Is this a portrait? Should it have placed 3rd?

I think I'm in love

 

Coming from the art community, the judges are doing what they think art judges are supposed to do: Expand the envelope. We see this in other types of judges as well, so it's not intrinsic to the art scene. I presume they did it to polish their own chops at least as much as to re-write the rules.

The contest is no longer about photography.

They are The Judges, you know, who finally awarded a prize (however undeserved) to a photographer who flaunted his creativity and shredded the rules in the process.

Congratulations to the judges who wrecked this contest.

 

Product photography...

 

Rules are there for a purpose. If they were suggestions so as to give photographers some leway. Then call them suggestions!

 

What I think is PetaPixel often seems to promote something to get people to the site, as do plenty of other sites... too bad we aren't talking about the winning portrait which I think is a moving and powerful image.

Having done submissions to juried exhibits, in my experience the guidelines are developed by the organization or gallery that will be holding the exhibit; the judges probably didn't write them. Usually judges are selected by the sponsoring organization to view the works but they probably weren't handling the submission process.

If it was an anonymous judging the photos would have been viewed not knowing who took the photos or anything about them (usually if you need to include a bio or description with the entry, that's for display but not necessarily used in judging).

I noticed that a model release was required but maybe nobody caught the fact that this must (or should) have been a property release? and the photo didn't qualify. Obviously they'll need to clarify that a portrait submitted must be a real living breathing human (and maybe have entrants verify that), or revise the guidelines to include mannequins, robots, statues, or whatever.

I'm not sure why this was selected; the only thing I can think is it has a somewhat surreal look, and selections may be made in part because an entry is unusual or creative or unique. The guidelines say that judges' selections are final so entrants would (or should) have known that.

 

It is a portrait. Just not a very good one.

 

Androids are people too

 

Not until the future where Starfleet has the trial to determin that. That's a couple hundred years off.

 

Robotic Emancipation, Now!

 

Oh, another Union revolution? Are you going to organize all the robots in the factories? Not going to be a pretty sight. Like history is repeating itself.

 

To me, it's not a portrait that falls under the rules of the competition, and in that respect it should not have placed. If the judges feel that the rules should be changed, those rules need to be changed before people start sending in their submissions, that way it's an even playing field. Changing the rules after the fact is a really crappy thing to do, and I feel sorry for the person who would have placed had this product image not been selected, you know, because it's a PRODUCT IMAGE. As well, from experience I believe it's much more difficult to take a good photo of a living, breathing subject compared to photographing an inanimate object, especially considering that very little posing or direction is required to take a shoulders-up photograph of a non living, non moving subject.