try. Be fair to your fellow photographers, as you would wish them to be to you. A very important thing to remember – Do not, in any of our competitions, take any of the critique of your images personally! The critique and discussion is to help you learn and is in some cases no more than someone’s personal opinion and not the definitive word on your work. Your images may be GREAT and we just don’t see it. In a case like this the only thing you have done wrong is… You showed it to the wrong audience.
After putting together my part of this program, I gave it to someone (who will remain nameless) to read and asked what they thought. There answer was somewhat disturbing. “I don’t think they (the nebulous they) want to think about all of that. They just want to say I like it or I don’t like it and move on without any justification. The whys are not that important and they won’t want to go to the trouble to analyze why.”
Whew, Tell me it isn’t so! I thought that’s rough and not very positive. Fortunately, I know that a number of you in this club don’t feel that way; however, I cannot speak for all of you. You can’t just talk about change and learning, you’ve got to really want it and be ready to walk the walk. No one is saying it will be easy but I will guarantee you it will be worth it.
Jim Fife