Public Humiliation

Some text I wrote on my blog about entering the landscape photographer of the year competition...

First I’m slightly nervous being so open here, as my entries may be total ignored in the competition, initiating public humiliation, “look at me, I’m such a looser”. but then again....cough....cough, I’ve some pretty strong defence mechanisms lined up...but seriously I’m not sure winning this competition is a guarantee of quality, I mean it should be! Winning this competition in my view should highlight the very best in landscape photography from the UK. (What the hell is the best anyway?) I do wonder how many professional landscape photographers enter? (I know Adam Burton does), but what of the other big boys, Is it beneath them? I wonder if it would be just too humiliating not to win? Or from the top of the profession, is it considered an amateur competition? Anyway I suppose the fly in the ointment is a balance between the ‘popular’ view of landscape photography and the more bespoke experimental work that has a more refined target audience.
Anyway is anybody else prepared to admit entering as well and bring their cards to the table?

Is there any point second guessing the judges? Personally I don’t think so. It would be ‘possible’, but a tough task to predict each judges general preferences, let along impossible to accurately assess their mood after seeing thousands of clichéd shots. You have no way of controlling when your shots will be viewed, (after several crap shots, or after several good shots). So giving them some “stock shots” because there is a stock library judge is too simplistic. I do however think second guessing general trends will be productive (please can somebody let me know what they are), but will the winning shot have a dog, cat or bridge in it this year?

Will people try to emulate last year’s winning shots? Famous locations? Animals? Blatant plagiarised compositions? I suspect lots of people will try to do this, (sigh...), but I do wonder if it’s a judging prerequisite that if a shot is similar to last year’s entrants, it is subconsciously disqualified on grounds of unoriginality? I suspect the judges will have their own favourites, but it will be interesting to see if the popular compositions from last year’s book turn up again this year...
I also wonder just how far can one push a popular location to be “different” from the last year’s entries? Yes there is a ‘classic view’ category that I suspect will be very similar to last years, but what of the ‘your view’ category. I wonder if there will be any evolution in vision to last year’s cohort? Is landscape photography subject to trends and fashions like, well, fashion is? Or has everything been done before and the illusive original shot of Bambrough or Whitby Harbour just around the corner?

So is there any point second guessing? I personally don’t think so. It’s our jobs as the creators of landscape photography to lead this change, not to try and give the competition what you think it wants...(or am I naive?) anyway here is my entries, I’d like to think I will get another shot in the book, but there are of course there is no guarantees...

Note: I’ve been sitting on this shot for some time now. I like it allot, but I’m not sure if brings anything new to my development...Anyway I made it in the Lake District this spring, I'd just descended Cat Bells and found a lovely little woodland at the edge of Derwentwater. I would like to go back in better light, but will have to be patience as I doubt that I will go back to the lakes this year...

Title:	Public Humiliation
Username:	jasontheaker
Uploaded:	6 May 2010 - 9:31 AM
Camera:	Canon 5D Mark 2
Lens:	17 40mm canon
Recording media:	RAW (digital)
Tags:	Bumbria, Cat bells, Derwentwater, Flowers & plants, Jason theaker, Keswick, Lake district, Landscape / travel, Landscape photographer of the year, Long exposure, Spring, Uk, Wildlife / nature
Votes:	21