Detroit....bummer!

[P3D Dr. George A. Themelis <fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Friends,

John B. just used an interesting Greek word, "scatology", which reminded me 
of last night's Detroit experience ;) ;) ;) , which was not very good for 
me...  For one thing, I was asked to be a judge for the night and had an 
alternate 4th judge to only judge my slides when I dialed zero for score.  
I don't think this system works well... But, I cannot complain, my 3 slides 
just did not impress the judges who found them average or below.  So, no 
awards for me last night.

The subject was "Nostalgia" and we saw a large variety of images, old cars, 
old things, old barns, old stuff in general.  In my opinion, only two 
slides tried to capture nostalgia without using ordinary old stuff.  One 
was a B&W slide of swings in a playground.  As a judge I gave this slide 
one mark above average but the final announced score of average indicates 
that another judge (there are 3 total) gave it below average.  Now, if 
every judge had given it the same score that I did, this slide would have 
won 2d place.  But, average did not mean anything last night.

The second slide was mine, based in part on Erlys' suggestion.  I took a 
picture of B&W prints from my youth.   One print of my mom holding my 
brother and me (around one year old) was at the center with some floral 
decoration completing the decor.  In my mind, this was the only effective 
true "Nostalgia" tabletop image.  The title of the slide was "I am the 
little one!"  I know for fact that every judge gave it average score.  
Considering the work and thinking that went into this image, for me it was 
not average work... but I'll take all the blame for failing to convey this 
message to the judges. 

My other two slides were old cars taken in a "car show" with my newly 
acquired Belplasca.  They carried the imaginative titles "One Old Car" and 
"Another Old Car!"  For the judges this translated to "One Average Slide" 
and "Another Average Slide!" (one was actually rated below average...) 
Obviously, I thought they were both above average, but the judges did not 
agree...  I liked the 7p images coming out of the Belplasca which work 
particularly well in projection.  I'll use it more in the future.

The slide that took first place was a nice picture of a red barn.  It 
combined good 3-d effect, good colors, visual impact, etc.

After judging, the lady who took the B&W swing image was obviously 
disappointed and mentioned to us (judges) that she spent $80 to buy and 
process two rolls of B&W film.  To that I responded that the price for the 
Belplasca used for the old car pictures, plus lots of film and processing 
reach $1,000 and I did not get any awards either!!!  So, there you have it!  
Money won't buy you awards... I wish I knew what will... (this last 
sentence is especially dedicated to Allan! -- any of the two ;))

What I find disturbing is that this was a "strong" night for me, meaning 
that I put good work and thought I had good slides.  The assignments that 
follow ("Festivals" is the next one) are very "weak" right now.  I better 
kiss the first place goodbye and concentrate on other important things in
life, like spending more time with my kids, fixing Allan's viewers (!) etc.

More on Detroit, PSA Salon, RBT S1, will follow... -- George


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