Let's take a quick break from the Photo-a-day project to review the results of this evening's camera club competition. I promise myself that I'll return to the project tomorrow.
The local camera club holds a competition every other month with two categories--an assigned theme and an open category where you can submit anything you choose. This month's theme was, "The Decisive Moment..." Each entrant can submit up to two images per category. For this competition, they also encouraged people to request critiques from the judges which I gladly did.
I entered two images in each category for my level which is intermediate.
I was pleased to win second place in the open category with the image I displayed here on the blog earlier and titled, "Meander" for the competition:
I found the judges' critique intriguing. First, the judges consisted of a middle-aged fellow that owns one of the best printing labs in the Salt Lake City area and had an illustrious career having filled assignments for magazines of the likes of Sports Illustrated. The other judge was one of his employees--a woman probably in her mid 50s with what sounded like a german accent. Their main issue was that to them, this image appeared to have been "Photoshopped." Further, the lab owner noted that, "The greens look over-saturated and fake." But his most intriguing statement really interested me: "One of the best ways to get your photos published is to put people in them to give the overall image a human interest." I wasn't exactly aiming for human interest but I thought that was a very insightful comment. On the other hand, it made me chuckle when both judges gave the image high marks despite all these issues because they had to admit that the image was well composed and interesting.
My image titled "Fleeting Stop" was an image I cropped differently than when I displayed it here earlier in an effort to fit the "Decisive Moment" theme. It took first place in the intermediate division, theme category:
Both of the judges had several good things to say about this image, including that they liked the lines, the colors, and the unobtrusive background. The only advice they offered was to crop out some of the grass to create a squarish crop. I can buy that.
So there we have it. The judges have spoken and I've learned some lessons I can take with me in my future work.
Next up: The state fair competition!
I don't agree that the photo needs people, then you lose the theme of the photo, the serenity and peace, untouched wilderness. The butterfly is great. You're doing good, here again you have a natural talent! Good job!!
Posted by: emptynest | August 22, 2008 at 07:34 AM
Congratulations! You definitely deserved both awards.
Posted by: sijbrich | August 23, 2008 at 04:39 AM