Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/02/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Feb 12, 2006, at 5:08 AM, Nathan Wajsman wrote: > Ric, > > Yes, I did look at the pictures, and I go to the exhibition every > year. I am not saying that the winning image is bad, but I AM > saying that it is not the best of the images on show and that the > winners of this competition are selected based on the committee's > desire to highlight certain issues as much as on the photography. > Hey Nathan-- Sorry, I thought you were being dismissive of the winners. I understand better now. > Let me put it in another way: if a Martian looked at the winning > entries of World Press Photo over the years, he would invariably > conclude that life on earth is an unending misery of wars, famines > and natural disasters. Of course I understand how the media work > and that these tragedies generate lots of news and lots of > coverage, but surely that is not all that life is about? > Yes, that is the other topic of discussion, and maybe the one we are dancing around. > I remember a few years ago the award was won by a Danish > photographer with a headshot of a wounded man in Kosovo (or Bosnia, > I don't remember exactly). While I was happy to see a Dane win, I > must honestly say that I found the image to be quite ordinary > compared to many other images in that year's exhibition. There was > no doubt in my mind that it had won because the committee wished to > focus on that war. In other years it has been equally clear that a > political agenda rather than photographic merit is often the > determining factor. > All contests have a purpose of their own. All judging is subjective, because taste and purpose is subjective. Any contest I've participated in as an entrant or judge suffered the same shortcoming. Winners are the entries that appeal to the personal taste of the judge, colored by the purpose of contest. Next year (even if the same pictures were to be used), different judge, different taste, different result. Maybe our expectations are skewed. > When I go to the exhibition, I invariably find images that are > superior to the winners but did not win because they did not fit > that agenda. > Yep, and we (luggers and photogs) invariably find pictures on the inside that should have run on the front, and pictures that should have led that our editors cut completely. Thanks for the discussion. Ric > Nathan