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Spolier Alert: This is a rant so read on at your own descretion 🙂
Yet again I sat through a dismal display of one-dimensional judging of my clubs latest competition tonight. Now, before we go any further, while there is a taste of sour grapes in my mouth, more generally I am mortified that judges cannot and will not step outside of the rigid boundaries of “what makes a good club photograph”. This is not so much the fault of the judge, although they could strive to be a little more enlightened in their decisions, it’s more a result of the system which created and moulded them. It’s as if they are shackled to the strict confines of what “good club photography” looks like rather than what makes agood photograph. While I can’t fault them entirely for that, we all tend to lean towards what we like after all, for God’s sake do some research on photography in the round and take on board that the most lauded photographers so often create images that cannot be measured by the rule of thirds, their technical perfection or indeed by their pixel perfect focusing. No, so very often the very best and most memorable images just move you, they make you ask questions, they make you feel uneasy or they simply capture your attention. Surely that has to be the measure of a good image!
