P3D Judging - Part 2

["Andrea & Scott Blair" <asblair@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>>>Gabriel Jacob:In any case, try this link 

http://www.hyperzine.com/features.html#Articles

and scroll down to "You be the Judge" title.<<<<

Thanks for the info Gabriel. I got through on this link and I look 
forward to reading the other articles. The one you referenced is a very 
good article with many valid points.

I can certainly sympathize with the person whose image was incorrectly 
analyzed by the judge. (For those who haven't read the article, the 
person was accused of entering a "sandwich" and scored low. The image 
was not a sandwich at all.) This is another area of judging that irks me 
(and I judge!). It is not the job of the judge to guess at how the image 
was made. You are there to judge the image for what it is in front of 
you. I was in the running for a very prestigious award with an image 
that scored consistently higher than the other 4 images considered. All 
of the sudden the score plummeted! I later asked the 3 judges why the 
sudden change. One judge said they were responsible for the low score. 
They just could not in good conscience give it another high score, thus 
giving it the award. The image was of a praying mantis in a striking 
pose and this particular judge had recently listened to another 
photographer go on and on about the best way to photograph insects for 
that "perfect picture" was by gassing the poor creatures. It had 
horrified this person. No wonder they hesitated. BUT they didn't know 
what to say when I explained that I never gas, chill, freeze, or 
otherwise harm my photographic subjects intentionally. AND the image was 
also made with one SLR on a slide bar, making it an even harder shot to 
get.

In response to people who act like this, I usually ask them "Well, when 
a nude shot comes up on the screen do you contimplate whether the model 
was intimidated, raped or sexually abused at any time?" I can't. Unless 
the photographer tells me, I have no idea what went on to get a 
particular image, no matter what the subject is.

My point is, I strongly feel that the first rule in judging is not to 
score on how you *think* the image was made. Things are not always what 
they seem. Judge the image on the technical and asthetic qualities that 
are there, not what *might* have been done.

Andrea Blair
asblair@xxxxxxxxxxx

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com


------------------------------