Archive 2019 · Nature photographer of the year 2019

Oosty
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · Nature photographer of the year 2019

Colin F wrote:
I would suggest that comments made so far are observational, not negative.

Just the opposite I suggest. The last contest I entered left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. Without going into great detail, the "winners" were highly questionable, and the images I entered (which were arguably vastly superior to the so-called winners) did not even get included into the "honorable mentions". I showed the results to many people, and they all felt the same way. There must have been some political "thing" going on in the background with the so-called judges. The experience was deflating and...Show more →

Colin, I have looked at your images and have great respect for your talent.

As an amateur member of a camera club I have the same feeling every month when my images don't get the results that I believe are fair. However, that's the nature of things. I've recently been on a judge training program and one of the points made was that judges tend to become "clones" in that after a time they tend to see thing through the same "eyes". I doubt that judges are dishonest and in SA, salon judges are geographically miles apart in scoring so one has to accept that they are doing their best in the interests of the whole body of entrants. FWIW this is only my opinion and not worth an argument on this or any forum

Nov 17, 2019 at 11:29 AM

Imagemaster
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · Nature photographer of the year 2019

Oosty wrote:
Simply put, it's easy to sit on the sidelines and comment negatively. Not so easy if one is a participant in a contest and haven't made the cut.

Your comments make no sense to me.

If you were observing the judges of one of these large international photo contests culling through thousands, or tens of thousands of entries, you would be hearing thousands of negative comments from them about the 99.99% of images that did not make the cut.

Nov 17, 2019 at 11:35 AM

Colin F
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · Nature photographer of the year 2019

Oosty wrote:
As an amateur member of a camera club I have the same feeling every month when my images don't get the results that I believe are fair.

To be clear, it wasn't that I didn't place or win, I am perfectly happy being edged out by a superior image, and will applaud that photographer, but when the results are so off the charts and perplexing, you have to start to wonder what the heck is going on.

However, that's the nature of things.

Not sure what that means.

Nov 17, 2019 at 11:39 AM

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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · Nature photographer of the year 2019

I belonged to a photo club many, many years ago. After finding out how narrow-minded the club's criteria was for judging photos, I left. It was like you committed a mortal sin if the image captured in your camera was altered in any way.

My guess is that today they may actually have a broader view of what constitutes a photograph.

Nov 17, 2019 at 12:06 PM

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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · Nature photographer of the year 2019

At the risk of ruffling a few feathers, I'd have to say that I find the images from this contest (including runners up and honorable mentions) more interesting and powerful than most of the images posted on this forum. They exhibit a variety and level of storytelling and artistry that is often missing from the more 'technically superior' frame filling bird in flight/on stick/on water with perfectly smooth background shots that are so popular here. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate those types of shots as well, they just don't have the emotional impact for me that so many of the photos from this contest do.

Certainly there are serious issues with the politics and business of photo contests. But at least they serve as vehicle to allow millions of people to see some amazing and diverse work.

Cheers,
Heron

Heron

Nov 17, 2019 at 12:40 PM

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