On 9/27/07, Mark Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Question: how subjective is this standard? > > Same as all competitions: Very. > > Personally, I quite like the Pentax Gallery kind of contest because, > unlike other contests, I get to aim repeatedly at the same target > (acceptance into the Gallery, in this case). I may not agree with their > choices, but teaching myself (or trying to teach myself!) to achieve > what they're after makes me push myself as a photographer. > > I find that creating works that please someone else is a lot more > demanding, tiring, frustrating and annoying than creating things that > please just myself. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.
I think my problem with the Pentax Gallery is that I don't know what the standard is. How can I aim for a target if I can't see it? There's no explanation as to the criteria to get past the "accepted artists' voting": How many votes are required to be accepted or rejected? What percentage of "yes" votes is required for acceptance? and even then, it states clearly that those that get past the first "screening" can be rejected outright by the Pentax Panel. We don't know who those people are, and what they're looking for. It's all very "closed door", which to me makes it something of a crap-shoot. I'm not sure how submitting many photos and having them all rejected makes me a better photographer. It rather just leaves me scratching my head, and thinking that if I want feedback or reaction, this isn't the place for me. Some may find this sort of exercise very valuable, but I don't. I mean, hey, no hard feelings. Pentax can run this thing any way they want; it's their contest. However, if this is the way they choose to run it, my choice is to not participate. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
