Results: March 2012 Competition

[anita]

Hi to all.

First i like to congrats the winners.
Second i like to express my feelings about the photos.

Although we are different persons with different ideas, i start to see/understand that we are all so limited in expressing ourselves. Or let's just say i am.

The winning pictures are fine, but aren't we borred of the same pictures OVER and OVER? Wait for the sunset(golden hour stuff) place a bush/branch/rock on the beach an shoot. WOW, wonderfull, something unseen :OOOOO.

For the moment i'm sad. I'm starting to see that there are some templates, once you pay attention to details, you see that are 10/20/more templates and that people follow them blindly.

I'm not contesting the votes, the pictures, i;m just dissapointed about the lack of Evolution. Not here, everywhere, on every site, on every magazine.

[JohnnyG]

I think there is some validity to Anita's observation, but must preface it with the knowledge that most people on thse forums are here to learn, and what better way to learn than to heed advice, emulate others, join in discussions and try stepping out of the box a bit.

Grant you, there are always going to be participants whose sole reason for attendance is to tout their own work, either as "expert" or, "oh look how good I am," stuff, but they are in the minority. Whatever a person's reason for attendance, forums are more for the learners that the experts, and boilerplating is always going to be a part of that process. I've learned -pretty much everything I know from attendance on various forums...perhaps some day, I'll get all the components right in one image.

[ga6742]

I am not an art critic and I guess I have not evolved. I do know that this competition "was" innocent, pleasant, informative and just plain fun.

[Thomas J]

Just a quick correction: Jenny Utt's image was still there in the physical sense when I posted. It has since been removed. What I meant was, that this picture is what I feel would have come out on top, certainly in the top three, if a panel was involved

That's all.

For those who remember from reviewing the thread earlier, it was a wide crop of a bus parked on a hill next to the only tree in a savannah landscape.

[Colin Southern]

Just a quick correction: Jenny Utt's image was still there in the physical sense when I posted. It has since been removed. What I meant was, that this picture is what I feel would have come out on top, certainly in the top three, if a panel was involved

Hi Thomas,

I'd suggest that that would depend on the panel. I've had work entered into a competition that's sold very well ... but didn't rate anywhere after being "judged by the panel". So what did rate? First place was a shot of a begger with their hand out - fair enough - although it must be very hard to compare a street shot like that with landscape. What turned the whole thing into a farce for me though was the 2nd placed entry - consisting of a tree - shot through a fence - in the rain - at night. Honestly, if I'd shot it I wouldn't even have kept the image - it was just a bad joke. The year before the "grand winner" that bumped many professional artists out the door was a snap of a kid in some kind of room full of plants with "Yep" on the front of his tee shirt.

Often I fear that the "elephants in the room" are the so-called "panel of experts".

[wendles78]

Exactly Colin. Unfortunately, photography is subjective and always will be. I agree many members of this forum seem to favour landscapes, which can be frustrating if there are other images that are obviously technically superior. However, it's a people's choice comp, and so that it how it is. Maybe we should all enter landscapes then no one will be disappointed!
To the winners, well done, I personally loved Wheels' image, spectacular!

[Teton Chuck]

Congratulations to the winners. I appreciate the opportunity to post my photo with those of many others who enjoy doing photography. I had the opportunity to vote, but I can assure all than I do not belong on a panel of experts. I know what I like, and even though I am not very sophisticated, CIC provides a forum for me to take part. I value that very much.

The art world is new to me, and I love the idea that the same photo evokes praise and scorn. It all makes me smile.

Cheers, Chuck

[Colin Southern]

I love the idea that the same photo evokes praise and scorn.

Possibly a good example of that would be music; in my world, hearing Leanne Rimes sing "How do I live" is about as good as it gets ... and yet I'm sure there's many who couldn't bare to listen to more than 5 seconds of her before their ears exploded.

We're all different, THANK GOODNESS!

[flashback]

I've been following this discussion with some interest and I'd like to offer up some of my own observations.
I think the three winning photographs are very good and they have (what one person referred to as) soul and are, in my estimation, evocative. And I suspect they are the kind of picture that many of us strive to achieve.

Personally, I liked the photographs submitted by Niall #7, Joe #19 and Bobobird #38 (in no particular order). Why? They struck me as original, thinking-outside-of-the-box compositions that resonated with me. Am I upset that none of the three won? Not at all. I like what I like and each of those three drive me to look harder, more closely and more freely at what a photograph can be.

Are any of the aforementioned three totally original, non-templated, non-derivatives? Most likely not. But if they are of some template, it's one from the very bottom of the stack in the lower right-hand drawer. After all, how original can anyone be after ~150 years of photography. [Damn that Ansel Adams for ruining landscape photography forever.]

But if one is wont to complain about the lack of evolution and the use of templates, here is what I suggest: take an inexpensive digital camera, give it to a child and let him or her take whatever pictures he or she likes in any manner they choose. Then download them to your computer, let the child pick the one photograph that he or she likes most, and post it here. Because in doing so you will see the world through the eyes of a person who has no idea of the rules of photography, is totally unaware of any and all templates and has yet to grow up to be an unevolved photographer. So in essence: See the world through a child's eye.

Here's a thought, as a photographer:
Would you rather sell your photograph, or buy one from someone else?
Would you rather hang your photograph on the wall, or that of someone else?

The answers to the above are key in explaining what we shoot and why we shoot it. For anyone that puts in any amount of effort into photography (whether as a professional or as a hobbyist) their end goal is to capture what they believe are great photographs which they can then proudly sell and/or display.

@ Colin; Fortunately you are a great photographer because your choice of music leaves a LOT to be desired. ;-)

[Splatsworth]

Personally, I liked the photographs submitted by Niall #7, Joe #19 and Bobobird #38

Scarily those were my 3 favourites and I opted for 7 in the end due to it being simply, uncluttered and pleasing to the eye, and that’s about as much as my limited vocabulary will allow me to type

[Rene Guinto]

Thanks everyone for the vote...makes me do more...congrats to everyone who joined, it's a tough competition...getting more tough...

[redmere]

Congrats to Rene and Jeff.
Thanks to all who entered, all who voted, and our host, CiC.

I am not one for many words, but as creative people we have the option to play inside the "sweet spot" of what the majority may like or outside of it.
Lets face it, photography is a personal and an emotional thing. We capture images that we want and share those we hope others will like.

Not all will stop, but those who do, are happy they did.

[Colin Southern]

@ Colin; Fortunately you are a great photographer because your choice of music leaves a LOT to be desired. ;-)

Thankfully I like quite a bit of different music, although I draw the line a Justin Bieber!

[IanCD]

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

Hi Colin,
Re TinyPic: yes, you're right... reviewing is easier, and the Direct Link guidance is there for those of us who already have pics elsewhere.
Maybe the guidance re TinyPics being easiest just needs a health warning added..?

"If you are unfamiliar with uploading images to a forum, the easiest method is the Tinypics option (a) below."

Maybe add:
"Note, though, that CinC has no control over images once uploaded to TinyPics and images uploaded to TinyPics do occasionally go missing from forum threads."

Just a thought...
Ian

[speedneeder]

Unfortunately, photography is subjective and always will be.

This is only unfortunate for those who think they know better than others, like me. My photo was THE BESTEST!

Haha, congratulations to the winners

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin,
Re TinyPic: yes, you're right... reviewing is easier, and the Direct Link guidance is there for those of us who already have pics elsewhere.
Maybe the guidance re TinyPics being easiest just needs a health warning added..?

"If you are unfamiliar with uploading images to a forum, the easiest method is the Tinypics option (a) below."

Maybe add:
"Note, though, that CinC has no control over images once uploaded to TinyPics and images uploaded to TinyPics do occasionally go missing from forum threads."

Just a thought...
Ian

Hi Ian,

Of recent I reckon you could be right!

Another way for folks to try posting images is to just go to www.tinypic.com - upload the picture using their interface - and then just paste the image URL from the 2nd option into their post (IMG code for message / bulletin boards).

[WJT]

@ 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



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.

Colin I'm not meaning to sound distraught myself but I believe that I have had my past two entries deleted by Tiny Pic. Given that this is the recommended way to upload when you join perhaps another provider might be recommended or some alternatives highlighted to members. I don't think having seen the competition that either picture would have placed in the February or March competitions but both of them were there until the voting started. Personally I like the voting system of the mini comps so that you can see how many votes you get at the end and know if there was much interest. I haven't had any mini comps deleted.

[WJT]

PS, I almost forgot to mention that the 3 winners of this comp in my opinion were technically perfect. Well deserved their places and are beyond criticism. Well done and keep doing what your doing.

[Ishtiaq]

Congratulations to all three of you !