2020 Australian Cup
The Australian Cup competition is now open to our members for entry.
We ask you to submit any two images of your choice to be considered for selection by our selection panel.
Any subject either colour or mono may be entered provided it was not entered in last year’s competition. Maximum image size is 1920 x 1200 pixels, with a maximum file size of 2MB.
Our closing date is Wednesday 6th May so that images may be selected to represent our club and be sent off.
The maximum number of entries per person is 2, so we will need at least 10 members to make up our quota of 20. This is a prestigious Australia wide club competition, so it would be good to have as many members as possible put in their best images for consideration.
by Keven Hyde, March 23, 2020
What is Art
Our Judge for the November digital image competitions, Jenny Graff, is the first judge from memory who has disqualified images from the ART competition, for not meeting the definition.
Our definition is Photography that moves beyond literal representation, and Jenny found images that she thought did not do this. From her point of view, any image that does demonstrate a move from the literal was acceptable. This included a line of MG’s that had the tail lights changed from red to blue.
This brings me to my point. To satisfy the definition, we need to demonstrate to the viewer that the image has been transformed, not just think to ourselves that we have done a transformation. In reality this can be quite simple, but it needs to demonstrate a transformation has been applied. And unfortunately it can rule out some good and very artistic images. So please make sure that you enter Art images according to the definition into the Art category, and anything else needs to be entered in the Open category.
And finally the idea of the Art category is to encourage members to to push their images and themselves beyond what we have been doing and feel comfortable with, and into new and unexplored territory.
by Keven Hyde, November 15, 2019
Outcomes from September Committee Meeting
It has been agreed to keep the Art category as is for next year, with the definition staying the same. We will be looking at providing information and training on share nights relating to Art, Art History, Art Photography and relevant techniques to assist members understand the category better and move members towards the intent of the category.
Annual Award Category Winners. It has been decided to make a change away from the tradition of using images that have score 7, 8 or 9 to select the winning images for the year in each of our categories. Instead we will be asking members to select their two favourite images for each category to be entered for end of year judging. Competitions will be set up on MPC and you will be given further information as it proceeds.
External Competition Selection Process. To streamline the selection process for our external competitions, we are creating a standing panel of 10 club members. From this group, 5 of the panel will be chosen to be the selection panel for each competition as it arises. The standing panel is being finalised, as is the panel for the Tewantin Shield selection.
by Keven Hyde, September 19, 2019
President’s Trophy – An Unconventional Portrait
From Wikipedia, a portrait is an artistic representation of a person (or persons) in which the face and its expression are predominant. How you make it unconventional is up to you.
That is the definition I have given for the President’s Trophy, and gives one a great deal of latitude for interpretation and creativity.
If you Google Unconventional Portrait Images you will find many examples of unconventional portraits that may help. Also I will be presenting some images on our Share Night on 25th September that may assist you.
I have also found on Lynda.com which, as I have mentioned previously, can be accessed through the State Library of Queensland, an interesting course by Paul Taggart named Story Telling Through Unconventional Portraiture. This is well worthwhile viewing as it will give many ideas on photography and portraiture.
I hope you have lots of fun, and come up with some interesting ideas, and I look forward to having many unconventional portraits to judge.
by Keven Hyde, September 16, 2019
Grading for our Newest Member
The latest addition to our club membership is Stephen Martin, who has now been assessed by the Grading Panel as B GRADE for this year.
Stephen joins us after several years with the Geelong Camera Club, enjoys nature photography and uses Canon equipment.
Stephen has already attended meetings but do make him welcome to our club.
by Keven Hyde, September 13, 2019
Access to Photography Videos and Tutorials
This is a reminder that you can access all the information on photography in the Lynda.com website via the State Library of Queensland for free.
If you go onto the SLQ website, in Information Collections you will find eresources. Here you will find Learn with Lynda.com.
It will then explain how to access the Lynda website, and how to become a member of the SLQ.
This is a huge and very useful resource that is well worthwhile looking at. There is a course at present on Photojournalism, which may be helpful for the November set subject. Do take the time and check it out.
by Keven Hyde, August 27, 2019
Judging for the August Competitions
Our designated judge for August, Ken Chapman is sick and cannot judge the competitions.
At short notice, we have put a panel of five members in place to handle the judging for Wednesday’s competitions. The panel of five are: Lara Irvine, Gerry Gibson, Trevor Pedler, Rhonda Reynolds and Bruce Atkinson.
The digital competitions are currently being judged, and will be displayed as per usual on Wednesday night.
The prints will be impact judged by the panel, with the judges having a front row seat in front of the easel and scoring independently. The scrutineers will tally the scores, average them out, and designate the scoring out of 9. The Print Coordinator will be responsible for entering the scores on the score sheets, and announcing the results.
With over 50 prints, it means around a minute per print to go through this process, but we hope to be able to have brief comments by the judges while the scores are tallied for each print. This is a first using our MPC system so we are hoping for a smooth operation, and ask for tolerance if there are any unforseen issues.
by Keven Hyde, August 10, 2019
New Addition to our Membership
We have a new member, Kate Severn, who has just joined our Club.
Kate has been assessed as A grade, and we look forward to some competitive images being presented.
Kate has an interesting background, and you can find out more about her on her member page, so check it out.
by Keven Hyde, July 26, 2019
Note New Meeting Times
As of Wednesday 24th July, the Club meetings will start at 7.15pm, with the Presentation or Competition commencing at 7.30pm.
On Competition Nights, prints will need to be registered by 7pm.
The first 15 minutes will be introductions and relevant information, so please attend on time in order to keep informed and as a respect for others.
by Keven Hyde, July 24, 2019
Set Subject Compliance
Set Subject images complying with the definition was discussed by the Committee (again) at the last meeting.
The last time this issue was discussed was in February 2108 and the minutes stated:
‘It was confirmed that the definitions be kept as open as possible, so as not to stifle creativity, and that we need to rely on the judges to do their job.’
At Judges Forums over the past couple of years it was confirmed that the onus for disqualification be on the judge rather than the Club.
This obviously puts pressure on the judge, especially with the prints, in front of a live audience, and the judge is likely to be generous rather than strict.
At most competition nights I run through the definition with the judge before the judging starts just to make sure that they are conversant with the definition. (I neglected to do this at the last comp night.)
Our last competition had a very specific definition, which is what we are trying to avoid. There were images that one could argue did not meet the definition. I spoke to the members involved and it was not done intentionally or to gain advantage. The images without text included, had put the line of poetry as the title and considered that that was sufficient. I had used a line from Hamlet which is a play, even though, when one googles for popular lines from a poem, the line I used comes up.
Next month our definition is Movement and it states ‘a finished image that depicts motion blur, resulting from long exposure or panning or in camera movement.’ You may find images that do not conform exactly with this.
We are trapped between punishing those who have not met the letter of the law, and being too generous with those who have casually followed the spirit of the law, and following either path will upset some of our members.
For me personally, I prefer to focus on having members put in the best images they can, that meet what they consider is the definition is.
This issue can be easily solved without any arguments or discussions. That is for each member to read the definition very carefully, and make sure that they comply with what is written. It is unfair on those who make the effort to comply to have to compete with those that have been negligent or lazy.
I look forward to the day when we do not have to have a discussion on whether an image complies or not. We have had suggestions of not having set subjects, or only having the well defined ones such as nature and landscape. I think set subject is important and challenging, and an opportunity to be creative, and would hate to get to the point where we stop having them for fear of arguments.
I ask for every members tolerance, and ask you to take the time and put the effort in to meet the definition. It is only being fair and treating your fellow members with respect.
by Keven Hyde, May 20, 2019
