FILM Photographer of the year

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Mines in, not the one I wanted but I completely messed up the roll with the shot I wanted. Hey ho, better luck next time.
 
You'n me both, then, Andy!
 
I've been dreading the faces theme but on a drive home from work recently an idea popped into my head. Gotta find time to go and shoot it now though!
 
mines in, although, after the submission, i started playing around with another frame from the same shots and ended up preferring that one! Ah well. No idea what to do with Faces, can only think of the usual subjects which is a little dull.
 
One of the complaints I've had about POTY over the past 3 years is how little constructive critique entries get. This is for very understandable reasons, but it still reduces the learning benefit of the competition, for me at least.

One innovation this year has been the green team separate competition, and its notable that @Buck and some other members have done crit of the entries (Edit eg this post). Since we have a partly separate film competition, would it be worth trying to emulate that? Best case would be, everyone who enters the film competition agrees to do some crit of the other entries each month (once judging is over, of course, although it might make sense to do the crit in advance of knowing who shot what). that's what is supposed to happen with the 52s, for example. Most likely result would be one or two members posting critique some or most months (roughly what happened with the 52 when I tried it). Unless nobody did any critique, we'd surely be better off.

So, waddya think? And if we're doing it, on here or a separate thread?
 
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The only issue I have with the critiques is that, and i mean this in the most non inflamatory way, i dont think there are that many people who can give it well enough.

The judges this year have shown something in the way of artistic integrity, well one of them anyway, im not sure how many there are this year. Only 2 seem to have anything to say. Last year was pretty poor and put me right off it, never mind the artistic criticisms, they were getting basic technical judgements wrong.

I think its all very subjective anyway, art more than anything. I view anyone with the word "critic" in their job titles as a waste of space generally. Who is anyone to tell anyone else what is good and bad and what they should like. Anyway, before i start foaming at the mouth too much, i guess i take critiques with a pinch of salt. If people think they can learn something from it then go for it. Technical feedback can be useful if there are obvious errors/improvements to be made, artistic feedback is a different kettle of kippers.
 
My problem is that I either like it or I don't, sometimes for no good reason and I find it very difficult to give any technical critique. I can often see things 'artistically' that could be improved but even then I find it difficult to express these ideas as they are sometimes just a feeling..... :thinking:
 
I think what @ChrisR did was the best way, open up a personal thread in the Film section asking for specific feedback on images. Maybe have a subforum made up in there for peoples own feedback request threads?
 
All I know is, I have learned a lot from my 52, specially on suggestions of improved crops, and a lot too from the two threads I have done of my own entries to the last two years' competitions (though folk perhaps understandably stop commenting before all 12 main posts. There are certainly times when folk have suggested changes or "improvements" that I didn't agree with, but there have been many others where it made a whole lot of sense.
 
DFL this month I think, some cracking shots even from the digi guys.

I rekon I know which is Andy's and which is ChrisR but I don't know the others.
 
Yes, mine is pretty obvious. As I said it wasn't my first choice but for some reason I decided to totally underexpose the whole roll of shots I took on sunday and didn't have the time (or indeed the commitment) to shoot another roll.

Andy
 
I'm not confirming or denying anything as a matter of policy! :naughty:

Six filmies out of 29 this month, if I counted correctly, so even DFL gets a decent amount of points.:banana:
 
bit of a shame its gone down this month! come on chaps/chapettes, get down to boots! Some fab entries though.
 
I applaud the filmies that have entered this year but my experience of last year has left me a little disillusioned with the whole process, I'm not saying I won't enter again but I'm in no rush to enter my film based abstract pinhole shot against a pin-sharp studio set up in one of the many 'open' rounds this year it's a pointless exercise to enter a competition that doesn't suit your style.
 
AshleyC said:
bit of a shame its gone down this month! come on chaps/chapettes, get down to boots! Some fab entries though.
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It does seem a bit sad that a round with such an easily gettable shot has only 29 entries on a forum with thousands of members. I thought we'd see lots of flowers and birds etc.....
 
Andysnap said:
It does seem a bit sad that a round with such an easily gettable shot has only 29 entries on a forum with thousands of members. I thought we'd see lots of flowers and birds etc.....
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I thought that the Fur, Feather and Fowl crowd would possibly have stopped arguing about who's bird on a stick photo was staged / baited and which wasn't for long enough to actually bother submitting something. Sadly, it seems that they're worse than the Filmies fro sticking in their own little ghetto :(
 
I'd still campaign for not having a separate film/digital table next year. I think we have comprehsivly shown that we can churn out images just as well / better than digital cameras. I just get the feeling that we would do better if the source of the image was hidden from judging, well ok, if your using a rough old bit of fomapan then its pretty obvious a film shot :)

Because of the 2 tables could they be a little put off scoring film shots higher than they would of knowing that they can give the film shot loads of points in its own table anyway. But still, I just think having separate tables is doing us an injustice somewhat.
 
Personally Ashley, removing my staff badge for a moment, I'm coming to think that the whole format of a competition as a whole is dying on it's backside, it's a shadow of its former self (partly for reason's I'd rather not get into at the moment), but frankly 29 members out of a forum this size pretty much says there's no material interest anymore. 4-5 years ago, when the place was much smaller in numbers of members, there were regularly over 100 entrants. Apathy, accusations of cheating, neglect, disillusionment with prize fulfilment and dislike of either "popularity contests" (i.e. non-anonymous peer voted) or Independent Judging have all taken their toll on the entry numbers. Frankly, it's a lot of work for someone on the staff to take on, with very little reward or thanks. It's a damned good job Marc took it on this year, because there were precious few other volunteers from the rest of the staff...

I personally think that the film shots should stand or fall on their own merits, but as the film-section part of the POTY was the only part that was a) growing and b) had an improving standard of entries compared to prior years is a damned good argument for keeping it going - perhaps because the film section has a bit of a culture recently of running lots of challenges, and we're getting into the swing of it...
 
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Wasn't sure whether to post or not, as I'm a judge this year. I'm finding it quite hard to judge. I have no judging credentials...never done it before and my only qualifications are city and guilds in photography I did as an evening class. I'm only judging as I was a previous winner, and have no experience in judging.

I try to be unbiased when judging, but I cant honestly say I have achieved this. We all have likes and dislikes and it is difficult to detach oneself from these when judging. It's interesting to see how my views differ from other judges but that is to be expected as we all have our own likes and dislikes. I maybe a bit biased towards film as I prefer the look and feel of it as a medium. I dislike photos of xxxx, so am put off these maybe unfairly. So its really hard to be unbiased when judging as my tastes are going to have an impact on my voting. Not sure if this makes me a bad judge, or what even makes a good judge for something that is highly subjective.

I'm not trying to make excuses for the instances where people disagree with the judges' decisions. I can justify all my choices in my mind and I'm sure the other judges can too. But this is a competition so you are stuck with the judges we have and their likes and dislikes. If you don't like the judges decisions, ask yourself why are you bothering to enter a competition that can only ever be judged subjectively and you don't agree with their views? The judges are not going to change.....you can bombard me with as many xxxx photos as you want but I'm not going to start liking them. So either carry on submitting work you like in the knowledge that it may not tick the boxes of the judges or change your entries to make them more palatable to the judges tastes by looking at the previous winners. But there's as much point complaining about the judges taste not matching yours as it is complaining that my favourite ice cream flavour is vanilla but you made the best chocolate ever.

Its good to see a good level of representation from F&C and as a ratio of total members, I imagine film entrants are putting digital users to shame for turnout
 
So well done the filmies again this month! Half the film entrants placed in the overall top 10... Well done @Andysnap @AshleyC and @steveo_mcg .

And with the shrinking numbers, I'm getting more and more points for being nearly last... :)
 
thanks :) i'm tempted to come along next thursday so i can throw some sand in the back of Andy's camera ;)
 
AshleyC said:
thanks :) i'm tempted to come along next thursday so i can throw some sand in the back of Andy's camera ;)
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I have more than one camera ;):D It's quite close now isn't it and somehow I'm up to fourth in the overall comp as well.:thinking:
 
Cheers Chris, I didn't expect anything this month I was just polishing off a roll of velvia before getting it processed I nearly didn't enter it so low was my expectations.
 
A big well done to all the film entries,all holding there own on merit in a very good month. A special congratulation to Mr Snap on his excellent photograph and the fact that overall 4TH in the competition so far tremendous.

Have to say that I loved AshleyC shot,it was well thought out and beautifully lit and could have been flora or fauna.

(y)(y)(y):clap::clap::clap:
 
I thought both Ashley and Steve's shots were superb, the lighting in Ashley's was stunning and the composition of Steve's really worked.
 
The filmies have really shown that we aren't on some sort of disadvantage this year, the quality of images you've all been pumping out has been awesome. The fact that the points "range" on the table is still quite close after 5 months really shows this. I think what's also helped is that there is no "no pp" months. We can do what we like and its all about the image which is what it should be. No one has really gone mental on the PP (film or digital), its all seemed quite subtle and controlled. Hopefully they will keep it for next year, if there is one.

Andys shot would of fallen on its ass if he put it in front of black or white (imo), having that subtle pink really lifted it. Colour harmony at its best! Carls' is lovely and im surprised that didn't score more in the main table.

Im just bloody annoyed that i processed 2 other images off the roll that i shot this one on, after i submitted it, and they were heads and shoulders above this image. I don't think i would of scored much more based on what was above me, im just annoyed i didn't put my best in, impetuosity!. Im a bit annoyed the judge criticsed the "dead space" in mine, when that was a considered part of it, but hey ho. Onward.

I really do have nothing this month apart from some generic blandness.
 
Andysnap said:
I thought both Ashley and Steve's shots were superb, the lighting in Ashley's was stunning and the composition of Steve's really worked.
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Cheers Andy, I remain unconvinced by my shot but hey who am I to judge...


Just realised I'm on holiday next week so that's really going to scupper the shot I wanted, the judges wouldn't have liked it any way.
 
Looks like I'm a non runner this month. I've got the shots I need on the infernal box but I Don't have time to process them besides they'd be digital any way and would have no bearing on my score :D.
 
That's a shame, Steven. None of the shots I wanted turned out quite the way I'd hoped. Devved a film yesterday afternoon, scanned it last night, and I'm hoping when I look at it again one of the shots will whisper to me "TBY reminded you that DFL is better than DNE..."!
 
I haven't actually taken my camera out of the bag at all this month as I've been too busy fixing up my van ready to use it to camp in next month. All month I've been thinking "yeahhhh, loads of time left to sort out my POTY entry", then suddenly it's the last day! :eek:

Brought my camera to work with me today and will be taking a sneaky 2 hour lunch to pop out and get the photo I've planned. Hopefully I'll be able to dev, scan, edit and enter it in the 2.5 hour gap I have before I go out this evening! Think I might have to pinch mum's hairdryer to speed it along though :D
 
Had some ideas, didn't implement them, looking like a second DNE for me. At least next month is open, I guess. :rolleyes:
 
Got mine in, not quite the one I'd planned but I'm ok with it and.... trumpet fanfare please.... I already have next months taken, devved, scanned and processed. I am a smart ar*e. :banana:
 
Andysnap said:
Got mine in, not quite the one I'd planned but I'm ok with it and.... trumpet fanfare please.... I already have next months taken, devved, scanned and processed. I am a smart ar*e. :banana:
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But remember Andy, nobody likes a smartarse!
 
Andysnap said:
Got mine in, not quite the one I'd planned but I'm ok with it and.... trumpet fanfare please.... I already have next months taken, devved, scanned and processed. I am a smart ar*e. :banana:
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Go on Andy, enter it now, you know you want to!
 
Only 4 film entries? Mixed feelings, half glad since mine is such a bag of generic pap I should still get a point or two but a shame there aren't more entries
 
12 points minimum for those who entered :) :) :)

But yes I agree with you on the number of entries. Total number fairly low as well. But I guess it always happens. There's not much motive for starting part way through the year, or rejoining after a gap (although I hope some filmies do), but there are plenty of "life gets in the way" reasons for dropping out. :(
 
I'll be honest, This round and September's Animals round would have been the two rounds that would have absolutely killed me had I been shooting in the main competition... it's been hard enough getting something to enter for the staff version, and that's "only" competing against 11 of the 12 staff and admins, never mind the 61,756 members...

My hat's off to everyone who's entered on film so far (I've not managed to do so yet on the StaffPOTY, but may yet manage one or two), and here's hoping its just a temporary blip, and that we go back to a few more filmies getting a shot in.

Though, again, in fairness, the numbers overall were pretty low this month - 4 from 28 is still 1 in seven of the entries... which is a higher proportion than we filmies make up of the "general populace", so we shouldn't beat ourselves up too much!
 
I had an over ambitious shot in mind and planed it for the last week once I got my lighting sorted, unfortunately I forgot I was on holiday that week so failed miserably. Got enough for for a proof of concept on the infernal box but didn't have time to get it entered. June I always a nightmare for me.
 
Just finished scanning, the shot I wanted has developed very unevenly, huge bands. The alternate shot is about as good but I can't post the primary for development advice since they're very similar. It's on the 54 so I have another punt at developing it.
 
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