Taylor Wessing Photographic prize

fixedimage said:
Most of the comments on this thread at least equal those found under youtube videos in terms of inanity, immaturity and bitterness.

Are you all just jealous that you didn't win the prize or are you really as ignorant as you all sound?
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Thread went exactly as I thought it would, with a few obvious exceptions.

See the threads when the shortlist was announced, and previous year's threads. And, in fact, most threads on competitions and awards usually follow the same plot: The photographers are crap, the photos are crap, the judges don't know as much as I do about photography, people on here are better. ;)
 
fixedimage said:
Most of the comments on this thread at least equal those found under youtube videos in terms of inanity, immaturity and bitterness.

Are you all just jealous that you didn't win the prize or are you really as ignorant as you all sound?
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Are you so ignorant about the TW that you don't recognise a cliché when you see it?

The photo was a shoe-in as soon as the entrants were announced, and not necessarily for it's photographic prowess (although it's a decent portrait):

Young girl/woman... check
Redhead............... check
Cute animal........... check
 
Other photographic competition finalists make me think 'wish I'd taken that' or 'wow'. TW just makes me relieved I haven't. Guinea pig girl was the best of a weak bunch and easy to spot from the short list as the likely winner. Efforts on TP are regularly and consistently better than the TW ones. They try to be controversial like the tattooed men hugging but it just looks old fashioned and a cliche. Might have been controversial for an 80s athena poster but it's just ordinary now.

There are even a pair of old biddies with red hair so there's clearly some unspoken ginger fetish going on :)
 
DemiLion said:
Are you so ignorant about the TW that you don't recognise a cliché when you see it?

The photo was a shoe-in as soon as the entrants were announced, and not necessarily for it's photographic prowess (although it's a decent portrait):

Young girl/woman... check
Redhead............... check
Cute animal........... check
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You seem to know the formula so well that I take it it'll be you winning it next year?
 
They definitely like a certain style. But the redhead girl with an animal thing that everyone's banging on about around the web, doesn't really follow.

It would be interesting to watch the judging, as you could say they seem to be curating an exhibition as much as they are offering a true competition.

Just noted they say it is judged anonymously, so my comment in post #2 about artists' careers obviously doesn't apply.
 
DemiLion said:
Not my style. I wouldn't even enter it.
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Well you must have quite the day job if you can turn down the £12k prize money that you'd so obviously be winning because you know the formula and can take a sharp photo.
 
fixedimage said:
Are you all just jealous that you didn't win the prize or are you really as ignorant as you all sound?
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Probably more likely that more people don't understand 'art' rather than photography as simply images.
 
fixedimage said:
Most of the comments on this thread at least equal those found under youtube videos in terms of inanity, immaturity and bitterness.

Are you all just jealous that you didn't win the prize or are you really as ignorant as you all sound?
Click to expand...

How's the weather up there on your horse? :LOL:
 
It's a stunning portrait and a well deserved winner. There is an uneasy feel to the portrait which I really like.
 
I love every year how the winner of this gets bemoaned on here. Awaits the first "I could have shot that". You didn't if you think you can do better, well enter next year.

I personally love the shot. I would love to see what the rest of you think is the best portrait shot this last year.

Old Truman Brewery is a good shot, and it is street photography inspired, so bang on for the trend everyone has jumped on at the moment, a trend I personally have little time for. If you want to talk about a medium where there is constant rubbish put out and addressed as a series study, start there, not in things like this.

I personally love the entry and can see why it won. I just think to sit on here and say how rubbish or non exciting it is predictable and pointless, get out there, shoot something better and win the competition next year.
 
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Is the girl really small, or the guinea pig really big?

Am I having a father Dougal/perspective moment? ;)
 
Looking at the whole series, there seems to be a trend for including a lot of the environment and other factors i.e. scooters, tattoo's, another person, a lama, a bunny, a perfect roomset etc.. of the the two obvious studio shots one is strong and the other is appalling

Most of these photographs dont seem to be just a study of the person, instead they are relying on using the rest of the scene to either add or distract

It's a shame there was not a portrait in the group that was tighter framed, and just a study of the sitter

It is ridiculous if the judges take into account the career of the person as well as the picture in-front of them. It is ridiculous if the judges feel that "because it was film" it somehow was more of an achievement

Photo competitions ought to be judged on the photograph, as placed in front of the judge. end of who, how, why, and other factors ought to be irrelevant
 
ding76uk said:
I love every year how the winner of this gets bemoaned on here. Awaits the first "I could have shot that". You didn't if you think you can do better, well enter next year.

I personally love the shot. I would love to see what the rest of you think is the best portrait shot this last year.

Old Truman Brewery is a good shot, and it is street photography inspired, so bang on for the trend everyone has jumped on at the moment, a trend I personally have little time for. If you want to talk about a medium where there is constant rubbish put out and addressed as a series study, start there, not in things like this.

I personally love the entry and can see why it won. I just think to sit on here and say how rubbish or non exciting it is predictable and pointless, get out there, shoot something better and win the competition next year.
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This is where we are going to have to agree to disagree. There is some stunning portraiture shot around the world, and by members of this forum. And a lot of it is day and night better than most of the short-listed photographs

To be totally blunt most of the images in the set are too dependant on factors other than the subject, and that indicates to me that the judges are looking for a "style"
 
Byker28i said:
Probably more likely that more people don't understand 'art' rather than photography as simply images.
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I understand "art" but I think that there is a little bit too much "art for arts sake" going on here
 
fixedimage said:
Most of the comments on this thread at least equal those found under youtube videos in terms of inanity, immaturity and bitterness.

Are you all just jealous that you didn't win the prize or are you really as ignorant as you all sound?
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or maybe as photographers we don't actually think the image is not very interesting.

the only person that sounds ignorant is you BTW.

the op asked a question people gave their opinions. tuff luck if you don't like an opinion but it's just that. just because I think the judges were high on crystal meth does not mean everyone else will. please get a life ;)
 
Richard King said:
I understand "art" but I think that there is a little bit too much "art for arts sake" going on here
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Or Art for competition's sake.

Not that there's anything intrinsically wrong with that.
 
Richard King said:
There is some stunning portraiture shot around the world, and by members of this forum. And a lot of it is day and night better than most of the short-listed photographs
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Care to link to any?

There are 2 schools of people those who think technical is the be all and end all, and those who have no major desire for the technical and are looking for a connection. These 2 groups will never agree.

I honestly would like to see links to what some of you consider a great portrait shot in the last 12 months that hands down beats the "dross" in the shortlist.
 
I think this is a really good portrait, it makes a change to see a face looking natural. The composition and bokeh is nice and the hair colour of both girl and guinea pig work well with her cheek colour and freckles.
I think people can't relate to shots like this anymore as they are so used to over processed imagery.
 
ding76uk said:
There are 2 schools of people those who think technical is the be all and end all, and those who have no major desire for the technical and are looking for a connection. These 2 groups will never agree.
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Disagree, not once did I mention the technical aspects, I mentioned the composition and subject matters. That doesn't mean I did not look at the technical aspects too

That's what good photography is about - great images, and that starts with great composition and then good technical execution

With a few exceptions, all great photographs are both technically brilliant and compositionally brilliant. The ones that fall outside of this group tend to be the photojournalistic shots where, a technically great shot wasn't going to happen but the subject matter that is so emotive, the story it conveys makes it an important image.. e.g. naked girl running out of village in Vietnam war which has been hit with Napalm etc.

Most of the images shown are technically good, it happens to be the subject matter/composition that stands out as difficult for most of us
 
ding76uk said:
Care to link to any?

There are 2 schools of people those who think technical is the be all and end all, and those who have no major desire for the technical and are looking for a connection. These 2 groups will never agree.

I honestly would like to see links to what some of you consider a great portrait shot in the last 12 months that hands down beats the "dross" in the shortlist.
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why do you have such an issue with people not liking something you like? It's ok for you to like it but it's not ok for us to think it is complete tosh?

Why?

As for better portraits, go to www.500px.com and look at pretty much any portrait in the Most popular section. Nearly everyone of them is better than the winner of this competition

IN MY OPINION! :D
 
ding76uk said:
There are 2 schools of people those who think technical is the be all and end all, and those who have no major desire for the technical and are looking for a connection. These 2 groups will never agree.
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Whilst those two schools of thought do exist, there are clearly three opinion groups on this thread:
  1. It's a good/great portrait.
  2. It's a good/great portrait, but a predictable winner in the T-W which has a substantial history of picking winners featuring 13/14 year old girls with a tendency for redheads and the inclusion of fluffy animals.
  3. It's a terrible portrait and should never have won an award.
Personally, I'm in the second group. And you do need to look at the winners from the last three or four years together to understand why. Each winner is individually a technically and artistically very competent image, but if they appeared on the same short-list you couldn't but help draw some conclusions about the bias of the selection/judging panel.
 
joescrivens said:
why do you have such an issue with people not liking something you like? It's ok for you to like it but it's not ok for us to think it is complete tosh?

Why?

As for better portraits, go to www.500px.com and look at pretty much any portrait in the Most popular section. Nearly everyone of them is better than the winner of this competition

IN MY OPINION! :D
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There's a difference between not liking something and discussing why and using words like "bint", "pelt", "poop" and "tosh" to slag it off. And who was it that used 3 out of the 4 terms I have chosen???

As for the portraits in the 500px Popular selection there's a very clear bias on the judging there too, lots and lots of young ladies in varying (though not by much) states of undress, most with some tattoooing or piercing, looking seductively at the camera.
 
fixedimage said:
There's a difference between not liking something and discussing why and using words like "bint", "pelt", "poop" and "tosh" to slag it off. And who was it that used 3 out of the 4 terms I have chosen???
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when you don't like something you can express why with those terms. It's part of the language used to express how much you don't like something. It's expressive

Up till now it's not the fact that people have used terms like this that has been mentioned it's the sheer fact people don't like it that you and ding are complaining about.
 
fixedimage said:
As for the portraits in the 500px Popular selection there's a very clear bias on the judging there too, lots and lots of young ladies in varying (though not by much) states of undress, most with some tattoooing or piercing, looking seductively at the camera.
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They're also all contrived and/or cliché, and none of them, barring one or two, fit what the judges are looking for:
‘photography concerned with portraying people with an emphasis on their identity as individuals.’
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Not saying there's anything wrong with them though. I quite like a lot of 500px content.
 
Looking at pictures should be about expanding your outlook, about looking at stuff you don't 'like' or 'get' in order to try and determine why others do, rather than simply dismissing it as something unworthy of consideration because it doesn't fall into your narrow taste range.
 
Its all about cliques in photography. The TW judges obviously have a thing for ginger teenagers and animals. However, the photos themselves are actually rather good, giving a context to the shot (thats all of the stuff that is not the person!) that is required for the competition. 500px has its own 'clique', its all about scantily clad russian waifs looking at the camera and then processed to within an inch of its life. Some people like it, I certainly don't! On TP we have another 'clique' (well actually 2 along with the wedding photography) with the shallow depth of field 'bokeh' brigade.

If you fit in with the clique then you get the flickr style mutual masturbation great shot comments. If you don't you get slagged off or ignored. Its just human nature. Shame is that it doesn't lead to good, valid crit. If you crit ouirside of the clique you ge dumy spits. Its all over the internet and prevalent here at TP. Its just the nature of humans. :)
 
joescrivens said:
when you don't like something you can express why with those terms. It's part of the language used to express how much you don't like something. It's expressive

Up till now it's not the fact that people have used terms like this that has been mentioned it's the sheer fact people don't like it that you and ding are complaining about.
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I should have made myself clearer then, I have no problem with people not liking images, I fully expect it. Please note that I have never actually said I am a huge fan of any of the images in the TW.

My problem is with the tone and attitude. Put it this way, if there was a discussion going on around a table about the TW prize and someone I knew made as derogatory comments as have been made in this thread, I'd be ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with them.

I'd even say it wouldn't be as bad if I thought for a second that photographs posted on here by members might be discussed in a similar manner, where the photographer is likely to see the comments.
 
fixedimage said:
As for the portraits in the 500px Popular selection there's a very clear bias on the judging there too, lots and lots of young ladies in varying (though not by much) states of undress, most with some tattoooing or piercing, looking seductively at the camera.
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menthel said:
500px has its own 'clique', its all about scantily clad russian waifs looking at the camera and then processed to within an inch of its life.
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I just surveyed the first 5 pages in the most popular section and there were 13 pics as described and 22 pics nothing like that at all.

So i think both those comments are proven incorrect. There are pics like that on there, but they aren't the majority.
 
fixedimage said:
My problem is with the tone and attitude. Put it this way, if there was a discussion going on around a table about the TW prize and someone I knew made as derogatory comments as have been made in this thread, I'd be ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with them.
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Then I think you are being over sensitive. I hope you never watch any sport down the pub :LOL:
 
joescrivens said:
I just surveyed the first 5 pages in the most popular section and there were 13 pics as described and 22 pics nothing like that at all.

So i think both those comments are proven incorrect. There are pics like that on there, but they aren't the majority.
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But are there much more frequently than other styles in portrait. The prevailing style on 500px is processing whatever picture you have taken to within an inch of its life, be it portrait, lanscape or wildlife. I feel that Joe has something to prove here after his earlier poorly chosen words! ;)
 
menthel said:
But are there much more frequently than other styles in portrait. The prevailing style on 500px is processing whatever picture you have taken to within an inch of its life, be it portrait, lanscape or wildlife. I feel that Joe has something to prove here after his earlier poorly chosen words! ;)
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what poorly chosen words?
 
joescrivens said:
what poorly chosen words?
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Beyond lame, poop and pelt as examples? Would you use those to critique photos here? I expect not? It hardly puts you in a good light when you can express yourself in a correct fashion.

Just off to crit some photos here. I think I will use beyond lame if that is ok with you!

:eek::p
 
ding76uk said:
I personally love the entry and can see why it won.
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Excellent. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this please as it's an area of photography I struggle with and I'm trying to understand it more.

As part of my coursework I've been given Photography as contemporary art to read, and I'm struggling with the concept of, how I see it, the photograph is much less important than the idea or the accompanying 1000 words of text.
 
Alastair said:
Whilst those two schools of thought do exist, there are clearly three opinion groups on this thread:
  1. It's a good/great portrait.
  2. It's a good/great portrait, but a predictable winner in the T-W which has a substantial history of picking winners featuring 13/14 year old girls with a tendency for redheads and the inclusion of fluffy animals.
  3. It's a terrible portrait and should never have won an award.
Personally, I'm in the second group. And you do need to look at the winners from the last three or four years together to understand why. Each winner is individually a technically and artistically very competent image, but if they appeared on the same short-list you couldn't but help draw some conclusions about the bias of the selection/judging panel.
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Actually I liked last years winning shot and you have to say that redheads stand out
 
menthel said:
Beyond lame, poop and pelt as examples? Would you use those to critique photos here? I expect not? It hardly puts you in a good light when you can express yourself in a correct fashion.

Just off to crit some photos here. I think I will use beyond lame if that is ok with you!

:eek::p
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I look at some photos here including and my own photos and those words come right into my head so they aren't poorly chosen for expressing my opinion. The reason I wouldn't use them here for crit is because it's not constructive to the community.

I wasn't providing crit to the photo that won the TW prize. I was expressing an opinion of something in the public eye that I think is poo, pelt and beyond lame. and I'm sure next year if a photo wins that I think is rubbish I'll say so again (y)
 
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