Last night I was pleased to serve as juror for the Churchville Photography Club in Churchville, PA. This club has an active membership with a variety of backgrounds. Lana from The Dreaming Tree asked in my previous post, what I look for/consider when acting as a juror. It’s a good question.
The qualities that I believe make a good juror are exposure to a variety of images and styles, being well read on critiques of a variety of art mediums, being open minded to styles that are different from your own, being analytical of the creative process. I think it also requires a bit of self confidence to speak what one feels and a willingness to suggest that an image can be improved.
My personal approach to being a juror is to talk freely about what I feel works and doesn’t work in an image. I find that an audience, even if they disagree with my assessment, are amenable to it if I can explain clearly why I choose one image over another. Most audiences I believe are very aware if you’re insincere and/or derogatory. I look for creativity first, visual impact, clear intension of content, and lastly technique. To me technique (focus, exposure, etc.) is only a means to an end. I look for technique sufficient to convey the visual intent. Primarily, I want the image to move me. I’ll give more weight to imagery that seems to break new ground or is out of the ordinary. However, I don’t appreciate different for the sake of being different.
Ultimately, I want the audience to take away that my choices are only that, my choices. I feel comfortable with my style as I keep getting asked back and always have a good number of people approach me afterwards thanking me for providing helpful input – even if I selected against their images.
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