Any Camera Club Judges on here??

n1kcy

n1kcy

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I'm just being curious..... do we have any camera club judges on here, and if so are you brave enough to come clean :lol:

A further question....if you are a judge, have you had any close calls over comments you may have made. I know they often make a joke about saying they'll have to leave early at the end as they mark across the range, but seriously anyone every had any verbal / physial abuse for not awarding a 10???

Come on, spill the beans...
 
I'm not, but next week I'll be helping to judge our club's annual "Visual Art" competition. I think they asked me because I know less about art than anyone else. I do have something of a tendency to speak my mind (perhaps that's another reason I was asked!), so it could be interesting. If I survive the experience I'll be happy to report back.
 
Ah..the Camera Club judge thing! Pretty new to all this myself and joined the local club last year. Must say I find the whole competition thing fascinating - and quite hilarious really. Never done any other sport/hobby where everyone, of all experiences and levels, throws their efforts into the one pot and some joker comes along and destroys everything you've done - even if you've just been taking photos for a couple of days! Can be quite offputting really. Doesn't bother me, but some folk get quite upset by it all. :lol:
 
If all the Judges were scared off...
Clubs could be clubs.
 
For my sins i have judged on the odd occasions at a few of the local clubs. As well as doing the odd talks. I use to be Chairman of the local camera club before i turned to a career in photography so most of the members of the local clubs know me through inter club battles etc. There is a art to being a judge no matter what the picture, always find some positives, never trash a image you don't know who took it they might be disabled or a young member who is just starting out, always be constructive use similar pictures in the competition to explain why they work better, explain about higher and lower view points, explain the rule of thirds i could go on and on but i won't.
I always get the audience involved i will ask questions of the authors if they are present during the competition. This i feel is important and i always start of by saying this IT IS ONLY ONE PERSONS POINT OF VIEW AND IF YOU LIKE IT THAT IS THE MAIN THING.
I have never had a bad experience and i have even invited for a drink afterwards with some of the members when i do any talks i always encourage members to comment on the pictures i put up if you judge you must be willing to be judged .
Please feel free to look through my work in my gallery on here and if you want to get your own back on a judge feel free i hope this answers your question
Regards
Richard aka Lost
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
If all the Judges were scared off...
Clubs could be clubs.
Click to expand...

But for most clubs it's the competitions that hold them together. They give members something to work towards, a reason to get out there and take pictures. It's optional to take part and it's entertainment for the evening if you are an observer.

You can approach it with two minds, either take the hump that one individual didn't like your work of art or take on board any comments that they may have, about everyone's work - not just yours. Personally, I've learnt a lot about composition, lighting etc just by listening to what their opinion is, then discussing it with other members.

In my very short experience of club competitions most judges find some positive criticism about every photo.

And before you say it, I'm not a judge, but I am a competition secretary and I do agree about everyone putting images into the same pot regardless of experience. We're hoping to try splitting our competitions next season into two working groups. It might be a can of worms, who knows.

If anyone has any experience of this, I'd be interested to know what problems you might have had please.
 
StewartR said:
I'm not, but next week I'll be helping to judge our club's annual "Visual Art" competition. I think they asked me because I know less about art than anyone else. I do have something of a tendency to speak my mind (perhaps that's another reason I was asked!), so it could be interesting. If I survive the experience I'll be happy to report back.
Click to expand...

Good luck, try to have fun and remember to try and say at least one positive thing about every image!

dougiew said:
Ah..the Camera Club judge thing! Pretty new to all this myself and joined the local club last year. Must say I find the whole competition thing fascinating - and quite hilarious really. Never done any other sport/hobby where everyone, of all experiences and levels, throws their efforts into the one pot and some joker comes along and destroys everything you've done - even if you've just been taking photos for a couple of days! Can be quite offputting really. Doesn't bother me, but some folk get quite upset by it all. :lol:
Click to expand...

I don't think I'd class judges as jokers, they usually know a thing or two. I agree with some of the other comments that it's just one persons view and there are plenty of people who should work on their skills on being able to take some constructive critisicm. I also have learnt alot from the judges comments. I've been taking part in club competitions for 5 years but I'm having a break as I;ve started to notice my images becoming too much of a camera club style. I ended up taking pictures to please the judges rather than for myself. I must confess that I do have a chuckle though at some people reactions at times.


lost said:
For my sins i have judged on the odd occasions at a few of the local clubs. As well as doing the odd talks. I use to be Chairman of the local camera club before i turned to a career in photography so most of the members of the local clubs know me through inter club battles etc. There is a art to being a judge no matter what the picture, always find some positives, never trash a image you don't know who took it they might be disabled or a young member who is just starting out, always be constructive use similar pictures in the competition to explain why they work better, explain about higher and lower view points, explain the rule of thirds i could go on and on but i won't.
I always get the audience involved i will ask questions of the authors if they are present during the competition. This i feel is important and i always start of by saying this IT IS ONLY ONE PERSONS POINT OF VIEW AND IF YOU LIKE IT THAT IS THE MAIN THING.
I have never had a bad experience and i have even invited for a drink afterwards with some of the members when i do any talks i always encourage members to comment on the pictures i put up if you judge you must be willing to be judged .
Please feel free to look through my work in my gallery on here and if you want to get your own back on a judge feel free i hope this answers your question
Regards
Richard aka Lost
Click to expand...

Had a quick look at your images, and I think they are amazing. But I'm sure if you submitted some of them you would get a few comments about not having an odd number of birds in the picture and having the bird flying from right to left instead of left to right..blah blah. ;)

Loopy said:
But for most clubs it's the competitions that hold them together. They give members something to work towards, a reason to get out there and take pictures. It's optional to take part and it's entertainment for the evening if you are an observer.

You can approach it with two minds, either take the hump that one individual didn't like your work of art or take on board any comments that they may have, about everyone's work - not just yours. Personally, I've learnt a lot about composition, lighting etc just by listening to what their opinion is, then discussing it with other members.

In my very short experience of club competitions most judges find some positive criticism about every photo.

And before you say it, I'm not a judge, but I am a competition secretary and I do agree about everyone putting images into the same pot regardless of experience. We're hoping to try splitting our competitions next season into two working groups. It might be a can of worms, who knows.

If anyone has any experience of this, I'd be interested to know what problems you might have had please.
Click to expand...

I agree with everything you say :thumbs: our competition nights are the best attended. Our club used to have different classes, then the numbers dropped so it went to one open class, but now numbers are back on the increase and we are planning to have two classes next year, but it's going to be tricky to work out a way of putting people into specific classes. Not sure how it will turn out.
 
used to be a member and understand your OP

interesting that camera club competitions engender certain methodology
 
LOL - this thread hasn't taken the direction I expected :D:D
Certainly get some bizarre opinions expressed by judges and it's so easy to forget it's just one persons view.

I've been involved with clubs for years and seem to be giving an increasing number of presentations.
But so far I've only done one judging and it was a horrific experience.
There was one picture I found so bad I was left speechless.
I now view judges in a more sympathetic light....
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
LOL - this thread hasn't taken the direction I expected :D:D
Certainly get some bizarre opinions expressed by judges and it's so easy to forget it's just one persons view.

I've been involved with clubs for years and seem to be giving an increasing number of presentations.
But so far I've only done one judging and it was a horrific experience.
There was one picture I found so bad I was left speechless.
I now view judges in a more sympathetic light....
Click to expand...

Sometimes I'm tempted to try judging, then some terrible picture comes up and I think, man, how's he/she going to handle this, glad it's not me!
 
n1kcy said:
Good luck, try to have fun and remember to try and say at least one positive thing about every image!



I don't think I'd class judges as jokers, they usually know a thing or two. I agree with some of the other comments that it's just one persons view and there are plenty of people who should work on their skills on being able to take some constructive critisicm. I also have learnt alot from the judges comments. I've been taking part in club competitions for 5 years but I'm having a break as I;ve started to notice my images becoming too much of a camera club style. I ended up taking pictures to please the judges rather than for myself. I must confess that I do have a chuckle though at some people reactions at times.




Had a quick look at your images, and I think they are amazing. But I'm sure if you submitted some of them you would get a few comments about not having an odd number of birds in the picture and having the bird flying from right to left instead of left to right..blah blah. ;)



I agree with everything you say :thumbs: our competition nights are the best attended. Our club used to have different classes, then the numbers dropped so it went to one open class, but now numbers are back on the increase and we are planning to have two classes next year, but it's going to be tricky to work out a way of putting people into specific classes. Not sure how it will turn out.
Click to expand...

Hi N1kcy
Totally agree with you i had one picture that had scored 4 perfect 20's next interclub comp bombed out with a 12 judge told all and sundry he did not like it made me laugh the previous week i had sold the same picture to a travel guide magazine for £350. it's water off a ducks back to me i do weddings landscapes wildlife and also arrange group photographic holidays i can make my living with photography very other few judges do.
Even with very bad pictures it's normally easy to be constructive without really trashing the picture always have a ready smile it goes a long way

Regards
Richard aka lost
 
n1kcy said:
I agree with everything you say :thumbs: our competition nights are the best attended. Our club used to have different classes, then the numbers dropped so it went to one open class, but now numbers are back on the increase and we are planning to have two classes next year, but it's going to be tricky to work out a way of putting people into specific classes. Not sure how it will turn out.
Click to expand...

LOL, do you mind if I keep this post. It doesn't happen too often.

We are sort of letting members choose which group they're in, unless they've won a trophy in the past 5 years in which case they must go into the 'Gold' group. Others can enter in the 'Silver' group. I say Gold and Silver. It's not been confirmed that's how the groups are named, but Lost suggested it in a PM (hope you don't mind me sharing) and it seems better than our advanced and novice names.
 
Loopy said:
LOL, do you mind if I keep this post. It doesn't happen too often.

We are sort of letting members choose which group they're in, unless they've won a trophy in the past 5 years in which case they must go into the 'Gold' group. Others can enter in the 'Silver' group. I say Gold and Silver. It's not been confirmed that's how the groups are named, but Lost suggested it in a PM (hope you don't mind me sharing) and it seems better than our advanced and novice names.
Click to expand...

No Problem
Have you ever considered having be a judge for the evening where every one brings 1 or 2 photos they are positioned around the room and all the members then have a sheet of paper and mark them 1 to 10 and after the outcome then maybe ask a few of the members to comment on a few of the images
It can be very interesting just comparing the marks given to each image by all the members
Regards
Richard
 
I have never been in a club nor ever want to be. But if I was in one, I wouldn't like 1 or 2 people judging my work to there own standard and there own taste. I would rather have all the other members vote for each picture (excluding there own). The maybe comments from the other members. I feel if you get one person who takes charge then there is a massive possibility of power going to there head and marking everyone's work as if they was back in school. Yes you need someone to organise it but not to be a judge.
 
lost said:
Have you ever considered having be a judge for the evening where every one brings 1 or 2 photos they are positioned around the room and all the members then have a sheet of paper and mark them 1 to 10 and after the outcome then maybe ask a few of the members to comment on a few of the images
Click to expand...

I think that we're going to try something like that to select the print entry for one of the interclub competitions. It might be interesting.

On a different note. I think that someone mentioned earlier that they were avoiding the competitions for a while because it was changing the way they produced work. I can relate to this. I tend to take photos specifically for competitions, trying to adhere to certain 'rules'. Then I do the other stuff for personal gratification. Sometimes I enter images into a competition purely for the opinion.
I realise that the whole 'taking a photo to try and second guess the judges taste' is against what a lot of people believe in, but I actually like that element of challenge.
 
I like the gold & silver idea and the way of deciding by who's won trophies, I will put that to the committee. Thanks.

Each year we have a fun competition against a Spanish Ex-Pat camera club. They send us 30 images and as a club we mark them out of 10, and they do the same for us. That's an interesting evening, as agreeing a mark often leads to a strong debate!
 
I am a committee member / secretary of my local club and whilst i dont judge the monthly club comps (we have external judges mostly) me and 2 others judge what photos will be used in the external club competitions (we actually did this last week).
 
We've had some very good judges at our club, and some who just stand there and criticise images. I can take criticism, in fact I welcome feedback, but I like to know what's good about my images, rather than just work backwards from what he's not criticised. A good judge is one where you look at the results and say, yup, that's about right.

Our club marks everything out of 20, with scores generally from 10 upwards. The worst judge we had marked everything except the top 3 (which he gave 18, 19 and 20), between 10 and 13, thus there was no distinction between a downright crap picture, and one that just missed out on a placing. It also totally messed up everyones cumulative scores for the year. Needless to say he's not been invited back.......
 
One thing i have noticed about some of judges is they have their own pet favourite subject. I think when as clubs you book judges you have to give some thought to this wether you book them for opens or set competitions. One of the things we used to do when i was chairman of the local club was to book the judges as speakers the year before and get a feel for their work and this normally gives you a good idea on how they will be as a judge
Hope this helps
Regards
Richard aka Lost
 
one comment i do remember coming from cam club judges

well taken rubbish...:D
 
lost said:
One thing i have noticed about some of judges is they have their own pet favourite subject. I think when as clubs you book judges you have to give some thought to this wether you book them for opens or set competitions. One of the things we used to do when i was chairman of the local club was to book the judges as speakers the year before and get a feel for their work and this normally gives you a good idea on how they will be as a judge
Hope this helps
Regards
Richard aka Lost
Click to expand...

Thats a good idea. Most people in our club have been members for so many decades that they all know each judge and what they like & don't like. Puts new people at a bit of a disadvantage.
 
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