Page 6 - Cape-Camera-March-April-2021

Cape Camera March/April 2021

Jill Sneesby explains Honours judging

by Nicol du Toit
With 13 Western Cape members being together and then view each digital image twice individually
awarded PSSA Honours in the most to decide whether it meets the standards to be accepted. The
recent judging cycle, there is clearly last few years they usually evaluated about 100 panels, but this
plenty of interest amongst regional time applicants were given extended time to resubmit panels
members to add some titles behind due to Covid and there were “only” 88 to be evaluated.
their names. I therefore decided to ask With every judging session there will be some panels where
the PSSA director responsible for the only a few new images need to be evaluated and they will
Honours Division, Jill Sneesby, to provide some more informa- therefore not only be looking at new panels where 10, 15 or 25
tion about what is required from Honours applicants and the new images have to be evaluated.
challenges they should be aware of. An image needs the nod of approval of 75% of the judges to
Please note: all the information about applying for Honours and pass and if, for example, 9 out of 12 judges say yes, it is awarded
the requirements for the different levels are available on the a credit. If it is borderline, for example only 8 of the 12 giving it
PSSA website under the Honours tab. In addition, a set of videos a credit, it will be discussed. Below that, the image will not be
further explaining the Honours process can be viewed here. discussed and it will fail.
Twice a year (in February/March and July/August) the Honours If only one image in the panel is failed (two in the case of a Fel-
Judging Panel get together to evaluate the panels submitted by lowship), the applicant will be asked to resubmit a new image
PSSA members hoping to be awarded a Licentiateship (LPSSA), that will be judged by all the judges remotely. If it is accepted,
an Associateship (APSSA) or a Fellowship (FPSSA) of the PSSA. the applicant will be awarded the Honours.
This Honours Judging Panel usually consists of 12 wise men and It is not easy for an applicant to be awarded Honours with the
women, who must all be currently active, accomplished pho- first application, although this time 7 of the 37 LPSSA and 3 of
tographers, who have an FPSSA Honour themselves. There is a the 29 APSSA Colour applicants were successful on their first
core of experienced judges, but new judges are welcomed. The application. Most applicants are asked to submit new images
judging panel is no closed shop and anyone can apply to be a for the next judging session to replace those that failed to get
judge, you don’t have to be asked, explains Jill. That is, as long as credits – provided that a minimum of 33% of the images passed
you meet the criteria. the first time. The applicant will keep his/her credits but they
“The panel must have a good balance with judges from different are only valid for two years (namely, four judging sessions) and
regions and representing different genres and styles – some will if the panel has not been passed in that period, the applicant
be more inclined to focus more heavily on the technical aspects must start afresh.
and some more on the artistic,” she says. “We’ve always said we Judging process
wanted to rotate judges – and maybe we do not rotate judges Salon judges have a few seconds to decide on a score for an
as often as some people would have liked – but you do need image, Honours judges do have more time to look at an im-
consistency. You can’t just have mainly new judges because you age, but they will be influenced by the first thing they see: what
want to change.” moves them in the image, or jumps out first. “If this is bad tech-
While the ideal is to have a panel of 12, sometimes needs dictate nique, it may override artistic merit,” says Jill. These could be
that there are fewer. In the most recent judging cycle, for exam- over-sharpening haloes, noise, too soft focus where it should
ple, the panel consisted of eight judges because many of the be sharp, dust spots, etc.
core group were unavailable, some due to Covid, and Jill didn’t “All the judges can give their opinions,” explains Jill. “What
want to include too many newcomers. works well is if there is someone on the panel who is strong in
She was very impressed with the two new judges on the most a specific field who can point out what they see what others
recent panel – one of them our own Kim Stevens from CTPS. might not.” Such an expert can also ask to discuss an image if
“Ciska (Venter) and Kim participated right from the start,” says the others missed something and accepted it, or if it had been
Jill. “They had their own opinions and were not scared to voice failed where it shouldn’t have been failed.
them. It doesn’t do anybody any good to have judges who have Prints are even more unforgiving when it comes to showing
convictions, but are too scared to say what they see. You must mistakes and bad techniques. A print panel will be displayed
feel free to make a comment and must not feel dominated by as in an art gallery. “If you are going to exhibit the print panel
people who’ve been there longer.” at congress or in any exhibition, the public don’t stand back,
The image on the left they will go up close,” says Jill. Therefore, while the ideal is to
was part of the suc- view prints from 1 ½ times the diagonal, judges will go closer
cessful panel that if something bothers them. They will walk around the exhib-
earned Erik Seket ited print panel and indicate on a clipboard if they think images
from Tygerberg Pho- should be credited or not. Thereafter the whole print panel will
tographic Society a be projected and the judges will indicate if credits are awarded
LPSSA. or not.
The high standard required when submitting a print panel is
a far cry from just submitting images at a lab for printing and
then framing them. It requires almost as much painstaking care,
looking at test strips and reprinting as in the olden days when
How judging credits work applicants had to print their own panels. “The presentation is
The judging takes place over a weekend – from Friday evening very important: the frames must be similar and the sizes and
to Sunday lunch time – and judges view the submitted panel format of the images, the colour balance, light, story, must all
as a whole to see how the images, colours, content, etc. flow flow together as one would expect from an exhibit in a gallery.”

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