i dont get it!

[Danielle10]

Gonna have a whinge so sorry LOL

SO who here entered the SMH Photos 1440 competition, followed the briefs and submitted??
Have you seen the winners???

I did all of the above and whilst I did my best effort to be different and creative and FOLLOW THE BRIEFS. I feel the winner well... Didn't!
The briefs clearly said they that the judges were looking for skill and technique etc the ones that won gold and silver awards and got Highly commended were... how do you say..? Awful!!

One image in particular was a black and white of someone playing a guitar - half the guitar was chopped off and then you could see that they had gone over the lights in the image with a brush in lightroom or photoshop and shabbily painted over them leaving a scribble like mark all over it.

WHile I knew I wasnt going to win, i wanted to have a go and apply the skills I have learnt to create something i was very happy with and follow the briefs accordingly... ah well...
Ok, sorry getting off my soap box now.
thanks for listening x

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/e...719-22c88.html

I will post my entries into the appropriate forums to get some CC anyway... its been a while since ive posted.

Edited*** here are the briefs:

BRIEF 1: Your hidden community
Whether you live in a small country town or around the laneways of the inner city, your community offers an opportunity
to capture fascinating and vibrant images of people and daily life.
The brief: Capture an image of a place that only locals would know.
Our photographers regularly shoot the ‘Postcode’ series in the(sydney)magazine, where they are required to document a
specific postcode with images portraying daily life in interesting ways within a community. This is now your challenge.

BRIEF 2: Your passion
Be it sport, painting, stamp collecting or cars, everybody has something they are passionate about; one thing in life
that captures their attention and offers an escape from ordinary life.
The brief: Capture a photo of the one thing that represents yours or someone else’s passion.
We send our photographers on assignment to immerse themselves in various activities and cultural communities.
Spend time in the environment you are documenting for a greater understanding of your subjects and strong pictures,
and remember, the more unconventional the better.

BRIEF 3: Your inspiration
The people around you can be a huge source of inspiration – they make you smile, laugh and cry.
The brief: Take a portrait of someone who inspires you or is your hero.
Capturing someone’s true soul or successfully applying your own artistic flair to a portrait is a great skill and Herald
photographers are challenged daily in the political, sports and daily life arena with creating great, memorable portraiture
on assignment. It could be a family member, a teacher or a co-worker. Try and capture what it is about them that
inspires you. It may be as simple as their smile or them wearing their work uniform – be creative.

Also here are my images
http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...eet-Potography

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...t-with-OCF-x-2

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...e-Myself-and-I

[flashc]

Hi...

I just had a look, couldn't see what the photo brief was but did see that the winners were disliked. I added my vote to some of the images.

[Danielle10]

hello, just added more infor about the briefs in my initial post

[arthurking83]

I don't usually bother with trivialities such as this to be honest.

But look at it this way.

SMH and it's affiliates now have a nice new shiny large collection of images all contributed too by folks in a mad rush to win something as insignificant as this type of competition.
Some images may be good and most certainly some are going to be bad, but there is a very high possibility that SMH may now make money off those images as it sees fit!

ie. don't be surprised if an image of yours turns up in another form somewhere else in the ether of life and general connectivity.

[swifty]

Hmmm... I dunno. I can't say I agree with your sentiments. Competition winning entries are never unanimous so there'll always be some unpopular decisions.
I do think some of the shots are, lets say fairly ordinary but there are some very good ones in there too.
The competition winning series I don't find very strong compositionally but I like the raw emotions it invokes.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm referring to the gym series of 3 b&w photos btw.

[flashc]

Well...

You should have had me on the judging panel. This is a winner for me. (number 2)

Maybe they used the judges off the ABC TV show.

[fess67]

Ahhh the beauty or the beast.

I sit and wonder many times at 'winners' in art based endeavours. I very often think they are not worthy, in fact I often think they are crap beyond belief, however they win time and again.

I am over 40 and apply my life skills to the situation. I simply do not see what they see and accept that my vision is impaired.

I am over 40 and whilst I accept I am no expert I also know there is nothing wrong with my vision and these people are winning contests with the most pathetic bunch of crap, s*^@, boll)@&, freakin mess of a shot BS, I mean do they even know how to hold a camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sheechhhhh these people !!!!!!!!!!!!!......

Ahhhh, I feel like my second version but I stay within the calm waters of my first version by not entering stuff like this. Being over 40 has given me the ability to press the self preservation switch

[Danielle10]

very true, i agree. just gives me the poops that it gives people false hopes of their images being any good when theyre not LOL

- - - Updated - - -

i think the silver and highly commended awards deserve to be winners over the gym ones... IMO theyre boring and look like happy snaps converted to B&W. But art is very subjective

- - - Updated - - -

LOL, love it!!

[Steve Axford]

I think it is quite simple really. The judges are often just photographers and sometimes not even that. They don't spend a lot of time on the judging so their selections are often a bit random. SMH is not recognized as a major competition and there are good reasons for that. If you enter, don't expect a lot.

[ameerat42]

Danielle. This beef is probably a lot better for you than such a competition. At least nutritionally.
The other is perhaps just a lot of bull, but...

And I certainly do not think the winning entry is tha-a-at good.
Am.