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DPChallenge Forums >> Rant >> Insular voters strike again!
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09/02/2002 12:37:46 AM · #1
Sanandan's photo "fear of the Supernatural" was one of my favourites for the "Childhood" challenge, but it ranked 158th! This happens to a lot of photos, but in this case it has really, really annoyed me. It was rated down because the voters didn't understand it, and didn't try to. I don't quite understand it myself, but I know enough about Hindu culture to at least have recognised it as a statue of a girl sitting on Ganesha's knee. Why can't people be open-minded to other people's cultures, give them the benefit of the doubt, and even be PLEASED to see something from a foreign person's childhood and learn from it rather than mark it down because it's not familiar to them?

Sanandan, if you could explain a bit about your photo here, I'd be very happy to find out more about it!
09/02/2002 12:42:44 AM · #2
I didn't understand it either...
09/02/2002 12:47:39 AM · #3
This has nothing to do with being open-minded to people's cultures. If I took a picture of an airplane because I spent my childhood on airplanes, is everyone close-minded because they didn't understand that I spent my childhood on airplanes? I'll certainly argue not. I'm with Setzler...

Drew
09/02/2002 12:55:00 AM · #4
This has been discussed time and time again, but I think it's pretty simple in this case. Your job as a photographer on this site is to take a photograph which conveys the challenge topic to the voter. This has nothing to do with understanding culture. We're all human, and we all had some things in our childhood which are universal.

This is a very nice photo, and everyone knows I'm not a stickler for the challenge topic. But this particular one did not seem to have ANY connection to the topic to me. And for that reason, I did knock it down a point or two from what I would have given the photo (I gave it a 5).

Also, as I said in my comment on it, I'm not a big fan of the centered subject. Even if I were to critique this shot outside the context of the challenge, I wouldn't give it more than a 7.
09/02/2002 12:55:07 AM · #5
When I was trying to come up with ideas, my husband kept telling me to think in a broad way, not just in a way that may affect me. (Of course, I didn't listen to him, and took a really bad photo at the last minute). He says, to project an idea, you have to look at the larger picture (no pun intended).
09/02/2002 12:58:45 AM · #6
To me, photos of other people's art (e.g., sculptures, paintings, etc) have to be impressive in their own rite; otherwise it's the sculptor and not the photographer we should be complimenting. My own vote had more to do with subject matter in that aspect than as it relates to the challenge.

Learning about another culture is a COMPLETELY different conversation for me. But I'm more than happy to learn more about it.

Dawn

PS> I think it's great how we get attached to each other's photos during the week. It grates to have the photos you loved misunderstood. I felt that way last week with Rythym and Blues.
09/02/2002 12:59:40 AM · #7
But how much should that really impact on its score, if it's still a good photo? There were a lot of photos in this challenge that were about the average American childhood, that I didn't relate to much at all because I grew up in the country in Australia. All those "milk and cookies" photos would have to be replaced by vegemite sandwiches to strike a chord with me. But I didn't rate them down if they were good photos. Why does everyone else do this?

edit: this was in reply to the first few comments, more were posted while I was writing it :)

* This message has been edited by the author on 9/2/2002 1:00:02 AM.
09/02/2002 01:01:44 AM · #8
Originally posted by lisae:
But how much should that really impact on its score, if it's still a good photo? There were a lot of photos in this challenge that were about the average American childhood, that I didn't relate to much at all because I grew up in the country in Australia. All those "milk and cookies" photos would have to be replaced by vegemite sandwiches to strike a chord with me. But I didn't rate them down if they were good photos. Why does everyone else do this?

Since we are dealing with a challenge rather than an open photography contest, meeting the challenge means quite a bit.
09/02/2002 01:03:50 AM · #9
Perhaps this just really gets to me because nearly all the photos that are submitted here are foreign to me. There are things about American culture I will never understand, and they get posted here, and I keep an open mind. But Americans are so used to understanding the photos instantly that perhaps they don't give other people the same kind of leeway.
09/02/2002 01:05:54 AM · #10
Sorry, Lisae and Sanandan: I agree with just-married. Time and again photos have been submitted of other people's art - sculptures, etc. It may be done well, but does more to document the art than it does to express the photographer's thoughts.
just my opinion.
09/02/2002 01:06:29 AM · #11
lisae....I think you ask a question that will never be answered.

Why do folks like chocolate or vanilla? Why do they like pepperoni or not? Accordian music or rock guitar?

You'll drive yourself insane trying to put a rhyme and reason to it all :-)

This particular photo I scored about a 5. Technically it was clearly shot by a person who know's how to expose a photo etc...but it didn't strike me as anything I could relate to so the emotional element wasn't there.

It was butterscotch to me :-)
09/02/2002 01:11:44 AM · #12
Hokie - I understand, but it wasn't your 5 vote that got it to 158th place, it was the close to 100 people who rated it 3 or below. A photo that you would judge to have been taken by someone who knows how to take a good photo doesn't deserve that, even if there's no emotional connection.

As for the "other people's art" issue, statues in Indian culture are not really seen that way. Everyone has shrines in their home, and there are statues EVERYWHERE. Artisans copy the same designs over and over again. It's for a religious purpose. Saying this is "other people's art" is like saying a photo of a crucifix is an OPA photo... not many people would do that.

And I take issue to the whole idea of OPA photos anyway. Are photos of buildings OPA? They were designed by architects. Are flag photos OPA?
09/02/2002 01:12:25 AM · #13
For the same reasons people dont' vote on "bad" childhood experiences. It's the internet, after all, you expect people to have artistic intents when 99.9% of the votings are done within 10 seconds after the photograph is seen.

i think it'll be better if you FORCE people to look at a photograph for at least 1 minute before you vote. I.e. you can't cast a vote until 1 minute later.... but then, that'll take a lot of time and less people would vote. Either way, I am not surprised.

What upset me is not why people rated my photo down because of its dark subjects, its these other photos that are simply OBJECTS that get voted high (duckies, etc.) I like #1-3 because they convey feelings, but some of the top 10s do not and they still get voted higher.

Originally posted by lisae:
Sanandan's photo "fear of the Supernatural" was one of my favourites for the "Childhood" challenge, but it ranked 158th! This happens to a lot of photos, but in this case it has really, really annoyed me. It was rated down because the voters didn't understand it, and didn't try to. I don't quite understand it myself, but I know enough about Hindu culture to at least have recognised it as a statue of a girl sitting on Ganesha's knee. Why can't people be open-minded to other people's cultures, give them the benefit of the doubt, and even be PLEASED to see something from a foreign person's childhood and learn from it rather than mark it down because it's not familiar to them?

Sanandan, if you could explain a bit about your photo here, I'd be very happy to find out more about it!


09/02/2002 01:18:59 AM · #14
as a hindu i scored this picture low because it didn't convey fear to me. i think fear of the supernatural is a good childhood theme, but this idol wasn't a good representation of that.
09/02/2002 01:20:19 AM · #15
Hey..I agree...voting 3 or lower is interesting commentary but sometimes a persons aversion to what they don't understand and/or like actually goes beyond ambivalence into dislike.

But...I can't get my daughter to eat a great ballpark hotdog but she loves barbecue chicken pizza!! Shes not ambivalent about hotdogs..she hates em!!

From the look of my recent score..people aren't ambivalent about my current photo either..they hate it!! And it is technically a well constructed photo....C'est La Vie :-) And I don't have a foreign culture confusion to hide behind >:-/

* This message has been edited by the author on 9/2/2002 1:20:37 AM.
09/02/2002 01:24:20 AM · #16
they hate mine too, and it should be in the top 10
09/02/2002 01:25:48 AM · #17
I feel that if people vote 3 or below they should be forced to leave a comment or their vote is rejected. I feel that none of the entries in the child hood challenge were bad enough to score a 3 or below, yet there was a lot of 1's
09/02/2002 01:26:03 AM · #18
Lisa, the fact that you even recognize "milk and cookies" as being somehow associated with american childhood is more connection than I could make between this photo and childhood.

Even outside the context of a challenge, I don't really see what story this picture has to tell. It looks like a typical, very clean, travel photo. The kind of documentary photograph that says "visit here to see art...".

It's a pretty picture, but it doesn't evoke much emotion for me. Maybe it does for you because you have other connections to the image? I liked the sailboat picture from this challenge because I spent several summers sailing as a kid, and it touched a nerve with me. But I recognized that the photo on it's own probably wasn't going to touch many people who didn't have the same experience.

I think if you want to go for a rating, you need to consider the audiance. You can't show up for a gig in a country western bar in Texas and start singing Italian opera!

09/02/2002 01:29:52 AM · #19
rdesai - that's cool, I'm not saying that it should have won or anything. I can understand if people have GOOD reasons for voting something low, but I really don't think most of those 1-3 votes had any good reason behind them other than not believing that it met the challenge.

Let's compare it to, say, Gone Fishing. I gave that a 9. It's another good photo of a statue of a child, but in a different context, and it scored almost a whole point (and 50 places) higher. I think almost that whole difference in scores comes down to the lack of recognition/understanding that people felt towards Sanandan's photo. I know WHY it's like this here, but it's annoying.
09/02/2002 01:42:09 AM · #20
There are always a group of photos I like a lot more than most other folks. It happens to everyone.

Like This one I gave an 8 to.

Or This one I gave an 8 too

or This one I gave a 9 to.

or This one I gave a 9 too.

It just always happens ...
09/02/2002 01:49:51 AM · #21
Actually, it does not happen to a lot of photos, but only to the least liked each week.

Originally posted by lisae:
Sanandan's photo "fear of the Supernatural" was one of my favourites for the "Childhood" challenge, but it ranked 158th! This happens to a lot of photos, but in this case it has really, really annoyed me. It was rated down because the voters didn't understand it, and didn't try to. I don't quite understand it myself, but I know enough about Hindu culture to at least have recognised it as a statue of a girl sitting on Ganesha's knee. Why can't people be open-minded to other people's cultures, give them the benefit of the doubt, and even be PLEASED to see something from a foreign person's childhood and learn from it rather than mark it down because it's not familiar to them?

Sanandan, if you could explain a bit about your photo here, I'd be very happy to find out more about it!


09/02/2002 01:49:56 AM · #22
LOL! I gave those photos 8,9,9 and 10 :)

(That was to Hokie)

* This message has been edited by the author on 9/2/2002 1:49:01 AM.
09/02/2002 01:56:12 AM · #23
Originally posted by lisae:
LOL! I gave those photos 8,9,9 and 10 :)

(That was to Hokie


Hehe...Well...you have a good eye is all I got to say about that!! ;-D

I don't know...when I first came here I had a sorta critical view of photos but now I just take the stuff I like and rate it high the stuff that doesn't really turn me on I don't punish em with real low scores..I just don't give em 7-10.

I figure why spit in the bowl of Cheerios just cause I like Captain Crunch better :-)
09/02/2002 02:10:56 AM · #24
Originally posted by sulamk:
I feel that if people vote 3 or below they should be forced to leave a comment or their vote is rejected.

Wow. That's a good idea. That would eliminate a lot of blackballing. You should enter it as a suggestion in it's own thread.

I feel that none of the entries in the child hood challenge were bad enough to score a 3 or below, yet there was a lot of 1's

I don't share your opinion here. I gave one 1, three 2's, and quite a few 3's. I did leave comments on the one's and two's and many, but not all, of the threes saying my vote, and why. because I also hate to get 1's without explanation.

Dawn
09/02/2002 02:14:17 AM · #25
Originally posted by David Ey:
they hate mine too, and it should be in the top 10

David,
I just don't get you! LOL. Sometimes, I agree absolutely with what you have to say; sometimes you strike me as a big crab. And sometimes you just come out of left field. Well, you make me laugh at least.

FYI, your photo was a 6 to me. It's one I didn't comment on. It struck me as generally average, but with strong colors, so +1.

Dawn

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