Think outside the box ...
It's Saturday and the wife's away in Montreal to see the grandkids, so here I am reading a thread that never ends ...
It seems like all this brainstorming is trying to fix something that's possibly unfixable ... I have had my own moments of "that's unfair", "that's biased", "that's subjective", etc. only to realize, isn't that life?!?
Here's a couple of points I've been thinking long and hard on:
1. A primary reason a lot of us enter the challenges is for validation. Face it, wouldn't we all like to win?:D It's like being picked first in the school yard. It makes use feel worthwhile. A lot of us probably saw the first Survivor of the current series and watched as the team selection got down to the last few ... Please let me be picked ...
As we strive to improve our photography, the challenge and the selection is a way to "prove" that we are improving, or so we think.
2. If we momentarily forget the real practical reason for only limiting this challenge to 10, it is suggested that opening up the voting to all photos will somehow make things fair. It won't.
I spent years critiquing and being critiqued by other musicians as we all honed our skills and artistic abilities. Even when we all had a similar background, technical abilities, etc. it was hard not to be biased.
If we wanted this to be a "fair" vote, we would have many criteria to base it on such as technical merit, artisitic interpretation, etc., we would throw out the high and the low scores ... oops I'm sounding like diving/figure skating/_______ (fill in your judged sport of choice). We KNOW how FAIR those sports are (and I was in competitive diving for 10 years ...)
Do you really believe that we are all selecting the "best" photo in the same way? Of course not.
So what is my suggestion to "fix" the voting issue with the challenges?
HAVE NO VOTING
I think one of the true purposes (or maybe THE purpose) of the challenge is to expand our technical and artistic abilities by trying something that maybe we wouldn't have done otherwise.
I can say with all honesty that I would be thrilled to win a challenge. It's my competitive nature to want to be the best. I came second twice and ,yes, I was a little disappointed. But the challenges have done much more than just some momentary validation, they have made me a better photographer. Even if YOU don't see it:D . My favorite challenge was the Triptych. I loved the entries in that challenge. I just didn't have time to enter during the contest period. But I have created a couple since the challenge. If not for the challenge, I would never have tried ...
I find it sad that we've come to the point where feelings/egos have caused such a disagreement about these challenges that a member had to be banned. For those of you that thought he was simply a whiner maybe haven't had the pleasure of seeing some truly inspiring photography.
Let's not be FredMiranda. FredMiranda is Fred Miranda. If we have to have a winner, let's leave things as is. It's the simplest and most practical way, given what we have (It was my birthday this week and my horoscope said "you're resourceful and pragmatic. You work with what you've got". Yes, that's me!).
Or maybe we should consider these challenges as a way to improve our craft and not vote. I think it was Angelo who said that we should move on and put more energy into our photography.
I'm easy either way. No vote or leave the challenges the same. But let's keep the challanges going.
Comments
It's Saturday and the wife's away in Montreal to see the grandkids, so here I am reading a thread that never ends ...
It seems like all this brainstorming is trying to fix something that's possibly unfixable ... I have had my own moments of "that's unfair", "that's biased", "that's subjective", etc. only to realize, isn't that life?!?
Here's a couple of points I've been thinking long and hard on:
1. A primary reason a lot of us enter the challenges is for validation. Face it, wouldn't we all like to win?:D It's like being picked first in the school yard. It makes use feel worthwhile. A lot of us probably saw the first Survivor of the current series and watched as the team selection got down to the last few ... Please let me be picked ...
As we strive to improve our photography, the challenge and the selection is a way to "prove" that we are improving, or so we think.
2. If we momentarily forget the real practical reason for only limiting this challenge to 10, it is suggested that opening up the voting to all photos will somehow make things fair. It won't.
I spent years critiquing and being critiqued by other musicians as we all honed our skills and artistic abilities. Even when we all had a similar background, technical abilities, etc. it was hard not to be biased.
If we wanted this to be a "fair" vote, we would have many criteria to base it on such as technical merit, artisitic interpretation, etc., we would throw out the high and the low scores ... oops I'm sounding like diving/figure skating/_______ (fill in your judged sport of choice). We KNOW how FAIR those sports are (and I was in competitive diving for 10 years ...)
Do you really believe that we are all selecting the "best" photo in the same way? Of course not.
So what is my suggestion to "fix" the voting issue with the challenges?
HAVE NO VOTING
I think one of the true purposes (or maybe THE purpose) of the challenge is to expand our technical and artistic abilities by trying something that maybe we wouldn't have done otherwise.
I can say with all honesty that I would be thrilled to win a challenge. It's my competitive nature to want to be the best. I came second twice and ,yes, I was a little disappointed. But the challenges have done much more than just some momentary validation, they have made me a better photographer. Even if YOU don't see it:D . My favorite challenge was the Triptych. I loved the entries in that challenge. I just didn't have time to enter during the contest period. But I have created a couple since the challenge. If not for the challenge, I would never have tried ...
I find it sad that we've come to the point where feelings/egos have caused such a disagreement about these challenges that a member had to be banned. For those of you that thought he was simply a whiner maybe haven't had the pleasure of seeing some truly inspiring photography.
Let's not be FredMiranda. FredMiranda is Fred Miranda. If we have to have a winner, let's leave things as is. It's the simplest and most practical way, given what we have (It was my birthday this week and my horoscope said "you're resourceful and pragmatic. You work with what you've got". Yes, that's me!).
Or maybe we should consider these challenges as a way to improve our craft and not vote. I think it was Angelo who said that we should move on and put more energy into our photography.
I'm easy either way. No vote or leave the challenges the same. But let's keep the challanges going.
Respectfully,
Brad
www.digismile.ca
i can do one this week....but youll hav eto let me post nudes
ive got ideas for the next couple of challenges.
im always available to go shoot you know
cb