Disqualified for alteration: Thoughts

[Shanghai Steve]

It is quite clear that most competitions have fundamental flaws and I can totally undestand why anyone would decide to give them a miss. We've all looked in horror at the results of "The Nescafe Fine Blend World Photography Award Winners" and thought "Hang on, I've seen 10 shots in my favourite forum this week that are better than any of these!"
But I do think it is helpful to engage with other photographers and in this way, the internet is invaluable. Disheartening sometimes- there are many stunning images out there- but helpful, not least in bursting one's bubble when necessary. Often another pair of more experienced eyes will point out an aspect of a shot which one hadn't noticed. As long as the criticism is about the photograph, rather than the photographer it is almost always valid.

[RBSinTo]

With the exception of professional photojournalism where I agree that images should not be altered, the business of preventing pictures from being post-processed if they are to be entered in competitions or contests, especially when nature is the theme, seems to me to be arbitrary and frankly silly.
but I have the choice to either follow those rules or not enter those events, so I don't worry about it.
Robert

[Brev00]

I don't want to see photography as a competition because that would inevitably affect what and how I shoot.

If I was working to get 'stars' or points hat would take all the fun out of it for me.

5 stars for that reply!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[thetraveler]

I don't want to see photography as a competition because that would inevitably affect what and how I shoot.

If I was working to get 'stars' or points hat would take all the fun out of it for me.

Maybe I should have used the word 'meaning' rather than 'fun'.

For years, I've loved making pictures and moved from niche to niche as the newness of each niche wore off and the specific technical obstacles became less of a challenge. I was always comparing what I did to others and trying to understand what was the 'best' but, at the same time as I changed photographic niches, a different attitude was developing about why I liked what I shot and what it meant to me.

And so I grew to like and then love street photography because I like that I can see a situation that has some impact or meaning to me beyond the actual content and it was a challenge to capture that situation and reify it as an image. Even while travelling I tended to shoot like that, to catch the moment rather than the thing. The constant challenge of that made me sort of bored with other areas where the content, like mountains or flowers, just sat there. The very placidity and sameness turned me off.



Three or four years ago I decided to try to show my shots and was accepted to two shows, one a group show and the other, later that year, with a very, very good nature photographer and a painter.

The curator of the first picked through my portfolio and chose about ten shots, not nearly my best I thought, that she thought would be the most popular. Her intent was different than mine. That show was successful in that we had lots of people go through the gallery. I was pretty fisappointed, with some exceptions, in the work of the other photographers. The technical quality was bad and I just didn't want my work to be shown in the same room with them. (I didn't sell but I never considered I would. Who would want any of my pictures on their wall?)

About a month later the other photographer and I went to visit the venue for the other show. There were two rooms, one large and well lit with adjustable picture lights and where both the entry and exit doors were. The other was a much smaller side room that was badly lit standard conference room lighting and with many windows that took up wall space but that were shaded by large bushes.

Instead of sharing good spots and good light, the manager intended to put both of us photographers in the small dark room with 6 or 8 pictures apiece on the dark waslls. The mediocre painter was to be shoing 20 or 25 pictures, well spaced and well lit using the entire large room.

The other photographer and I asked the curator about sharing and she said the decision was made, and we both immediately withdrew.

At that moment I realized that, while it was nice to have people see my work, I wasn't going to spend one more minute trying to change any single thing I do to get the approval of people whose taste and/or judgements I didn't respect or even care about.

It has become very liberating. I don't care about what others think. I like it if others see and like my work but don't care if they don't like it.

Interestingly, I have become a relatively popular judge for the camera clubs in this area. I'm not trying to sell books or photos or be false so that they invite me back and so I'm free to say exactly what I think about the pictures I see.

I'm not exactly a starving artist but it is truly a pleasure to have the freedom to do exactly as I like without any concerns about what others say.