P3D Re: Competitions

[Bruce Springsteen <bsspringsteen@xxxxxxxxx>]

I said:
> >For me, an important distinction is the difference between
competition
> >and exhibition.

And George T replied:
> Problem is, some exhibitions accept images based on a judging which
> is essentially a competition.

Yeah, I anticipated that response. ,-)  But there's a difference, to
me a subtle but important one, between the idea of competing against a
standard of excellence to be one in a group of the best (think Who's
Who or the faculty at a great university) and a competition that boils
down to one-one-one artistic comparisons with the goal of declaring
winners, ordinal scores, favorites of all, etc (think dog shows, the
Olympics, professional wrestling). 

> Anytime you ask anyone for their opinion about one of your images,
> you get back an arbitrary/subjective reply.  That's life.  To go a bit
> further, there are critics that judge and give ratings to anything
> from movies to food.  Is this something fundamentally wrong?

Not wrong at all.  It just doesn't follow that those arbitrary
judgments can or should support a detailed elimination of individual
shots held side by side, at least not in an endeavor of taste.  (The
Pillsbury Bake-Off notwithstanding. :-) )  I get no particular thrill
in knowing that my cute monochrome "Baby Drool" beat out some other
guy's full color "Dirty Didey" in the My Little Snookums category.  A
well-considered compliment from Dr T or another stereo sage whose
opinion I value, along with inclusion with 20 or so views deemed in
the same league, is all the ego thrill I can stand.  I know this
sounds wimpy and PC to the hard-core competitors, but John Saddy could
confirm that I have a quite fierce competitive side -
Auction/Testosterone Syndrome is proven in me.  But that's another
kind of arena. 
 
> I know Bruce that you just joined the Gamma folio of the Stereoscopic 
> Society. I also know that you sent in your first voting card.  You
did 
> not seem to have trouble picking out three favorite images from a 
> total of 20 diverse images.  At least you did not indicate anything 
> to the Secretary and decided to "play the game".  I am glad you did!

Thanks George, and regards to the Secretary!  Actually, I mentioned in
a personal e-mail to the Secretary how much trouble I have being
critical of others' artistic efforts - I tend to see things I like all
over the place. The three I chose were this judges' "acceptances", but
the win/place/show rankings were a coin toss - I can't slice my
Bologna *that* thin! ;-)  And I was second-guessing myself right up
until the mailbox chute closed!

Inclusively yours,
Bruce (Sore Loser?) Springsteen  
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