Round two of the NDPS POTY (Photographer of the Year) competition was a very challenging topic of: “A unique interpretation of a familiar subject” alongside the usual free choice.
I really struggled with the theme this time. After some bland close up shots of fruit and cake without any story to the shots, I asked my daughter Chloe for some ideas. She gave me some good ideas including shooting low through a curled up leaf to a subject the distance. I also found some ideas online involving one of those glass spheres which I duly ordered from that well-known online retailer.
I had an extremely busy period at work having to put in the hours to meet some important deadlines. As time drifted to the last weekend, it was just my luck that the weather was terrible all weekend. An ill-fated trip to a local woodland saw the rain tumble down just as we arrived, so back home we went.
With nothing in the bag, I looked back through my catalogue and chose a shot of a boat I took in Monterey USA in 2018. The shot looks like the boat is sinking at the rear end but it’s obviously not and it’s something of an illusion. It felt good that the shot fitted with the theme, even though I did have a sense of overall the shot isn’t particularly great. I re-edited the shot, as my editing approach and technique is vastly different now to back then.
The judge felt that the shot met the brief but did not like the soft light around the boat and the haziness of the background and said there should be more visible detail in it. He suggested that the shot could’ve been cropped to a letterbox to focus more on the boat. The shot was awarded a 6.5/10.
I could see what the judge meant, and ironically I deliberately didn’t dehaze the background very much at all as I felt it would detract from the main subject, which I wanted to be emphasised and I didn’t want to drift into over editing from what the scene looked like when I took the shot. It did not occur me at all to consider a crop to positively exclude a lot of the background. A little more work was needed to make it a stronger image.
On reflection, of course I was disappointed. I don’t disagree with the judge at all, and I think it’s probably nothing special as a shot. Perhaps a 6.5/10 could be a tad on the harsh side? Having said that, like all the judges, they are highly experienced and are members of the RPS (Royal Photographic Society). In comparison to some other shots, I did feel a little hard done by but then my perfectionist leanings demand good marks even where I don’t deserve them.
My free choice this time was a Lake District shot from this year. I submitted my Loughrigg Fell shot from my dawn shoot with pro photographer Chris Sale as a deliberate score boost to offset the uncertainty I had with the themed shot above.
The judge liked the shot and didn’t have any adverse comments or improvement suggestions for it, score 9/10. They said the tones in the greens were balanced, and the sky well handled. I’ve got zero complaints about the score, but with no critique, it is a reminder that there will always be a subjective element and opinion from a judge. Despite the high score, I didn’t make the final shortlist as 9.5 or 10 was needed, which demonstrates the high standards to achieve in this competition.
What is interesting is that Chris and I chatted about photography clubs and competitions while on location and when we both grabbed this shot as the rainbow emerged, Chris said he would be most disappointed if the scene/shot did not bag a 10/10.
So my POTY exploits from rounds one and two see my overall score at 30.5/40 (76%).
In summary, it was another enjoyable evening and I learnt a lot. Many other members struggled with the theme although there were some fantastic shots. Some members entered landscape shots for the unique interpretation theme which I did not even consider, and initially I felt annoyed that those shots in my mind did not meet the brief. With my wife telling me to stop getting annoyed and appreciate the good shots, I did come to realise that all members shots are their unique interpretation of a subject. Why didn’t I think that way?
My learning is I overthought the theme and probably have some shots in my collection that may well have been better choices than the boat. As always the principle of keeping it simple comes to mind. I also know that any shot needs to be technically good and provide the viewer with interest.
Whilst I liked the boat, if I’m honest, I knew it wasn’t overly interesting and as it’s shot at distance from a boat I had to crop quite a bit to get any detail. That led to some additional sharpening and the decision to leave if not exaggerate the hazy background. My rush to meet the brief and not look at other shots or afford myself more time to try a few other things left me short. It is fascinating to consider a letterbox crop that the judge suggested as I would’ve never have thought of that.
Really valuable learning and that’s what it’s about. Overall, I’m very pleased with pushing myself to enter competitions and I’m getting some really useful feedback.
Onwards and upwards.