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Judging Photography
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Message
Posted
I've just been invited to act as the judge in an art competition run by a large national institution. The artwork is by its staff members from across the country and includes a photography section. I'm quite excited by this and I'm looking forward to the experience; I've acted as a judge before but not on this scale and only as a member of a panel - never as a sole judge.
The bit that I find a tad daunting, however, is the photography section. I'm happy about all those matters which we as artists are familiar with but feel less confident about the technical aspects.
It was interesting to hear the comments made by the Countryfile judges last week when choosing the photos for next years calendar (the angle it was taken, whether it was an obviously lucky accident or had been planned were a couple of tips I picked up) but it was only a short discussion on camera. I wonder, therefore, if any photographers out there can offer any tips.
Posted
I'm not much of a photographer - I have a good friend who is a professional, though: you might look up his website, which could have a few tips and links: Google Barry Fitzgerald, photographer, and you should find him; if you can't, just add Tralee, Co. Kerry, and I'm sure you will. There are photography magazines which will give you a clue as to what you're looking for.
In general, I would say that many of the things you'd be looking for in a photograph are those you'd also be looking for in a painting: composition, light and shade, general impact of the piece, whether it makes you want to stop and look at it or just shrug and move rapidly on; the technical aspects are probably of less importance than the way the image in front of you strikes you (well, you'd hope it didn't actually STRIKE you, but you know what I mean).
Barry has a particular down on photographs that have been excessively enhanced in the studio (and so have I, but less vehemently): this may be harder for you to spot as a non-photographer, but very lurid effects will give it away .... a photograph that has been fiddled with unto its very last breath and beyond is almost as obvious as an overworked painting; and I'm sure you'd easily spot those.
How do you get to be a judge, then? I'd rather like that (in theory - in practice I'd probably find it overwhelming: Jackson's had a competition for pastel paintings that's just closed: I looked at the paintings, did actually vote for one - Pete Williams' painting of an Osprey - but how on earth or over the earth you could possibly choose the best from the magnificent pictures on offer I simply don't know; the standard wasn't so much high as celestial).
Anyway, you look up my friend Barry Fitzgerald - not the Hollywood actor, of course - and if nothing else the standard of his work will give you something to aim for.
http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net
http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk
Posted
Thanks Robert - as always your wise words are very much appreciated - I shall certainly look up Barry Fitzgerald's site. As for getting involved it was simply the power of the internet. The judging is to take place in Leicester which is not so far from where I live and the organisers simply went onto the web to find someone local and I seemed to have caught their eye.
I'm quite excited about it and it'll be another notch on the bed post - or is it on the CV ?
Posted
As Robert said a lot of the aspects that you look for will be the same as paintings, but other aspects seem to work for photos, but not for painting. Photos can capture the exceptional, one moment in time, or even over an extended period of time:- I think that these things are not particularly suitable for painting. This is a topic which I often ponder on, as my husband is a very keen photographer. But there is yet another aspect to photography - what the photographer had to do to achieve it. Did he/she have to climb a mountain, battle though ice, face polar bears, go into a war zone or do other scary things to achieve it. Somewhat unusually, a photographer will have set up a situation to achieve the end result, using studio set ups or false natural history environments or merged a series of time lapse pictures or used extended exposure, but this is usually done my professionals.
So don't worry about the technicalities, and choose what you like.
I agree it was interesting to Countryfile judges' approaches. Simon King, the professional was looking at what the photographer had to do to achieve it, but in the end it is what people like to see.
Posted
In the days when we used to have to get our photographs printed by chemists I quite often used to have my photography judged independently.
Some of my prints used to come back with terse advice upon them, always politely put yet with a little sting in the tail which translated literally, meant you are a lousy photographer.
John
Posted
Judging photography is interesting. Ive never judged it but I have judged many...if that makes sense. And ive taken photographs all my life. I find a really good photograph stands out - forget the rule of 3rds etc etc, ...does it stand out? Accidents are one thing - who cares and who can tell - but its the composition and the interest that always got me, and how hard the photographer tried to get the image. But above it all, a good one stands out. I looked for contrast, bokeh (sic) (actually more important than you might think!), story, and so on. And again, a good one stands out.
I personally always (almost) regard a B and W image as superior to a colour one of equal quality (even the same image is almost always better in monochrome) and on the whole I rate special effects as a very poor substitute for cameramanship (is that a 'thing'?) but thats not to exclude post production work such as contrast enhancement.
Finally, perhaps more than in painting, photography is FULL of primadonnas who know best. End of the day, you're the judge...the rest can rot.
Im very tired after a night duty, but I hope that helps
D
Posted
All went well and I really enjoyed the judging experience. As I said above, I have been a judge before but as a member of a panel and this was the first time I have been sole judge. Remembering that this was a competition for staff members, of varied abilities, of an extremely large Government body there were several decisions that had to be made which ran contrary to the usual criteria when judging competitions. There were no rules of entry and therefore a bit of common sense had to be employed.
For example, although the exhibits were categorised into different mediums, within each category the exhibits included unmounted work, mounted work and mounted and framed work. Usually when judging, the overall presentation would be taken into account when choosing a winner. However to mark down an exhibit for a poor frame or mount would be grossly unfair when comparing it with an exhibit which was neither framed nor mounted. In other words I based the judging purely on the painting itself to be fair to all entrants bearing in mind that there were no rules of entry and this was a friendly competition among colleagues.
In two categories the three best paintings were all by the same artist which caused a bit of a dilemma. This would mean that six placements all went to the same person and others would not get a look in - a big turn off for the other artists which could reflect badly on entries for future exhibitions. After discussing it with the organisers and with their agreement I took the decision to limit an individual artist to only one placement in the top three in each category. What I did do was give a special commendation to the outstanding artist.
Overall a great experience which forces you to consider in depth the work on display and I'm sure I benefited from it all. I even thoroughly enjoyed the photography section which, in the event, I found enjoyable and in some ways easier to judge than the paintings.
Posted
You're the sort of judge these competitions need - you brought sense and judgement to the job: and it sounds as though you had a good day, too. If I'm ever approached to do anything similar, I'll remember your methods, Holmes, and apply them!
http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net
http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk
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