Over the years I\u2019ve entered photographs into the Orange County Fair photography competition (with some success).\u00a0 This year I was thinking about the photographs I wanted to enter when I was contacted by the folks at the fair.\u00a0 They asked if I would be willing to be a judge.<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s an honor to have your photographs selected and an even greater honor when some of them receive ribbons.\u00a0 But I think the greatest honor of all is to be invited to judge the competition.\u00a0 But when I accepted I had no idea how tough it would be.<\/p>\n
(For a followup post, please see<\/p>\n
http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/journal\/orange-county-fair-judges-walkthrough\/<\/a>\u00a0 )<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The judging takes place in two phases.\u00a0 First is the selection process.\u00a0 The photographers submit their works online and each judge is assigned a class of photographs such as Amateur Color Seascapes, or Professional Landscapes.\u00a0 We are given a target number of photographs we can accept based on the number of entries submitted and the amount of display space in the fine arts building.<\/p>\n The competition is really tough this year.\u00a0 The amateur divisions receive the greatest number of submissions and we are able to accept only about one in five.\u00a0 The professional divisions receive far fewer submissions and we are able to accept up to one in three.\u00a0 Still, that\u2019s pretty tough competition.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like in the past then three or even four out of five were accepted.<\/p>\n I\u2019m wrapping up the selection process for the final group that was assigned to me.\u00a0 And I\u2019m feeling how difficult this is.\u00a0 As I browse the photographs one thing that is very clear is how passionate each photographer is about their photographs.\u00a0 It is obvious they were moved when they raised the camera to their eye and pressed the shutter.\u00a0 Some are carried away by the emotion they felt at the moment.\u00a0 Others read interesting symbolism and interpretations into their images.\u00a0 They are all proud of their works, it shows, and they should be.<\/p>\n This fills me with a feeling of great responsibility.\u00a0 In some cases I have to reject four out of five submissions and this isn\u2019t easy.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something that can be done casually.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s a real struggle to decide on one photograph over another.\u00a0 And I feel there must be very good reasons for the decisions I make, even though I\u2019ll never have to explain to the photographer why their photograph was not selected.\u00a0 Still, I feel I must be clear in my mind what I would say to them if I did.<\/p>\n There are many levels on which I find myself judging the photographs.\u00a0 The first level is emotional.\u00a0 I know when a photograph moves me.\u00a0 And my own personal feeling is this is one of the most important qualities of a great photograph.\u00a0 Another thing that catches my eye is the light.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that the biggest difference between the professional and amateur divisions is the quality of light.\u00a0 The professionals more consistently have great light while it\u2019s mot so consistent among the amateurs.\u00a0 If it comes down to making a decision between two similar photographs the many facets of composition come into play.\u00a0 Of course the photographs that carry an emotional impact already have strong compositions.\u00a0 With the competition this stiff, the technical excellence is also an important consideration.<\/p>\n I know that it\u2019s inevitable that the photographers will criticize the judging.\u00a0 They always do.\u00a0 \u201cThe judging was really bad this year,\u201d is something I\u2019ve heard every year.\u00a0 I wish it weren\u2019t so but when you think about it, there could be no other outcome.\u00a0 We all approach art through our own very personal perceptions and with so many people submitting their art it\u2019s impossible for us to all see things the same way.\u00a0 There will always be differences of opinion.<\/p>\n I\u2019m thinking of a friend who won Best of Show a couple of years ago with a really extraordinary black and white photograph.\u00a0 But it was not one that hit you in the face; you had to study it carefully to see its genius.\u00a0 She stood off to the side to listen in on people\u2019s comments and many were not flattering at all. \u201cIt\u2019s ugly,\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know why the judges chose that one,\u201d \u201cWhat could they have been thinking,\u201d\u00a0 and so on.\u00a0 It was tough for her but my personal feeling was that the judges got it right.<\/p>\n There\u2019s something that can be gained, however, from disagreeing with the judges\u2019 choices.\u00a0 Art presents us with new and unique ways of seeing the world.\u00a0 And as such one of an artist\u2019s \u2018jobs\u2019 is to expand the way they see the world.\u00a0 And what better way to do that than to try to see what someone else sees that we may have missed.\u00a0 In my workshops I always encourage the participants to copy each other for this very reason.<\/p>\n Well, I\u2019m down to the last two photographs with room for just one.\u00a0 I must choose between one that is a beautifully rendered scene of a harbor and the other that is a symbolic contrast of land and sea.\u00a0 Both are very well done and touch me in different ways.\u00a0 Which one will I choose?\u00a0 Did I mention this wasn\u2019t easy?<\/p>\n If you know of someone else who might enjoy this blog, please feel free to share it.\u00a0 There\u2019s a Share icon at the top.<\/p>\n