Under the Heat (with Honest Image Critiques)
We live in a world that’s politically incorrect to be negative. In this world where we can do no wrong, you’ll often see complaints among photographers about how Facebook and Flickr, etc are a celebration of everyones work. It has the maximum encouragement because every single photo is the best and those that break that trend are looked down on. Which is totally fair because it’s all personal preferences. There is a reason there is no dislike button. It’s how these sites were designed to work. Negative commenting just looks bad.
So I’m not suggesting this type of commenting is wrong and the support is needed but if it were all true, we’d all be fantastic and if we were all fantastic, how does one feel the need to improve? Finding critiques is hard and receiving qualified critiques is even harder. The two local competitions that I know of are held by the PPOC and PEI Photo Club. While at different levels, the live judging is a great experience to watch. You can learn so much even on the prints that are not your own. And whether I agree with the comments or not, I want to hear the negatives just as much, if not more than the positive ones. After all, I already liked the photo enough to share it.
For the past two years, I have volunteered my time to help organize the photo print show for the PEI Photo Club and part of the exhibit involves hiring judges to provide constructive reviews for each and every print. Judges range from photographers, painters, instructors, designers and gallery owners. I don’t remember all of the positive comments but I do remember all of the negative ones still 3 years later. They have forever greatly impacted my opinions on the specific elements the comments were referring to.
If you’re local to PEI and that alone is not enough incentive to participate, we have put together a nice little bundle of prizes this year that might possibly rival the generous sponsorship from Think Tank Photo last year. This year I approached all the self publishing educators that I’ve personally bought from and asked for help. I was hoping at least 1 would reply but I’m happy to say all but 2 responded and I feel we have a real winning team of support this year from: Craft & Vision, Kelby Training, The Luminous Landscape, Guy Tal, Bruce Percy, oopoomoo, Jay & Varina Patel, OPC Magazine, Stuck in Customs, flatbooks and Atlantic Photo Supply.
This years show will be opened to the public in downtown Charlottetown from July 9th – 30th at The Guild Gallery. Full details can be found at www.peiphotoclub.com.
Today’s Image – Breathing Warm Light
Made during a Cirque du Soleil parade down Great George Street in Charlottetown, this free to attend parade at dusk was the march to the waterfront for their stage performance during the Summerfest Festival in 2010. This was my most successful image from last years show.
and here are some more of my other entries over the past years.
Sinus Problems
Photographer’s Choice Category
Slippery When Wet
Peggy’s Cove, NS Canada | Textures and Patterns Category
A Shining Light on Neglect
Prince Edward Island, Canada | Broken Category
At Home in Nature
Fox Kit, PEI Canada | Nature Category
Primate Grin
Portraits Category
Mans Best Friend
Asleep Category
Notre Dame Basilica
Montreal, PQ Canada | Architecture Category
Morning Impressions
Prince Edward Island, Canada | Patterns and Textures Category
Rundle
Two Jack Lake, Banff Canada | Photographer’s Choice Category
Tracks to Water
French River, PEI Canada | Nature Category
Race to the Finish
Tour de PEI | Sports Category
Under Construction
Charlottetown, PEI Canada | Architecture Category
Where’s My French Fry?
Photographer’s Choice Category
Natural Wonders
Niagara Falls, Canada | Nature Category
Going for Gold
Canada Games | Sports Category
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My two favs of this great set of images is “Slippery When Wet” and “Man’s Best Friend”
Yes! Slippery When Wet is a personal favourite of mine. Maybe it’s because it’s more unique than what I typically do but compared to every other image on this page, from a numerical point of view, judging ranked it near the bottom.
Always the case with the ones I like the most but pleased to hear it was the one that stood out for you.