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07/28/2004 08:16:21 PM · #1 |
Lifted bodily from another thread as a consolation to those going mad. lol
The truth of the matter is that it is not over until the fat lady sings.
To follow early scores is to tie your emotional strings to the update button. To try and figure how members vote is also hopeless. To question yourself about your picture is also hopeless unless you see how you could have done it better.
The best photo does not always win and often a lemon gets by because it touched on some tender chord on the collective unconscious of the voting group.
Ever notice that once you are through and proud of your entry you upload it. Then comes the day of the challenge and bingo....you look and look at the entries and see that your entry is no longer as hot as you thought. A lot of other members have outdone you. And then the voting begins....you feel you need a vindication, more like an early preview. Okay you say, my entry is not hot, hot, like some of these others, but hey, it is a good picture, meets the challenge and is well exposed. You start high and then it drops and you ask yourself, why is this second block of voters so different than the first. Suddenly you feel slighted....what will be will be. You did all you could and now it goes up before the members. Note some of the comments from those that have not even entered a challange. Do they know just how much time and how many problems you had to solve. Where is their picture?
Yes, it may first appear unfair. But this is exactly what competition is. Look, I have presented images that I thought would have the voter asking how did he do that? Look the foreground is well lit, yet no shadows. How did he light the background......no, no. It would be incorrect to say that many voters are ignorant or that your effort has gone right past their heads.....but 90 percent of the time the fault lies with us. This is a competition and it involves ideas, technique and presentation. It is in the latter that we must often fail.
Your picture must not only be good, it must be superb to score high. The consolation is that these are ungoing challenges with one following the other. My suggestion, again, is to study challenges completed in detail and try to determine why some pictures reached the top. But mostly to learn how others have solved the problem and how they presented their ideas. Believe me, the best lesson comes from looking at the works of others.
Message edited by author 2004-07-28 20:17:51. |
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07/28/2004 08:55:43 PM · #2 |
If you like your pictures then that's all that matters. The reason we all frequent this site is because we all think we are good photographers. The reason we like to have our photos judged is so that others can validate our claims. Think I'm wrong? See how long this site would last if people weren't rewarded for their efforts.
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07/29/2004 03:55:36 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by conceptgraphics:
... The reason we all frequent this site is because we all think we are good photographers. ... |
Nope. I frequent this site because I know I suck. :p
David
Not to mention the chance to learn new and applicable words, such as suckitude.
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07/29/2004 04:34:51 AM · #4 |
Originally posted by graphicfunk:
My suggestion, again, is to study challenges completed in detail and try to determine why some pictures reached the top. But mostly to learn how others have solved the problem and how they presented their ideas. Believe me, the best lesson comes from looking at the works of others. |
I knid of disagree, but maybe that's just me. I know exactly what kind of photography does well on this site, but I don't like and don't want to do that. I strongly belive most of the time pictures that win here are not necesarily the best ones in the challenge, and it mostly is a lottery. When 100+ people vote regardless of theyr education and background in photography, people vote each by theyr own standards, whatever those are. But do I want to be a slave of the mainstream? No. On this site shiny happy colorful photography rules all the time. I like b/w and duotones, most of my pictures are not happy nor shiny, and that's because I like them that way. I don't want my work to be liked by the majority, if there are a few who likes it, I'm happy. Happy that I can do what I like without forceing myself to do things I have no feeling or apreciation for, while a few appreciate what I do, and feel the way I do. That's my goal, and it is better than a virtual ribbon to me. Oh well ofcourse pictures that are off the mainstream can ocasionaly win, but they have to be as someone said in the forums twice or more as good as the mainstream ones for that. That is also my goal to once win doing what I like and not what the mainstream expects me too. I want to develop my own style, I want to get better and better doing it, I want to be myself not a copycat.
Most of the times I personaly don't like the images that win here. My favorites in almost each challenge end up in the first middle of the pack. I'm not saying those who win are bad photographs they just, as there are many types of photography, not the kind of photography I enjoy. The best lessons to me comes with the comments. I try to understand each of them and even if I disagree with some I find them all helpful, it's helpful to know that atleast you did something that made that person stop for a second and say something. Anything.
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