46
B+W
›who judge them; in fact, it’s quite
the opposite. You see, for every
set of competition results that are
announced – be it a bona fide
prize-winning competition, a
classroom-based competition
among students or simply the
global photographic competition
in which we distribute ‘likes’ –
there are countless disgruntledentrants and armchair critics
who are adamant that the judges
got it wrong. Unwavering in
their assertion that image x is far
superior, these self-proclaimed
doyens of photography can
be heard smashing at their
keyboards as they fire a
monomaniacal salvo of opinion
at the world (Twitter, Facebookor Instagram being their
weapons of choice).
In a way, you could say these
people are incontestably correct
in their rebuttal of the results,
because at best the winner of
any photographic contest is the
product of global compromise:
it certainly isn’t a definitive best
of show in any measurable way.However, before any of us
decide to clutter the internet
with our fervent fury, we do
need to ask if we are actually
any better equipped for handing
out judgement.
I would suggest that none of
us is truly capable of judging a
photograph, regardless of how
knowledgeable, experienced
and well meaning we are. The
problem is, we all have too many
peccadillos that will stand in the
way of true objectivity, assuming,
of course, that a photograph can
be judged in an objective fashion
to start with. And this brings us
neatly back to where we entered,
with the fairy tale of the fashion
photographer, his tutors and
their perceived inability to
judge his work. Although my
immediate response was visceral
rage at this apparent egotism,
I am now in total agreement and- if the story is true – would say
he had an exceptionally valid
opinion. We might not want to
believe it, but ultimately we
are all flawed judges.
Opposite above It was the start
of a long car journey on a foggy
morning, and as the miles passed
by I shot dozens of bursts of
images – unsighted – through
a greasy-fingerprint-smeared
window. In my opinion, most of
the shots were failures, but how
exactly did I judge one blurred
abstract against another? In this
case I would say it was the
composition, first and foremost,
that made this shot stand out- primarily the lucky combination
of the strong, long verticals of
the trucks and the shorter, more
intense horizontal flashes of
the branches.
Opposite below This was taken on
the same car journey as the tree
image above (by now the fog had
lifted and we were maybe three
hours into a six-hour drive). I only
just had enough time to get my
lens cap off and fire a frame at
these passing pigeons before they
had gone. There was certainly no
time to change camera settings,
compose the shot or reshoot. In
other words, this is nothing more
than a reactive snapshot – and yet
I would not judge it in that light.To a certain extent, how you
judge this photograph will firstly
depend on how you feel about
soft-focus images, but could
the cause of the softness also
influence your decision? I have
iterations of this image taken
with a soft-focus pastel filter,
but the softness in this particular
shot is the result of camera
shake. Does a loss of sharpness
through poor technique make
it a lesser image than one
intentionally softened by a filter?
You be the judge.