Page 10 - Cape-Camera-March-April-2021

Cape Camera March/April 2021

know, don't assume. Be honest with yourself; if you don’t know than the sum of the parts. Strive to see the whole and not just
something, do the research! Be willing to work at it. Remember the parts.
to always judge what you see in front of you – you don’t have to Look for the message in relation to interest
explain how a technique or effect was achieved. Assuming can
lead to a loss of credibility. Even if the message is unclear, even if there is a question mark
about the message, there should be interest. Interest can raise
Read the image / identify the message questions and unanswered questions can be a message in and
We must ask the question, “What does this image communi- of themselves. The context may be lacking but the question
cate?” We must read the photograph. Photography is a tool for mark draws attention and interest. These dynamics become
visual communication, a universal language that transcends the the message.
spoken word. Photography is a human language. To ignore the
story of an image is to fail. To evaluate only the technique and to Be prepared – if you want to be fair!
ignore the message is to fail. Judges must see and not just look. Preparation is the key element for judging – you must be in-
formed – you must understand. Research the Set-subject, study
Ask what does the image communicate? the images in advance. As judges, we are human and we will
A beautiful flower is a message in and of itself, as is an image inevitably miss things. The goal is to keep those instances to a
of Table Mountain. Rather than say, “I’ve seen so many images minimum. Judges must understand and appreciate every gen-
of flowers,” or, “Not another image of Table Mountain!” I pretend re of photography. Strive to be known as a judge who is fair and
that this is the first flower or the first image of Table Mountain appreciates all genres.
that I have ever seen. I make it a point to disregard all of my pre- Be consistent with the scoring
conceived ideas and past experiences of viewing flowers or Ta-
ble Mountain. This method helps to clear the mind and enables To be considered as consistent is a high compliment for a judge.
an objective evaluation based upon the merits of the image Consistency is perceived as fairness. Whether you are a tough
itself. judge or maybe a bit more on the lenient side, if you are consist-
ent with your scoring, you will be considered as fair. Studying
See (evaluate) the image as a whole the images ahead of time and reviewing your scores can be of
Oftentimes we may be tempted to focus on different elements/ great assistance in this regard. I personally achieve consistency
parts of an image and we comment on those elements. Have by scoring all images before the event and then grouping them
we failed to see how the parts are working together to create a into folders and comparing them to look for anomalies/ incon-
message? That message as a whole may be something greater sistencies.

E & D News

The creative side of photography - 17th March 2021 - Colin Harrison
In a most informative and interesting presentation, he cov- uses images taken during his extensively travels throughout
ered a wide range of Photoshop techniques (which can easily the world. For instance, he used a portfolio of old, rusted and
be adopted to Lightroom as well) that demonstrated how he decaying vehicles he had shot some time ago at an abandoned
achieved a particular creative vision. All this was done on a level goldmine in Arizona and presented a panel to the Photograph-
that was easy to follow and understand. Colin holds numerous ic Society of America for his Silver Award.
Honours degrees and is a member of the Royal Photographic He also uses various available Plug-ins to assist him in the crea-
Society, where he gained his RPS Fellowship in 1993. tive process, but interestingly, he still prefers to work with a
His creative approach is bold and very colourful with layers of mouse instead of a tablet - the preferred tool for cut-outs today.
strong textures and grunge that is all very impactful. Almost For more information: https://www.colinharrisonphotography.
95 % of his creative images are pre-planned, in other words, he uk/ or you can request a PDF copy of his lecture notes from the
shoots specifically for a pre-imagined project. To this end, he editor.

Cape Town Photographic Society 9