I need to rant.
After attending another session of my local camera club I am once again wondering why I bother. It was a club competition night, no theme, just had to be emprint sized (6x4). Apart from that anything goes. Marks are awarded out of 10 by all members then are totted up to give an average out of 10 score. Our resident pro then gives a short critique on each image and gives his own mark just as a reference. Both my entries have been posted on my blog, Laura and Dead Mans Fingers and boy did they crash and burn.
I am actually used to this. The club members as a rule are digiphiles and don't do B&W unless it's a requirement so mine never get a good mark. On top of that I didn't take a picture of a horse, a pet or a steam train. I thought the kid shot would do quite well but I was mistaken.
What suprised and disgusted me though, the average mark for all pictures was 6 out of 10 with nothing getting higher than an 8. Worse than that was the comments being made during the pro's critique. They were the stuff of catty 14 year old school girls.
What must we think of ourselves as a club that we cannot appreciate other members photos but instead must pull them down and rip them to pieces. I personally am bored with seeing the same images again and again but, if the picture is well taken, is technically good and well presented i will still give it a good mark. I won't give something 2 out of 10 because I don't like it and then verbally slag it off in front of everyone. That's going to bring in and keep new members isn't it!
Just for the record our Pro gave Laura 81/2 and Dead mans fingers 9, the club gave Laura 5 and Dead man 2!
Will i be going back? Yes i probably will and next time i'm going to enter a cyanotype print of an abstract I took with my home-made pinhole camera. I'm predicting one heart attack, two strokes and a lynch mob out for my blood.
Rant over
After attending another session of my local camera club I am once again wondering why I bother. It was a club competition night, no theme, just had to be emprint sized (6x4). Apart from that anything goes. Marks are awarded out of 10 by all members then are totted up to give an average out of 10 score. Our resident pro then gives a short critique on each image and gives his own mark just as a reference. Both my entries have been posted on my blog, Laura and Dead Mans Fingers and boy did they crash and burn.
I am actually used to this. The club members as a rule are digiphiles and don't do B&W unless it's a requirement so mine never get a good mark. On top of that I didn't take a picture of a horse, a pet or a steam train. I thought the kid shot would do quite well but I was mistaken.
What suprised and disgusted me though, the average mark for all pictures was 6 out of 10 with nothing getting higher than an 8. Worse than that was the comments being made during the pro's critique. They were the stuff of catty 14 year old school girls.
What must we think of ourselves as a club that we cannot appreciate other members photos but instead must pull them down and rip them to pieces. I personally am bored with seeing the same images again and again but, if the picture is well taken, is technically good and well presented i will still give it a good mark. I won't give something 2 out of 10 because I don't like it and then verbally slag it off in front of everyone. That's going to bring in and keep new members isn't it!
Just for the record our Pro gave Laura 81/2 and Dead mans fingers 9, the club gave Laura 5 and Dead man 2!
Will i be going back? Yes i probably will and next time i'm going to enter a cyanotype print of an abstract I took with my home-made pinhole camera. I'm predicting one heart attack, two strokes and a lynch mob out for my blood.
Rant over