FILM Photographer of the year

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Only just noticed this thread and the results thread. I haven't submitted yet for this month. Got some thinking to do...

I hadn't really thought of submitting a seascape for 'Nature', but now I think about it, of course, what is more natural than a seascape?

I have two shots in mind for this month. One is closer to the theme of winter - it does have some snow in it - but it was taken on a Pentax K1000 and Vivitar 28-200, so it's going to suffer from lack of sharpness like last month's effort (I like the lack of sharpness and almost painterly quality of the images from that combination, but I guess it's not to everyone's taste). The other one is less wintery but probably a better shot. Think I'm probably going to go with the latter.

That's a good point about leaving the film border in, Steve. You can tell quite a lot from the film border in some cases, of course. That shot was obviously taken on a Hasselblad 500 series, so you immediately know not only that it was taken on film but also what camera was used, and judging by the colours it's probably Velvia. So from the film border you can deduce quite a lot! Would that matter as far as judging is concerned, I wonder?
 
cariadus said:
Only just noticed this thread and the results thread. I haven't submitted yet for this month. Got some thinking to do...

I hadn't really thought of submitting a seascape for 'Nature', but now I think about it, of course, what is more natural than a seascape?

I have two shots in mind for this month. One is closer to the theme of winter - it does have some snow in it - but it was taken on a Pentax K1000 and Vivitar 28-200, so it's going to suffer from lack of sharpness like last month's effort (I like the lack of sharpness and almost painterly quality of the images from that combination, but I guess it's not to everyone's taste). The other one is less wintery but probably a better shot. Think I'm probably going to go with the latter.

That's a good point about leaving the film border in, Steve. You can tell quite a lot from the film border in some cases, of course. That shot was obviously taken on a Hasselblad 500 series, so you immediately know not only that it was taken on film but also what camera was used, and judging by the colours it's probably Velvia. So from the film border you can deduce quite a lot! Would that matter as far as judging is concerned, I wonder?
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haha yes it was taken on a Hassy 500CM... I have no idea how you can tell that just from the border, but I guess the A12 back is responsible for some of those indents. And yes Velvia is pretty distinctive too.
 
The requirement is only to remove obvious identity signs like names in the metadata, and not to have put the shots on the web until judging is done. Even though some signs might pretty obviously point to one person, we must trust the judges not to be swayed by that.

IIRC this round is NOT a no PP round, so any or all of the things defined under reasonable PP can be done. That's not true for all the landscape rounds....

I still don't know if I've got a shot to submit. I thought I might get something yesterday but it poured here and we were visiting anyway. Maybe Wednesday? That would mean while-I-wait processing....:( Under these circumatances, DIY processing begins to sound like a good idea!
 
Looking out the window and a perfect sky with lovely white clouds between perfect sections of blue. But no way of getting out to a location to shoot it until someone gets home about 3.00. Just hope its still like that then.
@ChrisR love the new avatar. Had to enlarge it to work out what it was - like it a lot; very clever
 
Thanks @Steve... taken with one of those single-use cameras, I thought: celebrate the distortion!
 
im finding the rules a bit annoying. I go out and do a shoot somewhere with a view to submitting one to the competition but then i cant post them anywhere before the judging takes place. I did some over the weekend for the architecture month and would love to post a few up in the film thread but cant!
 
I feel your pain mate... I've got a shot sorted for months away, and cant show it anywhere. Heyho
 
Steve said:
Looking out the window and a perfect sky with lovely white clouds between perfect sections of blue. But no way of getting out to a location to shoot it until someone gets home about 3.00. Just hope its still like that then.
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Tell me about it, I can see the Pentland Hills, one of my favourite spots at that, from my office window. Right now the light is lovely but by the time I finish work and get up there it'll be getting dark and thats without having to deal with domestic duties. Had lovely winter conditions last week, cloud coming right down over the hills but again it had lifted by the time I could have got there!
 
I'm properly naffed off... the scanning software has made a total hash of digitising the negs, so I'm gonna have to rescan two films, using vuescan instead of the epson scan I normally use, so I'm already out of my depth... eugh, technology, who'd have it
 
I doff my hat to landscape photographers. It's damn hard. And we have 3 more landscape rounds to go this year :runaway::runaway::runaway:
 
Landscape is easy... getting a good one, thats the tough bit... I'm saddened to say my best effort so far came off my mobile :(
 
At least you've got something in the can, I'll be leaving it right to the very last moment.
 
i submitted my landscape one weeks ago, im so sick of seeing it in lightroom now that i think it sucks and have lost all faith in it. I think i'll hold off the architecture shot till 11:59 on the last night.
 
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For gods sake... I still need to finish rescanning and tweaking yet all of a sudden there are a bazillion errands that need doing that absolutely must be travelled to by car, meaning I have to ferry the mrs about.
On the plus side, I'm rescanning tripe so it's not a massive issue if I don't get the s*** submitted in time
 
I sent some E6 120 off to The Darkroom and paid extra to have them sent RMSD to the place I was working today so I could scan and post up my POTY shot tonight, well I've well and truly shot myself in the foot, little did I know that due to security measures all post gets redirected to a specialist scanning depot so my film won't be back in London 'til Monday at the earliest, not only will I have to trawl through my disappointing shots that I've already shot this month I've paid stupid amounts of money to have something rushed to me that I now can't use this month, b****r :banghead:
 
Damn...that's bad luck
 
That's rotten luck, Nick.

My story went like this... we've been away, two films sent off before we left. Due back yesterday with two films shot, but had a bit of trouble and had to stay away another day. Today, 1 pm I'm on a mountain top looking at a gorgeous winter landscape view, and finish my 3rd film off. 2:40 pm, drop the films off for 1-hour processing at Boots in the local market town. 4 pm pick them up. 7 pm arrive home... help to empty the car and pack stuff away like a good boy. Load up the CDs and start looking through them. A few possibles on the first two rolls that were on the mat when we got back. The ones from the last couple of days don't look great; some poor scanning at Boots (crud on the negs etc), some poor exposure and technique on my part, some possible smearing of the filter from walking in the rain on Wednesday... rapid PP on the candidates... if I'm going to use any of the Boots ones they'll need rescanned... decisions, decisions, I'm knackered, what to do?

Well it's done, it's in, confirmation received, time for bed... I DON'T want to do it this way again!:runaway:
 
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I have to take responsibility for it, ultimately it's my own cock-up. I really need to get more organised and at least have some decent shots in the can before deadline day. Although to be fair I have been waiting for something that resembles a winter landscape and nothing's stood out for me but then I assume that's been the case for a whole load of other folk too.
 
Time for reflection. Counting the things I did wrong this time round...

- relying on a trip right at the end of the month to get my shots
- trying to combine a few days away with my OH, with getting the shots, leading to...
- not taking enough time to do ANYTHING right, including
- not using the monopod (leaving it in the car boot), and
- not using the grad filters, ... and so on.

Mostly I just went out with the camera and hoped that being in front of interesting stuff would work. Not this time.

Even worse... I've been thinking (bad idea) that maybe, just maybe, if I'd had one of those digeri cameras I might have noticed the problems and taken action, rather than waiting till back home, 150 miles from the scene. Put another way, if I'd carried my little X10 onto the hills with me, I'd have some good shots, or better shots. OK, I couldn't have submitted in the film section (though it has Velvia, right?), but I'd feel better.

Shoot me now?:coat::exit:
 
I think a lot of people waited tip the end of the month hoping something wintery would present itself in front of the lens and nothing ever did, I suppose it's all part of the challenge.
 
Sounds like a bit of a nightmare Chris, some good learning points though.

Good luck to all the filmies this month
 
Can anyone offer advice on this bit of the rules:
"Entries must not have been previously shown elsewhere, and must remain so until voting for the round has ended (including flickr, Facebook etc)"

What if you have a series of photos, some of which have been shown online, and you want to submit a *different* photo in that series? In other words, a photo that is very similar to, but not exactly the same as, photos that have already been posted online. According to the actual wording of the rule that should be allowed. Am I reading that correctly?
 
It's within the letter of the rules, but I guess not the spirit. 've been more cautious, not even showing shots from the same location as the submitted one (well, I think once last year I did, but I'm trying not to). This is pretty frustrating, as quite a lot of my shooting is around the POTY challenges, and I don't really know which candidate will get sibmitted until it's done!
 
Yes, I just scanned in some photos this morning and one of them might be a candidate for the April theme. Just wondering if I dare post others taken in the same location. It certainly is frustrating. I'm starting to think to hell with it, I'll post anyway, and if it's a problem later on down the line I'll deal with it if it comes. In any case, if the actual photo that you're entering hasn't been previously posted could it be disqualified?

I understand the reason for the rule, but in my opinion it is a bit spurious anyway. Take Steve's shot of Media City that he posted earlier in this thread, for instance. It was easy to tell from the frame border that it was taken on a Hasselblad 500 series. So if I was a judge, I could see that it was taken on a Hasselblad in Manchester and I could easily put 2 and 2 together and guess that it was taken by Steve. It might not be, of course, it could have been someone else visiting Manchester with a Hasselblad. But then equally, a shot that is similar to, but not the same as, a photo that has been posted elsewhere on the internet might not have been taken by the same photographer. For example, Dave Clayton and I had a trip to Rhoose Point last month and we both took photos of an ammonite in the rocks, one of which I've posted online. If he decided to enter a photo that was very similar to the one that I've already posted would that be a problem? Surely not.

So I would be inclined to stick to the letter of the rule and if it's not exactly the same photo that has already been posted then surely it should be OK.

Interested to hear alternative views on this, though!
 
I think it’s as much about protecting the judges as the entrants. If the judges are, as much as possible, kept ignorant of the identities of the entrant then they can't be accused of favouritism. Yes it becomes apparent from the photographers style or other identifying features, especially the camera with “us”, but realistically short of an jury selected at random each month and prohibited from looking at the previous months entries what else can you do.
 
I guess there are going to be clues to all our photographs in a variety of guises. If I see a photo of a three legged greyhound I know Lynda took it etc. My Feb entry is square and on black and white film, as were many of my entries last year so yes it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to link some photos to some photographers. But the judges aren't really interested in doing that. And I have no intention of changing my camera choice and preferences as that defeats the gain I get from entering in helping to develop my own personal style and being free to shoot what I want.

I too found it frustrating not being able to post shots from the same shoot elsewhere, but the way I looked at it was that I was shooting for the competition so that was my primary aim and any posting to social media would have to wait. I really wanted to share some of my Che Guevara portraits but didn't, even though they can barely be seen in the final montage. Yes. its a bit frustrating but merely waiting a few weeks to post something isn't too much of a hardship.
 
It's not necessarily a few weeks though. For the photos that I've just scanned for potential entry in April I wouldn't be able to show them until mid May. I have no problem with that for the actual shot that I would plan to enter, but it would be frustrating if I can't show any of them from that particular set.

What about the other way round? Although I think I've got April's entry sorted I'm struggling with March at the moment and I was thinking about entering a shot taken in January. I've already posted 2 shots of that location but I have another half dozen taken on the same day in the same place. If I chose one that is substantially different, but is similar in terms of location and lighting would it be OK? It would not be a shot that has already been posted, so my interpretation of the rule is that it would be OK, but if you saw the shot and had previously seen the other two you would immediately recognise it as being from the same set. So it might be following the letter of the rule but not the spirit. Then again, would any of the judges actually recognise it as being my work? I seriously doubt it.
 
cariadus said:
It's not necessarily a few weeks though. For the photos that I've just scanned for potential entry in April I wouldn't be able to show them until mid May. I have no problem with that for the actual shot that I would plan to enter, but it would be frustrating if I can't show any of them from that particular set.

What about the other way round? Although I think I've got April's entry sorted I'm struggling with March at the moment and I was thinking about entering a shot taken in January. I've already posted 2 shots of that location but I have another half dozen taken on the same day in the same place. If I chose one that is substantially different, but is similar in terms of location and lighting would it be OK? It would not be a shot that has already been posted, so my interpretation of the rule is that it would be OK, but if you saw the shot and had previously seen the other two you would immediately recognise it as being from the same set. So it might be following the letter of the rule but not the spirit. Then again, would any of the judges actually recognise it as being my work? I seriously doubt it.
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I suppose another thing the "not presenting" rule helps to prevent is garnering feedback on a shot and then making changes or reshooting after you've had opinions from your peers here, on Flickr or Facebook.

If you present one of a set that look pretty similar I'd say that both the sprit and the letter are preserved since, although others have seen a very similar image, you've not made any material changes from the shot that you would have submitted had you sat on the entire set until after voting.

TLDR; submit and worry about it later.

Although it must be noted I’m not a judge or an organiser...
 
Haha, submit and be damned - I like it!
Don't worry, I'll be sure to blame you if it backfires. :D
Good point about garnering feedback, though. I suppose a judge's opinion might also be swayed if they'd seen the photo on Flickr and it had had a million favourites (not that that would apply to any of my photos) and they might consciously or unconsciously mark it higher than they might otherwise have done. If the photo was from the same set but substantially different they might not be influenced to the same extent.
 
Well, congratulations to the 3 filmies who got points this month, and specially to @essexash who is now racing away in first place amongst us! There are now 6 filmies with points, and IIRC @essexash is the only one with points in both months. It's still wide open!

Having seen some of the entries that did get points, in terms of tangential relation to the theme, I'm wishing I had made a different choice. But that's all part of the game, I guess.
 
thanks :) yay me with my distinctly un wintery landscape! i blame the universe though, the last 7 years ive been up to my ears in snow and the year i decide to enter this thing i could be walking round in shorts!

i wouldnt say racing away, we're only 2 in. 10 to go and there are some rather awesome filmies submitting.
 
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Blimey, didn't expect that, I thought it wouldn't fit the bill close enough. Need to get on with this months' now.
 
Just reading back over Judge A's comments (TBY?) and taking heart from the saying better a fuzzy image of sharp concept. Its little things like that I really need to look out for and consistently miss when looking at the vf.
 
steveo_mcg said:
Just reading back over Judge A's comments (TBY?) and taking heart from the saying better a fuzzy image of sharp concept. Its little things like that I really need to look out for and consistently miss when looking at the vf.
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not me... I was hiding under the table when I saw how many entries were in. It'd take me a month or more to comment on 60-odd shots!
 
Well men, as expected, bombed... that said, I wasn't in the least bit happy with it anyway, it was the best of a bad bunch. I'd been having a mare of a month, too, so I can honestly say I wasn't giving it my best, otherwise I'd have been in exactly the same place XD.
On the plus side, I'm not disheartened, so onwards!
 
Great filmie shots and congrats to @essexash , @RaglanSurf and @Andysnap for getting deserved points.

Good to see so many film entrants. Hope we can all keep it up for the rest of the year.
 
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