"Competitions �� Competitions �� " - Brief Article

Anyone joining a camera club for the first time will find that many members are motivated by the need to do well in competitions. My club holds 24 internal competitions a year--roughly one meeting in two is devoted to this activity. There are also competitions between clubs and competitions between associations of clubs.

The new member who wants to take part in competitions learns to assess his pictures by listening to the comments of judges. They will say what makes a good club picture--that is one that will do well in competitions. The new member may think his photographs are pretty good already, but he will learn that judge's fault pictures for reasons quite apart from whether they are good or bad photographically.

Some subjects are considered not likely to be successful in a club competition. For example, a good photograph of the Taj Mahal could be given a low mark ontwo counts:

(1) It is just a record shot and

(2) It has been done before.

At the first club competition I attended I was surprised to see what I considered to be a great picture of Disneyland given a low mark. I learned that family pictures were described as "only snaps;' not to be considered as serious club pictures and that a picture of a lovely rose covered thatched cottage was regarded as a "chocolate box" picture--a pretty picture of no artistic merit.

Some people believe that if a picture does well in one competition it should also do well in others, but this is due to the mistaken belief that a good photograph should do well solely because it is good.

Whether a football team does well depends on the caliber of the team it is up against. The same applies to photography - if the standard of the competition is high, pictures may not do as well as if the standard is low.

A prime requirement of a good camera club picture is that it should contain elements of originality, either of subject matter or treatment. One locally well-known judge recently said he would not give good marks to any photograph that did not show evidence of creativity.

From what has been said, it will be realized that "elub photographs" (a synonym for "competition photographs") are in a class apart from all other kinds of photography. The seeker after good club pictures will acquire a selective vision and will filter out scenes, which experience shows will not make a good club picture. We learn to tell at a glance whether we can "see" a picture (a club member's expression for seeing a club picture). We become so selective we literally do not see any potential for pictures that are not club pictures.

How many of us, at some time or another, have not bewailed the fact that we cannot see any pictures? A friend of mine went to visit relatives in Australia, the journey of a lifetime. When he returned I said, "I expect you have some good pictures." "Very few, actually," he replied, "I did not see much to take." Instead of expressing surprise as any non-club member would, I commiserated with him. I knew exactly what he meant.

Competitors learn from experience and from looking at other people's successful pictures, the kind of pictures more likely to succeed and will choose the subject matter accordingly. They will learn that some subjects are sure-tire winners (if done well) while other subjects leave the judges cold.

Full of enthusiasm, I decided to hold an exhibition of my pictures, many of which had done well in competitions and had received many awards including gold and silver medals. Members of the public, were, however, unimpressed. My pictures lacked appeal outside the introverted world of club photography, i.e., among people for whom the subject matter was all important - an aspect which I had completely failed to take into account.

I decided I was in a photographic cul-de-sac and that I was missing out on other forms of equally satisfying photography.

However, when I decided to expand my activities beyond competition photography, I discovered it was not that easy. Having spent years learning to see competition pictures and regarding all others as inferior, it required an effort to change. But I did it.

I now look at my surroundings in a more positive way. If I see something I want to take, I go ahead and take it without being inhibited by what a judge might think. My attitude now is, "I want to take this. How best can I do it?"

Currently, my main interest is in creating slide shows with live commentary which I give to camera clubs and also other clubs. I get a lot of satisfaction from the fact that the success, or otherwise, of what I do is in my own hands and not influenced by the arbitrary decisions of judges.

I am not opposed to judges. I am a judge myself. But I like to feel that there is more in life than an endless round of competitions.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Photographic Society of America, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group