Sky Arts ~ Masters of Photography

chriscross said:
At least the lady isn't appearing from behind the frosted glass at the image review stage in this series! She was so annoying and I'm glad she's lost her role in this series! Recently caught up in it and I think it's been as good as last years. Although the 'English Lady' is a bit annoying as least she has had the balls to go with images she likes rather the the ones the expert likes - she's done ok so far using that method. £150k is a whopper of a first prize by the way for this comp.
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I actually didn't mind Isabella Rossellini she was a stunner in her youth, a very attractive lady.

As far as 'balls' goes, the signature stroke of all the early exits is 'not listening to the experts', she's been lucky a couple of times that there was some obvious failures around her. You'll also note, she 'won' this week, when she took the advice of the expert.

Most photographers are lousy picture editors, it's a skill all it's own, and it is tested all the way through this comp.
 
DemiLion said:
You mean that they have the same feelings that most good photographers do, in that there is always room for improvement?
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Pretty much yes, however alongside a plan this should be on the mind all of the time as well as how can I improve, how could I approach this, what should I have done that I perhaps didn't? And from there with the remaining time, go back out there and try to find what your missing.

I personally think I'm pretty useless but go at the hobbie because it's something to do and I enjoy playing around and experimenting however if I was in a position to win €150k I'd certainly be paying more attention to what did and didnt work in the previous season, researching the judges that you see in each episode rather than the guest judges and I'd be aiming to please where ever possible which includes listening to critique and the judgement and guidance of the pros; which seems to subliminally and selectively guide the judges towards a story and playing to their egos.

The British lady did this for the first time this series and as a result won the day. I understand that there must still be some good content on the memory card to begin with but you can easily go with the wrong set as has been proven week in and week out. Will we see this realisation next week or was this a small blip in an otherwise generally ignorant bunch that will continue to just get by and not wow?
 
I think you misunderstand @Andrew Moore
Being unhappy with our results is part of (apologies for the A word) being an artist.

It's not something you could train your way out of for £££.

I've just seen a headline of an interview with Paul Weller, he always believes that the album he's working on will be his best work. After a 40 year career, it's easy to see that's a ridiculous premise, but what would be the point of him going into the studio if he wasn't trying to do something better than he'd done before.

I've never come away from a single shoot where I didn't curse the shots I'd missed, shots I could have done better etc. And my work isn't as dramatically time bound as this competition.

Whilst it's easy to believe you would be able to shoot for the judges, the reality is a brief, subjects and conditions that you'd have to juggle (not to mention subject interaction)
It'd be nigh on impossible
 
Phil V said:
I think you misunderstand @Andrew Moore
Being unhappy with our results is part of (apologies for the A word) being an artist.

It's not something you could train your way out of for £££.

I've just seen a headline of an interview with Paul Weller, he always believes that the album he's working on will be his best work. After a 40 year career, it's easy to see that's a ridiculous premise, but what would be the point of him going into the studio if he wasn't trying to do something better than he'd done before.

I've never come away from a single shoot where I didn't curse the shots I'd missed, shots I could have done better etc. And my work isn't as dramatically time bound as this competition.

Whilst it's easy to believe you would be able to shoot for the judges, the reality is a brief, subjects and conditions that you'd have to juggle (not to mention subject interaction)
It'd be nigh on impossible
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No need to apologise, I agree that an artistic mind is a requirement for all briefs as it's that artistic nature that allows for the interpretation,

The contestants are chosen for their work so they must have taken some good shots to get to where they are. Ie, on the show.

Each judge has their own style and mimicking that style plays to that photographers/judges ego that's all. I understand this has to be their own work but part of the brief which is never mentioned but implied is to shoot for the judges so certain aspects of the mentioned brief could go on the back burner.

If my wife says "decorate the spare bedroom" I could do that but she won't necessarily like the result even if done flawlessly. Decorating to her tastes however will more likely get the reaction I want even if the work in my opinion is not very good and that's because I've worked to her preferences and styles and to a degree nurtured her ego. The judges can't be impartial and objective, it's human nature to run with a preference in mind before we even see something and to be subjective in everything we do.

If I was talented enough to be on the show I wouldn't be working 100% to my own style. I'd be working to appease the judges as they are essentially the customer and whether or not they say "do it this way" or not it is certainly implied. This is one of the reasons why the show doesn't entirely work. The judges should be swapped out every week leaving a single presenter. There's no chance of favouritism to sink in that way and the contestants would be able to work towards what they want more easily with less chance of being ridiculed for it.
 
I'm getting more disappointed - it is a SHOW with all the trappings. i don't think its a show about photography they never go into depth on KIT, Exposure, Post why a contestant decided to use a compact system or which lens would be better/worse. Its more a personality show just like last year, we don't truly get to discover how and why a particular image was chosen, why can't we spend a little time with the judges when their deciding who should go! It seems like a closed group. When you truly think about the shows format it tells us nothing about general photography, but keeps telling us the same information each week about the contestants. Is it a show about photography for photographers I don't think so.
 
Shaun Leatham said:
I'm getting more disappointed - it is a SHOW with all the trappings. i don't think its a show about photography they never go into depth on KIT, Exposure, Post why a contestant decided to use a compact system or which lens would be better/worse. Its more a personality show just like last year, we don't truly get to discover how and why a particular image was chosen, why can't we spend a little time with the judges when their deciding who should go! It seems like a closed group. When you truly think about the shows format it tells us nothing about general photography, but keeps telling us the same information each week about the contestants. Is it a show about photography for photographers I don't think so.
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Whilst I have some sympathy with what's missing (motive of the photographer, details of he judging process), I think there's already more than enough technical detail splashed on screen with the images.

Photography isn't about the exposure settings and kit, it's about the artistic decisions made.

But it's an age old argument.
 
Being Ingrid Bergman's daughter would xplain the stunning part; she did ask some key questions including "perhaps it is the task" that was the problem once when nobody seemed to do anything correctly, according to ththe judges. For all its faults, I still like this programme; I always thought it odd that there was nothing about photography given how popular it is as a hobby/ profession/ obsession.
 
Maybe I need to explain a little better. First this is just my general opinion I’m not that involved with the show but as there is so little photographic content on TV I watch it.
This show is called “Master of Photography” not visionOn or Painter of the year its supposed to be a show based around Photography so kit, exposure, composition should be its main feature surly.
Kit – Once the contestants have been given a brief surly we should see how they decide which KIT to use and how they explain the reason for that particular kit choice.
Following the Brief – I’m happy with the over all content, following each contestant as they follow the brief.
Image Processing – we don’t get to see any processing just a quick over the shoulder view now and again – surly this is one of the major aspects of the show. How many times have I seen under exposed images before processing and then when they present their images POW.
Jude review – we never see any Jude discussions of images just a couple of disagreement sound bites – it is a closed room WHY! Once again that’s the whole point of the show is it not.

I know its all about entertainment but today entertainment just seems to be about picking the weakest link but this show should be about the process of taking a commercially acceptable image and how that was attained. I keep having to tell myself – Its a show, its a show, get a life. :)
 
Shaun Leatham said:
Maybe I need to explain a little better. First this is just my general opinion I’m not that involved with the show but as there is so little photographic content on TV I watch it.
This show is called “Master of Photography” not visionOn or Painter of the year its supposed to be a show based around Photography so kit, exposure, composition should be its main feature surly.
Kit – Once the contestants have been given a brief surly we should see how they decide which KIT to use and how they explain the reason for that particular kit choice.
Following the Brief – I’m happy with the over all content, following each contestant as they follow the brief.
Image Processing – we don’t get to see any processing just a quick over the shoulder view now and again – surly this is one of the major aspects of the show. How many times have I seen under exposed images before processing and then when they present their images POW.
Jude review – we never see any Jude discussions of images just a couple of disagreement sound bites – it is a closed room WHY! Once again that’s the whole point of the show is it not.

I know its all about entertainment but today entertainment just seems to be about picking the weakest link but this show should be about the process of taking a commercially acceptable image and how that was attained. I keep having to tell myself – Its a show, its a show, get a life. :)
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On "Painter of the Year" do they talk about whether they choose to use a brush or a spatula? Pigment / canvas choice?

I do think it would be interesting top hear more of the judges debates, and also, for the judges to tackle the brief too perhaps, but I'm not really that interested in the PP / equipment choice other than the cursory 'should I go wide or not' type discussion, which I think they cover off sufficiently (for me at least).
 
Shaun Leatham said:
Maybe I need to explain a little better. First this is just my general opinion I’m not that involved with the show but as there is so little photographic content on TV I watch it.
This show is called “Master of Photography” not visionOn or Painter of the year its supposed to be a show based around Photography so kit, exposure, composition should be its main feature surly.
Kit – Once the contestants have been given a brief surly we should see how they decide which KIT to use and how they explain the reason for that particular kit choice.
Following the Brief – I’m happy with the over all content, following each contestant as they follow the brief.
Image Processing – we don’t get to see any processing just a quick over the shoulder view now and again – surly this is one of the major aspects of the show. How many times have I seen under exposed images before processing and then when they present their images POW.
Jude review – we never see any Jude discussions of images just a couple of disagreement sound bites – it is a closed room WHY! Once again that’s the whole point of the show is it not.

I know its all about entertainment but today entertainment just seems to be about picking the weakest link but this show should be about the process of taking a commercially acceptable image and how that was attained. I keep having to tell myself – Its a show, its a show, get a life. :)
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Their kit choice is fairly limited by the sponsor, we've had snippets but my guess is that their choice of kit would help no one (in fact you don't have to look far to find someone who doesn't get it condemning the kit choice).

There's an odd snippet about image editing, but if you really want to learn this, the Internet holds many great tutorials. I'm not sure but I think there's little enough time for the stuff that matters, adding processing decisions would add very little at great cost.

I'd like to hear more from the judges beyond the grandstanding though. I think it'd add useful and entertaining content.
 
I didn't see the first series so don't have a basis for comparison (although i may see if i can get it through on demand at some stage), but while i have enjoyed aspects of it there is also parts that i find annoying such as the judges being inconsistent from week to week with what they want from the contestants and some of the critique from the white woman is just silly. Must admit the girl who does the dance stuff would have gone home by now had i been judging, not been keen on much of her work at all and she just generally gets on my nerves lol
 
This is more about what I think the show needs to survive not my needs I'm fine in that department LOL. I see and understand all your points. For me personally its lacking - it is just X factor with pictures it needs something better. OK thats the end of my ranting on this topic :)
 
Shaun Leatham said:
This is more about what I think the show needs to survive not my needs I'm fine in that department LOL. I see and understand all your points. For me personally its lacking - it is just X factor with pictures it needs something better. OK thats the end of my ranting on this topic :)
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My wife has no real interest in photography but watches it with me. If there was more detail as far as kit was concerned, she wouldn't. I suspect this is the case for a lot of viewers.

If the show is to survive, it doesn't need t be made more niche by only aiming it at enthusiasts. Remember, it's on Sky Arts. ;)
 
The latest episode of home and a self portrait was interesting. Some thinking outside of the box and some otherwise confusing shots made for an interesting episode conveying not just a need for the right composition but the need to capture emotion that isn't just a frame of the moment but an undefined period of time generalising the emotion that photographer was feeling.

The winner I felt was justified as the story suggesting an embarrassment of what role a person plays in life is only a suggestion and in fact that role is what you make of it, in this case being proud enough to do what's needed to provide honestly to those who matter most to you. The subjects on face value hold no interest or suggest anything other than what they are until you bring them together to portray that story and I felt it worked very well.
 
Just watched last episode.
The right one went out tonight, surprised as I thought in previous episodes he had been quite strong.
I still can't understand what the Italian judge is on about.
 
Peter123 said:
Just watched last episode.
The right one went out tonight, surprised as I thought in previous episodes he had been quite strong.
I still can't understand what the Italian judge is on about.
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In the preamble to the show they introduce Toscani as "acclaimed and controversial."

To paraphrase Basil Fawlty - "You'll have to excuse him, he's from Italy."
 
Brian G said:
In the preamble to the show they introduce Toscani as "acclaimed and controversial."

To paraphrase Basil Fawlty - "You'll have to excuse him, he's from Italy."
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Just look back at how unusual the Benetton adverts were for the time and you'll get a measure of what drives the man.
 
Well that wasn't expected. I believe that the contestant who came in 4th should have gone in to the final and unfortunately the winner was who I'd have booted out for 4th... I'll save names until more of you have seen the episode but I just thought there were weak in some episodes and strong in others and that inconsistency doesn't make you a master but a casualty of luck and chance.

The feedback from the pro for once was rather constructive and positive even to towards the weaker shots which created a calm and positive environment for the contestants to then present without that anxiety looming over them that previous pros for some reason seemed to project.
 
Disappointed in the results. Personally I thought a couple were unlucky to be knocked out so early. Gillian and olympe could or should have gone much earlier and comewell can count himself lucky too. Souvid for me was the best. Some of his ideas were different and bold and I really liked him as a person too.
 
cambsno said:
Disappointed in the results. Personally I thought a couple were unlucky to be knocked out so early. Gillian and olympe could or should have gone much earlier and comewell can count himself lucky too. Souvid for me was the best. Some of his ideas were different and bold and I really liked him as a person too.
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I don't know. While some of his work was good, he's still tainted by his past actions (see time.com) and his actions in the last task (and a few of the earlier ones) would suggest he hasn't really moved on as far as perhaps he could. I even thought the last 'controversy' was perhaps staged by the production crew to allow him to say what he did.

The winner was my least favourite individual at the start - but they did produce consistency interesting material, challenging stuff too, and I thought they were a worthy winner in terms of material. My personal favourite was unsuccessful - but the judges were right in their comments about maintaining distance, but for me, that was part of the interest.
 
I thought the right person won, but the quality of the last task was pretty poor by all of the contestants.
 
Unfortunately the format leads to the strange situation where you are better off being bad (but not the worst) in the early weeks - as that way you become the 'most improved' (n)
 
Furtim said:
Just look back at how unusual the Benetton adverts were for the time and you'll get a measure of what drives the man.
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Which, of course, all happened in the last century.
What's he done recently that's of note?
 
Brian G said:
Which, of course, all happened in the last century.
What's he done recently that's of note?
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I dunno - more than me I suspect as I didn't get the call to be a judge on a photography show :)

I still think you can draw something from his choice of images for Benetton versus the 'norm' at the time.
 
cambsno said:
Souvid for me was the best. Some of his ideas were different and bold and I really liked him as a person too.
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God no, the cheating little bartsteward. He lied to the judges at least twice, or if not exactly lies, then willful misdirection; both in this task and to Martin Parr.



Furtim said:
... he's still tainted by his past actions
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Future actions at the time of filming. This is before he was promoted by Magnum and LensCulture. One wonders if Martin Parr pushed him forward after they met!
 
Have just watched the final - I expected the winner to be who it turned out to be, I felt they put more effort into achieving the target projects in most episodes than the others

And I hadn't realised what Olympe's surname is!!!!!
 
Flawed as it is, I enjoy this series and hope it comes back again. I find it odd that here is so little out there when photography is so popular.
 
Furtim said:
I don't know. While some of [Souvid’s] work was good, he's still tainted by his past actions (see time.com) and his actions in the last task (and a few of the earlier ones) would suggest he hasn't really moved on as far as perhaps he could. I even thought the last 'controversy' was perhaps staged by the production crew to allow him to say what he did.
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The way it “came out” to the judges was staged, but presumably the production crew / camera crew “monitor” the behaviour of the photographers in each task. There was a contestant in the first series who took a photo on the wrong SD Card (so was disqualified) which was presumably reported by the camera crew. What’s interesting was that they (Sky) made a grand statement before the broadcasts started on their website. But it appears they decided to just ignore Souvid’s revelations of image manipulation.

The winner was my least favourite individual at the start - but they did produce consistency interesting material, challenging stuff too, and I thought they were a worthy winner in terms of material. My personal favourite was unsuccessful - but the judges were right in their comments about maintaining distance, but for me, that was part of the interest.
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I didn’t always like the winners work, but one thing I did find refreshing was they always stood by their images and they took responsibility and they were they images they wanted to produce. They almost didn’t care if the judges didn’t like them if they were happy with their work... some other contestants were more worried about finding the images the judges would like best.
 
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DemiLion said:
...which were made after the programme had finished in production.
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Sky made a big statement in their website (I think I copy and pasted it towards the beginning of this thread) when they had an “about the photographers” section (which went before the first episode was broadcast).
Since filming on Master of Photography was completed, Souvid Datta has admitted in an interview with Time that he dishonestly doctored and appropriated images in the past. Souvid was selected to take part in our programme on the basis of a portfolio of work he submitted as his own in October 2016, and our producers are satisfied that these works were original.

However, Master of Photography is a celebration of originality and authenticity in photography, and Souvid’s behaviour is in total opposition the values that the programme seeks to promote. Whilst filming on the series is now complete we are currently looking at how we reflect this matter on the programme.​
I was assuming their would be some kind of onscreen acknowledgement or a post show voice explanation but instead they appear to have just ignored it.
 
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Perhaps this was just to avoid explaining that he hadn't won so they didn't care.
 
The Virgin planner is set to record it, I’ll check it’s found the new series.
 
Andrew Moore said:
Well it looks like season 3 starts on the 29th!
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Nice one, thanks for the heads up. Whilst it's not the greatest program and example of photography I've really enjoyed watching this last two series.
 
Phil V said:
The Virgin planner is set to record it, I’ll check it’s found the new series.
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Still not showing on the sky planner yet, I hope I remember to set it to record when it's listed :eek:
 
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