Master of Photography - €150K prize!

Ben D Bus

I haven't read the T&Cs yet, but for €150K they can do whatever the hell they want with my winning entry

http://masterofphotography.tv/en/

bnt

The series is now showing on Sky Arts: I'm wathing the first episode now. A bit pretentious, but that doesn't bother me, we are talking about Art, after all. I'm hoping to find some inspiration in there somewhere. The contestants are complaining about the harsh light of Rome ... polarising filter, anyone? :cool:

Ben D Bus

Ha, I'd forgotten all about making this post.

I recorded ep1 last night. I'll check if out over the weekend.

bullpost

Watched first episode.

Lots of glossy tv competition show nonsense to get through but enjoyable to watch the photographers at work , some completely out of their comfort zones.

Looking forward to the upcoming episodes.

homerun_homer

I watched this on Sunday. I was hoping the show would be as good as Portrait Artist of the Year but it's not but then photography is not as interesting to watch as someone creating a painting off a blank canvas over the course of a few hours.

From a tv show perspective the long, dramatic wait until the presenter came out was pretentious. The judges are harsh but fair given the results the photographers came in with. I wish they laid the rules out when it came time to the photographers going to pick their gear for the day. Can they use filters to combat the harsh sunlight, did they just forget, do they have to pick one lens and stick to it etc? Also, are most of the entrants Italian??:pac: The one person coming from Dublin for the show is Italian too.

Although there was no standout pictures I thought

the guy who took the couple taking a kissing selfie was going. It was a terrible picture for a competition of this high profile.

I'm looking forward to the next one set in Berlin.

flyingsnail

homerun_homer wrote: »

Although there was no standout pictures I thought

the guy who took the couple taking a kissing selfie was going. It was a terrible picture for a competition of this high profile.

I'm looking forward to the next one set in Berlin.

I thought the same,

I think the person who left actually had a stronger picture.

Myksyk

I'm not sure I buy it's basic premise. I think most photographers specialise in one or two types of photography, like most musicians specialise in a certain type of music. I imagine that we'd get an equally questionable competition and programme if some brilliant trad musician was trying to impress the judges with his ability to execute a classical or rock piece. What's the point? A photographer spends his life learning everything there is to know about studio photography and then is judged on his 'greatness' through examination of skills and processes he has probably spent almost no time on. The programme would make more sense (if these programmes can make any sense) if they concentrated on specific types of photography ... like they do in their sister art programmes (e.g. Landscape artist, portrait artist etc).

homerun_homer

I completely agree Myksyk. Photography would be a tougher art form to judge everyone on the same level by given them all the same task. I'll watch the episodes with interest to see how it pans out. So far it seems to be a case of if you are a street photographer then you'll do well, particularly since it seems like they are just city hopping with their challenges.

bnt

Disappointed in the 2nd episode (Berlin). The guest judge basically lambasted everyone for not shooting in his style: he loves extreme close-ups, so of course everyone else's work will be "distant". I'm also getting annoyed at one of the judges, Simon Frederick, the one who speaks a lot at the end ... so slow and portentous his voice, as if his every utterance is wisdom to be appreciated, but he didn't say anything helpful or insightful, I thought.

The next episode will be a studio challenge on the human body, so expect some nudity ... tasteful, of course.

homerun_homer

Again, some of the results for the Berlin assignment were just rubbish, whether taken as standalone or part of the story set. I particularly didn't like the one where pic1 was a dark picture of a train, pic2 was the drag queen and pic3 was the out of focus dark figure in the background. It was just bizarre that anyone would think that would work as a set. I know it's all about how anyone can interpret it but seriously...

I thought the guy who used his own card would get pulled for calling up friends to pose for him since this made it a disadvantage to everyone else. You'd think using his own 'equipment' would be an automatic disqualification. Why would he carry a spare card of his own when they were told only to use what they take from stock, idiot. If he had a full card then he would have a lot of rubbish I'm sure that he could have deleted some to make space for his last few shots.

OSiriS

That was Bruce Gilden. A famous and somewhat divisive street photographer. The feedback you saw there is his style. I saw one of his youtube videos recently where his feedback was far harsher, and those people willingly submitted their photos to him for the treatment. He wasn't telling them to be more like him, he actually said on numerous occasions that he didn't expect them to get as close as he does.

I am enjoying the series on the whole. I think some of the issues are more down to editing it to feel like alot of other similar shows, so it may lose something in the translation. On the whole, I have been agreeing with the feedback from the judges, though it may help if there was some positive constructive criticism. Many of the photos we see are nice photos, but they are not great, and this show is trying to push these photographers to create great works. I imagine there would be alot of controversy if someone walked away with €150,000 for what would equate to an average body of work for a popular 500px photographer.

I would take the first week as a good example. there were a few weak entries, including the photo of the couple taking a selfie. The one that was rejected was a nice photo, and is one that would probably hit the front page on 500px. The problem there is, arm the average person with basic knowledge of composition, give them a camera and send them to the same place and they would take the same picture. The judges were looking for something more than the obvious photo. Ultimately they are challenging the photographers to think about telling a story through an image, not just to create pretty pictures.

bnt

I saw one of the contestants using a rule of thirds grid when cropping his image in post: I know it's called a "rule", but it's not, not really, not at this level ..? :pac:

bullpost

Watched third episode last night.
I'm beginning to struggle with it now. Not enough to keep photographers interested so must be very boring for a general audience. Difficult to warm to the judges or indeed most of the participants.

homerun_homer

bullpost wrote: »

Watched third episode last night.
I'm beginning to struggle with it now. Not enough to keep photographers interested so must be very boring for a general audience. Difficult to warm to the judges or indeed most of the participants.

It certainly hasn't got the quality and likability of Portrait Artist of the Year. The judges in that are amiable and constructive with their criticism. MoP judges just keep coming across as cranky. I've a feeling that there'll be no real sense of progression as the contestants are narrowed down and by the end they will do a 180 to say great things about their work nonetheless.

dinneenp

Nice to see a photograph show on main TV. However, unless you're into photography I don't thibk you'd watch it. It has to be not too technical to try to get a wide audience but for anyone into photography it could do with more analysis of the photos, what settings etc.

I'll still watch it though.

TheQuietFella

bullpost wrote: »

Watched third episode last night.
I'm beginning to struggle with it now. Not enough to keep photographers interested so must be very boring for a general audience. Difficult to warm to the judges or indeed most of the participants.

I recorded the first few episodes but turned it off after the first ten minutes

and deleted them all. Just couldn't get into it and I enjoy photography.

homerun_homer

TheQuietFella wrote: »

I recorded the first few episodes but turned it off after the first ten minutes

and deleted them all. Just couldn't get into it and I enjoy photography.

I don't think you got past the drawn out introduction to the Isabella Rosellini and then the short intros to the competitors. It's not exactly enough to have judged the show on.

TheQuietFella

homerun_homer wrote: »

I don't think you got past the drawn out introduction to the Isabella Rosellini and then the short intros to the competitors. It's not exactly enough to have judged the show on.

I think I got as far as a competitor taking a selfie against the Trevi Fountain

and it was enough for me! Photography is very subjective and maybe I just

didn't react well to the contestants or the judges. They were commenting on

one judges photography and showing example of their work and I thought

it was compete and utter rubbish. How can this guy judge another persons

work when in my view it was poor but as I said, photography is very subjective!

homerun_homer

TheQuietFella wrote: »

I think I got as far as a competitor taking a selfie against the Trevi Fountain and it was enough for me!

I don't know how he didn't get kicked out for that shot.

trooney

homerun_homer wrote: »

I don't know how he didn't get kicked out for that shot.

She.

Ben D Bus

Looks like AdoramaTV is giving the reality competition series a go too.

http://www.adorama.com/g/top-photographer

homerun_homer

The latest episode was the best so far. I was cringing at some of the results they'd show as they were shooting but for the most part what they ended up with was far better than results of other weeks. I don't know where the guy who got kicked out was going using that shot of Michael Madsen on the couch. He was the weakest shooter on that round but he definitely had one or two better close up portraits that might have saved him.

trooney wrote: »

She.

I confused this one with the couple selfie shot, which was the lad who took the judges favourite photo of Michael Madsen..

Logie-1

The task for next week is Irish landscapes, should be interesting.

pegasus1

Myksyk wrote: »

I'm not sure I buy it's basic premise. I think most photographers specialise in one or two types of photography, like most musicians specialise in a certain type of music. I imagine that we'd get an equally questionable competition and programme if some brilliant trad musician was trying to impress the judges with his ability to execute a classical or rock piece. What's the point? A photographer spends his life learning everything there is to know about studio photography and then is judged on his 'greatness' through examination of skills and processes he has probably spent almost no time on. The programme would make more sense (if these programmes can make any sense) if they concentrated on specific types of photography ... like they do in their sister art programmes (e.g. Landscape artist, portrait artist etc).

The program is called The Master of Photography...A Master should know everything to do with photography...for example on another show British Bake Off, they do everything baking wise....I have enjoyed every show...and can't wait till this weeks Kerry episode...

pegasus1

dinneenp wrote: »

Nice to see a photograph show on main TV. However, unless you're into photography I don't thibk you'd watch it. It has to be not too technical to try to get a wide audience but for anyone into photography it could do with more analysis of the photos, what settings etc.

I'll still watch it though.

They do give the settings for every selected image...:rolleyes:

angeleyes

I'm watching the series and enjoying it so far. I like Rupert and I do think he is getting stronger each week. Laura annoys me as she seems to be the Judges' pet and I just don't like her constant need to shoot self portraits. She even managed it in Kerry.

It was interesting to see the various locations in Kerry, obvious one the Gap of Dungloe. I did like Rupert's image and I really liked the Yan'ss black and white image. That poor chat was really suffering during the shoot - he looked wretched. But still nothing amazingly wow from the landscape shots but maybe am suffering from camera clubitis .

pegasus1

angeleyes wrote: »

That poor chat was really suffering during the shoot - he looked wretched.

Did you notice his 1.30 medicine was lemsip....:D

angeleyes

Anyone still watching? Was delighted that

Laura

was knocked out. Did not stick with the brief and so we learnt nothing about their style of photography.

Any predictions on who will win?

bullpost

I think the Italian dude has been pretty consistent and creative and should edge it.

homerun_homer

What did everyone think of the final? I didn't want the Italian to win, though he was good and was consistent throughout. I didn't like his cockiness. I felt bad for Yan as I think he was handed a dud in going to Stockholm. Having been there before I found it a small enough city and I don't think it has the same options on offer as the other cities had.

I had to laugh that the Italian judge was still hyper critical until the end and it shows that even with the last task, none of them came so far forward as to impress all three judges (four if you include the guest) but then I guess photography is so subjective.

It was cool that they had Dave Lachappelle as guest judge but it was the wrong challenge for him to judge but at least he then looked over the whole work of each entrant.