From a while ago .....

A long time ago a post here sounded like I was having a gripe at a judge giving me bad scores for my photos but I think I made my point badly.  I was hoping to show that a judge's scoring and remarks can significantly affect the persons he or she is judging.  I have sat through numerous judgings and have been a judge myself.  Most times I am not a mile away from the scores handed out and the comments made.  We are all biased one way or the other.  Most judges will be known for the type of photography they specialise in like portraits, landscapes, art nude or architecture, etc.  Some club members will even check out a judge's web pages to see what type of photography they do and will submit photos in that genre to enhance their chances of success.  My reaction to that?  Fair play to them!

Where I had some difficulty was I had submitted two photos that I thought might do well - I was taking a bit of a chance with them - and one photo that I put in more for a laugh than anything else.  The two 'serious' photos didn't do so well but the humorous photo did better than the other two!  Maybe I should go into a new photographic niche - humour?

The following week was the judging of the colour prints.  I had submitted two photos from the same shoot and was not sure how they would fare.  The judge was a guy I had seen judging before and, in my opinion,  was not only good, but sensible and entertaining as well as constructive in his remarks.  He did not disappoint.

The picture above scored me 45 marks (out of 50) and a 4th place.  He liked the matching colours of the corset and the background.  He liked the pose but was a little uncomfortable about her left arm hanging straight down.  He described the insulating tape as a useless waste until it was pointed out to him that they made the photo Facebook friendly.

He liked the shot above because it was different.  I have to say that if there hadn't been a plethora of landscapes then this mightn't have done as well but I'm not going to object to a 2nd place with 47 marks.