Results: March 2012 Competition

[Colin Southern]

Hi Folks,

The votes have been counted, and we have our winners ...

In first place - on 51 points we have Rene with ...



In second place - on 33 points we have Jeff with ...



In third place - on 21 points we have "Wheels" with ...



Congrats to our winners - April comp starting shortly.

[dje]

Congratulations to Rene, Jeff and "Wheels". All lovely images.

Dave

[Swallow]

Congratulations to the three winners - all lovely shots.
Sarah

[gilliebg]

Congratulations to the winners; all inspiring photographs. If someone could point out to me how to vote in a monthly competition, I will join in next time. I searched the competition, searched for a 'voting now' notification, but drew a blank

[Arlen]

Very nicely done. Kudos to the three winners. I enjoyed looking at many of the other entries for the month, too.

[Bobobird]

Great shots and deserving winners. Congrats to all.

[Thomas J]

I am absolutely flabergasted. These pictures are nice and all, but that's just it, they're "nice". There is in my opinion nothing special about these winning shots. Where is "Going Nowhere" by JennyUtt? Now THAT was a great motif, a wonderful crop and composition. None of these are on that level. The best one out of the three is at third place, even.

I'm sorry for being blunt and I do recognize that this is a casual forum for hobbyist, but as an art critic I feel a responsibility to point out the elephant in the room, and that is that there unquestionably is bias here. I guess the target audience for this website was always more towards landscape photographers, so it's my fault for expecting more objectivity/ versatility from the users. I should point it out before I head out the door, at least.

Good luck.

[JohnnyG]

Not having been on this forum for very long, I do not feel as if I can speak for a majority or minority group but I can and will speak for myself. I've perused each image in this competition with a farily deliberate eye and while I won't say I would necessarily have voted any of these as #1, 2 or 3, each has a "winning" quality embedded in its composition, exposure and presentation. Frankly, and yes it is another landscape; I liked Colin's shot hands down over the rest, though I did find at least one of the three top ones in my top five as I narrowed down my vote.

I did not enter but did exercize my "right" to vote. I was not influenced by genre, format, name or nationality; I was, instead, influenced by quality. It is indeed an interesting concept; voting because you can. I must say, that while your entry was "interesting, it left me a bit flat. The B&W conversion lacked pop and the use of selective colorization on the nosepiece, while clever, is one of those techniques which done well can be quite interesting but when done badly or simply for a generalized "shock value," can appear to be a bit sophomoric. Perhaps I am not sophisticated enough to understand the "message" or "meaning" of the piece, but I suspect there were at least 35 or forty just like me who also missed the point.

No matter the reason for not being in the winner's circle, to suggest collusion, or selectivity as a reason is a bit on the childish side, even for a self-proclaimed art critic; really, don't you think? Just my good penny's worth.

[Colin Southern]

@ Tom & Johnny,

Thanks for your comments. I've been running these comps for a while now, and it IS an interesting dynamic to observe. Because I work on image numbers rather than names, usually I don't have any idea as to what the winning images actually look like until I compose the announcement post -- sometimes my personal reaction is "yep - thought so" whilst at other times it can be "wow - didn't see that coming".

Regardless of my own opinions though, we've always left the actual judging criteria up to the individual voters (I hate rules). I'm sure that everyone probably picks their favourite based on something different to the person before them and the person after them. Some will vote for an image because they want to encourage that person - some won't vote for an image they like because they don't like the person - some will vote for an image they like even though technically the image may have a number of "issues" to the trained eye - whereas others (like me) judge an image on what I feel it's commercial potential is (ie "if I printed all these out on canvas - BIG - which ones would the general public buy if they were all for sale and on display at the same time & place").

If we were to take voting away from the membership and have the winners decided by a "panel of experts" then I suspect that we probably would have a different result about 1/2 the time - but I don't think we'd have the same sense of involvement in the competition from the membership. And I might add that I don't think the results would necessarily have any more "authenticity" (for want of a better word).

As a regular entrant - and as one who'd won more than my fair share (it's true - I just rig the voting!) (just kidding ) - all I can say is "if you want to win then you just have to present an image that folks like more than any other image" - and yes, that probably means creating an image that has less commercial appeal than another type of image. Personally, that's not a path I can be bothered travelling down; I just enter the best image I've created over the past month - sometimes it's a portrait (which never ever rate in the monthly comp) - sometimes it's a landscape that folks like (as in some previous months) - and sometimes it's a landscape that not many seem to like (as in the comp in question), but by the end of the week it'll probably be on a 1.6m wide canvas - hanging on a lady's wall (she's just confirming she still has authority to buy it) - and I'll have $600 in my pocket (but no "comp gold ribbon").

Them the ways of the real world

Where is "Going Nowhere" by JennyUtt?

Very good question. I've just had a look - I see that Jenny has chosen to have it hosted using TinyPic; unfortunately - great service as TinyPic offer - they do seem to "lose" the occasional image. I'm really not sure if it's just one of those technical glitches, or if someone at TinyPic deletes them for a reason -- either way, it's totally beyond CiC's control. All I can suggest is either hosting images with a more reliable provider. The artist is of course welcome to pop the image into the April comp too if that helps.

[Markvetnz]

I've been absent from the forum for a while. Before I comment, I will state that I didn't vote for this competition and as such I am in no position now to make any sort of comment about the photos themselves. However, I have a fairly acute BS meter and when I read the absolute drivel in Thomas J's post it makes me want to throw up. Please enlighten us all, what exactly is an art critic and what do they do? Where do I go to get trained as one? I've sat and listened to many so called "art critics, music critics and wine critics". Is it just me or does anyone else sit there and think WTF? Maybe I'm just too stupid to understand their enlightening pontifications (I did manage to get graduate and post graduate degrees though). I sit and listen and at the end of the day I understand that it's just one person's opinion and I take it as such. So please Thomas J, understand that nobody was conspiring against you or colluding behind you back. We "art critics" (can we call ourselves that) just didn't like your photo. But we still like you very much. Please don't desert us now. We are only just starting to understand artisitic value and merit.

Would the three winners please contact the mods to get your prize money.

On a serious note. I thought Colin's reply was calm, considered and objective. Well done.

[Tamara]

Congratulations to the winners... The three photos were great !

[IanCD]

Congratulations to the winners, well deserved... I didn't get round to entering or voting this time either

Couple of points raised by Thomas's (deliberately..?!) provocative post, and some of the responses:

• while it's possible to interpret Thomas's post as a result of his photo not being voted into the winners, that may not actually be the reason. He cites Jenny Utt's pic, though as Colin points out it's unavailability is down to Tiny Pic
• Landscapes do seem to do well in the monthly competitions, but not exlusively: I just checked back through the November to February monthly results... winners include a fair smattering of other kinds of images, including wildlife and other stuff
• Photos other than landscapes also have opportunities in the Themed challenges. We know (from mods' responses to an additional competition suggestion I made!) that there isn't scope to add more competitions at the moment
• Colin's analysis that to win you have to post a picture that people like more than the others is probably spot on! But I think many of the members here will bring a good deal of critical awareness and appraisal to their voting
• Regarding TinyPic, I've noticed a few times that members' picures have been lost or deleted. Is it still the 'default' option for posting here? I wonder if that might be worth reviewing?

Ian

[UKDivemaster]

These competitions are highly democratic; which is what I like about them. The successful photos are deserving winners and to suggest they lack 'artistic content' belittles the obvious effort and hard work of the photographers. If bias exists, it is towards images that turn ordinary landscapes into extraordinary images. For me, trying to produce images with wide appeal is a worthwhile discipline and the reason I enter.

Well done the winners.

[Arlen]

Colin, I agree that your response was measured and well considered.

Maybe it would be interesting if a thread were started where members were encouraged to describe how they decide which images to rate more highly. For some it might just be a gut feeling; "this one really appeals to me". Other people might employ a variety of different criteria. Perhaps we could even admit our biases, if we recognize them. If, say, grand landscapes make you feel warm and fuzzy, but most street photography leaves you unmoved, that's a bias. We all have them, but how we handle them may differ. Maybe we would all learn something by exchanging info on how we do it.

Note that I'm specifically not suggesting that such commentary continue in this thread. It's likely that the winners are already a bit dismayed, and I would like to reaffirm my congratulations to them for having made images that obviously evoked emotions among the members.

[Colin Southern]

Maybe it would be interesting if a thread were started where members were encouraged to describe how they decide which images to rate more highly.

Hi Arlen,

We actually did that a while back - wouldn't have a clue where to find it though

[Arlen]

Ah. Well, maybe someone else will remember how to find it, and bring it back to the top for us to look at again. If recent threads can be used as a guide, it appears that a large proportion of currently active posters have joined within the last year (or even last few months), and so missed out on that discussion.

[Colin Southern]

Ah. Well, maybe someone else will remember how to find it, and bring it back to the top for us to look at again. If recent threads can be used as a guide, it appears that a large proportion of currently active posters have joined within the last year (or even last few months), and so missed out on that discussion.

Hi Arlen,

I wouldn't worry about it too much - there's no "right or wrong" way to vote. I think that folks may be starting to take the comp a little too seriously. Whilst it's true that a CiC Monthly Comp win + $5 can get you a ride on the bus, it's important to remember that one can get the same ride with just $5 and no comp win -- so although winning a comp feels good, beyond that there are probably more important things to concern ourselves with in life

[Hazeb1]

Such beautiful shots!! Congrats to the winners.

I'm wondering, would any of the winners care to share the techniques/settings used to obtain such good results? I've yet to get my sunrise/sunset shots to "Pop" like these.

[Colin Southern]

• Regarding TinyPic, I've noticed a few times that members' picures have been lost or deleted. Is it still the 'default' option for posting here? I wonder if that might be worth reviewing?

Hi Ian,

"Reviewing" it is easy - doing something about it is something else entirely, unfortunately.

Some of the options open to us ...

- Host the images ourselves. We kinda do that via the albums, but it's not something we want to encourage as there is a hard $$$ cost to storing and serving those images.

- Encourage members to store their images elsewhere. This we do - unfortunately, quality providers like pbase.com (whom I use) charge for the service. It's not a lot, but users still have to be willing to pay it - so ultimately it's their call.

- Find a free service, and offer it as an option. That's what we've done - and I think it works well for the most part, but - unfortunately - we're at their mercy when it comes to quality (but we probably can't complain at the price!).

If anyone knows of a better - free - hosting service, I'd gladly pass it on

[Splatsworth]

Congratulations to all 3 image takers, lovely shots and as for the criticism above Thomas J, art is subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder I wouldn't presume to tell you what you should or shouldn't like so don't presume to tell others, let people make up there own minds!!