The Agony and the Ecstasy

Trials and tribulations of juried competitions in a state fair photography exhibition can be either exhilarating or daunting. Let's take a walk through three nights of judging at the New Mexico State Fair, then, if you will, please add your judgment by commenting.

Scenario: In three nights, five professional judges have to go through 800 photos. The photographers range from youth to professional. Photos have the range of character from the Clint Eastwood movie "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". So much of judging is a hewing process, chipping away at things that aren't the point or aren’t conceptual (by Judge) or aren't the 'right' image. Really, it's that last couple of images they see that makes all the difference.

At NMSF, each of these nights contains an added tableau. Volunteers put each image on an easel under direct, tungsten lights. Votes were averaged, tabulated, then each image was put into a bin based on score. When the category is done, judges congregate around a table to openly discuss a final order for image awards - First, Second, Third, and Honorable Mention. When the categories’ all done, professional, adult, and youth each get a Best of Show from all first-class winners.

This process is exacting. It's also tiring, both for judges and volunteers. Putting it simply, you sat through 300 images a night. Come 10:45 - your view is not on images ~ but on getting home and to bed. But you still have to finish category.

Crème de la crème - the exciting moments begin when your image sits on the table among six others. At this point, you've already survived a significant numbers game - let's say 12 of 180 - you're in 95 percentile rank (only 5% are better).
Now, your image sits there - third place one moment, honorable mention the next - depending on Judge chatter. Only 5% of images were better. Or, let's say your image scored was in the 95 percentile, but doesn't make the cut. So you drop to 94 percentile (so 1% of photographers are better).
Or, you took first place - even Best of Show for your major category.

But, you're still crème de la crème...
Now, if you let a small 1% difference affect how you feel about your ability as a photographer, that can lead to some really bad juju.
Remember, judges were tired, they wanted to go home, they had a duty, or any one of a number of other/different reasons.. After all, tired judges were painting on a wet canvas at the end of a series of long nights.


So, for several nights, You ranked among the Best of the Best. When it all fell out, you still were... And, you've only been competing two years, you’ve been in finals 3 times, you got People's Choice in another image, and there are numerous other award-winning images...

We invite your comments on the quality of a non-placing photo shown above.

The Longest 3+ Minutes on the Planet

or
1st 8 Olympic Gold Medal Winner – Michael Phelps

or
Professional Photographers Blogging from Beijing Olympics

Some time before the Olympics, Simon Barnett, Director of Photography, Newsweek, gathered Vincent Laforet, Donald Miralle, and Mike Powell (The Dream Team) together to discuss shooting the Olympics.
Rich Haggerty, A Photo Editor, did an interview in which Simon said,
"For us, this is the first time our focus is overwhelmingly to our web presence, so we’ve come up with a new approach to editing. Each of three photographers will manage their own photo blog, editing, and uploading their best images – along with, I hope, some very personal anecdotes about what it’s like to be there experiencing it. I hope this creates a form of photo “Survivor” between them, where they are in a kind of creative competition. Then, I’ll go into their blogs each day and edit what I deem to be ‘best of’ which will be up on a showcased Newsweek.com gallery around noon each day. It’s kind of photographic natural selection."

In simple terms, the professional photographer has the exciting, yet new demanding role of capturing that electrifying moment, picking it out from several thousand pictures, writing his feelings about that particular Olympic event, putting it on a blog, and 'instantly' sending it to his editor - so we can see it online in a very short time!  He's shooter, image processor, writer (even local director of photography) - all at the same time, using today's incredible array of exquisite Internet technology.
BTW, the antithesis of Simon Barnett's Newsweek view of a future direction in photography is expressed in 42 Things I Know by William Lobdell, former newspaper editor, written just before the Olympics.

Read More…


Newsweek's Dream Team began planning a year before the Olympics.
Here's what Laforet was worried about…
"We still have to worry about the following at each event we cover: We don’t know who will win/lose or become the news, where that will happen, when that will happen, or from where we can get the best picture from, or with what lens and exposure (nor when we can put our guard down or take a meal/bathroom break)
....you never know this until the event happens _LIVE_
"In photography there are no second chances; you are either “hero or zero” with little in between. This is why photographers, who by nature are used to capturing what is a sometimes chaotic series of events, like to have at least the basics figured out before they get to the venue, so they only have to worry about making “the” picture."

If you're a photographer, Laforet wrote a very interesting experiential blog on A Third of the Way Through: Time for a Little Introspection.  Faced with incredible moment-to-moment pressure, Vincent noted his long sports photography history, the complexity of sport shooting at this level, then commented about the need to see a new way to provide Olympic photography.
One of the requirements was an Equipment Confirmation Letter containing a list of every piece of gear they conceivably might need.  In Laforet’s case, this meant 200 pounds of gear.  On a given day, he might use 60 pounds.
About three days in, he said "Well. Yesterday's post turned out to be quite cathartic—it helped flush whatever was holding me back out.  It's amazing how big of a role your state of mind plays in how you shoot."

If you're a photography blogger, then I must say - checking the blogging times of the Dream Team, they were on line at any time in the 24 hour day.
It's my guess, since they were acting as photographer, editor, and writer, they probably used Lightroom 2.  But it's also fair to say they need to know how to blog, technical aspects behind good writing, and getting images and blogs professionally prepared for US consumption.
In particular, Laforet’s A Third Day… used a short, creative intro, then put the meat on a separate page in their blogging space using Read More.

My congratulations to Simon Barnett and his Dream Team ~ Vincent Laforet, Donald Miralle, and Mike Powell.  Not only is their reporting inspirational, it clearly presages new ways for photographers to communicate about their driving passions which give us such visual glory!

But back to Michael Phelps and the 29th Olympiad...
or, Michael Phelps First 8 Minutes after Winning the 8th Gold Medal!
Last night, at 2307 hours, a surprised Michael Phelps became our all planet gold medal winner, helping to set a world record and winning his 8th goal medal.  Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Phelps and Jason Lezak won the 4x100 meter relay at Beijing in a world-record of 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds, lowering the old mark of 3:30.68 set four years ago in Athens.
With the same reporting spirit Laforet displayed in Beijing, let's celebrate Michael's first 8 minutes after Jason Lezak touched the wall. 
We show Michael's expression 8 seconds later,



then Mom's expression. 



Team celebrates before the 29th Olympiad at Beijing 30 seconds later. 



Michael celebrates before the 29th Olympiad at Beijing one minute later. 



Eight minutes later, Michael, the 1st 8th gold medal winner ever, is interviewed on NBC.



Our images, captured on a remote HDTV using rabbit ears, lack the nicety of $10,000-15,000 of on site equipment.  But, they are without copyright infringement.
And, on a very minor stage, not only have we replicated Newsweek's achievement, but we've enjoyed these rather incredible Beijing 2008 Olympics...

Blogger’s Help Crew and Internet Browsers

Browsers have slight differences in how they handle the input stream directed to them from all over the planet. 
What's an input stream?
To most bloggers, its words you write and pictures you show.  Naturally, you'd like to see both appear on the page in a harmonious fashion.
To a few bloggers, its underlying HTML that specifies what appears how on which page.

In the past few weeks of blog development, I've found differences between Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 3 with respect to Blogger. 
Many digital photographers prefer Firefox.  But, with Blogger, it has some limitations.  My landscapes are not always centered in the blog with Firefox, in spite of me specifying the center command in HTML.  Firefox won't make a PDF beyond the first page with Blogger.
Yet, in yesterday's bug release, the Blogger Crew put a new face on composing blogs.  Unfortunately, this morning, when I tried to compose a blog, IE 7 just sat there... (it wouldn't let me compose a blog).
As I had learned to do using both browsers to process blog PDFs, I thought, "Well, what will Firefox do?"
Firefox quickly let me compose and publish the D300 blog.
What I printed that blog in IE 7, the D300 image was centered.

Now, wouldn't you think the Blogger Crew would've thought of that before they published a partially working bug fix?

Most everyone who lives in the Southwest is familiar with the word Cuidate!  It means, “Be Careful…”