P3D On the judging thread...

[Themelis Cosmas <cosmas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Since my last message (6 hours ago) we have been eating!!!
I am taking a break now to digest :-) and also write a few
thoughts on the judging thread...

Most of us are amateur stereo photographers.  We take pictures
mostly for our own pleasure and not for profit.

The local stereo club competitions and the PSA exhibition system,
in my mind, offer a way to present our work to our peers and get
some satisfaction from the appreciation of this work and also be
motivated to improve.

Some people say that they do not need this structure to be
motivated... Others see this system restricting their creativity.
For me, the system has worked.  I went through the phase of taking
pictures for myself and my closest friends and relatives. Vacation
snapshots, family pictures, etc.  Now I am trying to take pictures
(create images, if you like) that are both pleasing to myself and
also find a wider appeal among my peers.

Enter the issue of judging... personal preferences, etc.

Derek Gee writes:

"A judge is not supposed to consider personal preference when
judging - period.  If I don't happen to like flower pictures or kid
pictures, then is it OK that I downgrade them just because they
don't appeal to my personal preferences?  Of course not.  It's fair to
judge on stereo effect, composition, lighting, etc.  Please
leave your personal preferences at the door when you enter the
judging room."

Something is wrong with this... If a judge does not take personal
preferences into account, then what does he/she take into account?
Why does he/she give a 7 to one image and a 5 to another?  Stereo
effect, composition, lighting... Is that all?  But these are more
or less objective qualities.  We don't need 3 judges then... Life
would be much simpler and really a computer could eventually do
the selections.

What Derek means by "personal preferences" are stong likes and
dislikes based on subject matter only.  Yes, it is usually not
fair to let very narrow and strong likes/dislikes on subject
matter to influence judging and blind us on other qualities of
the image being judged... but other than that, each judge sees
different qualities/appleal in different images and he or she
cast his/her vote accordingly.

Derek Gee mentioned some training for judges and Mark Dottle
expressed the opinion that most people can be judges and it would
be fair to just about any stereo photographer as a judge.  I tend
to agree with Mark... APPEAL is what the game is all about...
A stereo image that appeals to the judges... and almost anyone
can be a judge... Boris brought more elements to the image...
Artistry, creativity, message, meet a challenge... Yes, but you
you can find many creative and challenging images that are not
appealing.  And many snapshots (clearly a creation of the instant,
not much thought but lots of luck - BTW, this is my kind of
photography) that are very appealing... they have something that
attracts the viewer who wants to see them and enjoy them again and
again.

This appeal I believe tends to be recognized by the majority of
the people, but of course there are variations and exceptions as
always... So, anyone could be (and should be) a juge... Is there
such a thing as judging training?

IMO, the most important characteristic of a judge must be
*consistency*... i.e. the ablity to score an image the same way,
no matter at which point in the judging process it is seen.
Sounds simple but in practice some people have problem with
this...  I have seen judgings where the scores very clearly are
drifting towards lower or higher numbers as the judging
progresses.  This is the only problem, IMO. and the only area
where experience and training can help.

Back to the original issue:  Should we support this structure?
(competitions, judging, etc.)  By all means, I say YES!  Exhibit
your work.  Share your work.  Improve your work.  Don't work in
isolation.  Let your work be seen and be judged.  Be inspired by
the work of others and let your work be an inspiration for others.
Learn how to judge others and yourself.

That's it for the time being...  I hear more food is coming to
the table... Got to go!!!

George Themelis from Athens-Greece...
the place for good food and stereo opportunities!



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