RESPONSE #5

I went to the POYi judging this morning and it was very interesting. There were about 34 submissions to start with, and the first time through I was dying for them to slow down! The slides shot by so fast, I could barely keep up. But I just figured they were the experts and knew what they were looking for. They were unable to keep some of the best submissions because they had to be disqualified for breaking an entry rule. For me, that was kind of heartbreaking to know that those photographers might not ever know why their photos weren't chosen. That seems like a stupid thing to get stuck on, but I couldn't stop myself from thinking that they would never know that the reason they weren't chosen had nothing to do with the actual quality of their photos. It also really reiterated, to me, the importance of following the rules and paying attention to the guidelines. It was also really interesting to listen to the judges as they narrowed what was left of the 34 to just 6. I was surprised at how much of the judging was based on the story topic and the narrative and not as much the technicality or degree of artistry to the photographs themselves. That really reiterated the significance of using photos to tell the story. It kind of goes along with what I learned while doing the hockey photo essay for VOX. With that I had a lot of help from Kristin, our Creative Director, in figuring out which photos really got at the heart of the story. It was hard for me to get past some of the ones that just looked cool. Also, sequencing and emphasis was really difficult, so I really feel for the judges and the decisions they had to make.