Objectivity

I entered five competitions at the end of last year and now all the results have come in. I managed to get winning positions or honourable mentions in three of them. The two where I came nowhere were both competitions for a series of work rather than single images.

I thought the pictures worked well as a set and that they were connected well. With the Lensculture Exposures Award they kindly gave submissions a brief portfolio review. Mine came through last week and was more in depth than I had imagined it would be. The reviewer gave me some good advice which I intend to follow, pointing out how and why some of the pictures worked better together than others. At first I thought 'how can you criticise my baby?' but then I looked at my entries through their eyes and thought they were absolutely right. Why hadn't I seen what they saw? I guess because we tend to judge and criticise our own work and don't always get or take the opportunity for it to be looked at through another's eyes. We approach it through a personal standpoint and lose some of our objectivity.

This project will be a year old in July and in the back of my mind I'm trying to work out what to do with it. A book? An exhibition? More competitions? Having had a second opinion halfway through I'm now starting to contemplate the project as a mass or series of pictures rather than individual attempts each Monday. Some of the work will stay as is, others may get re-treated to bring them together a little more than they already are.

It is never an easy task to seek criticism, but a worthwhile exercise if it is constructive advice.



I have been informed that the Leica is due back to me this week so I can start working on new ideas soon. In the meantime, one more from my mini series about the life of Mr Jones...



Mr Jones was starting to feel nervous and a little hot under the collar. Maybe buying the Fifty Shades box set For Mrs Jones' birthday hadn't been such a wise idea after all.


Copyright: Clayton Bastiani

Let's Dance

It's been a busy half term and plans are afoot for taking lots of pictures over the next few days so I think I'll be keeping busy for a while longer.

In the meantime the camera's still away in Germany so a chance to play some more with my pseudonym Mr Jones...


Mrs Jones loved to dance and was surprisingly light on her feet

Copyright: Clayton Bastiani
 

 

Mr and Mrs Jones always looked forward to Date Night

You may remember that I recently entered a nude self portrait into a photographic competition. Well, the results are in... I only went and got Silver in the Men Nude category. (As well as a First in the Academic Nude category and Second place overall in the competition)!!

Please visit www.photoshootawards.com to see the winning entries and this year's catalogue. A superb collection of nude photography.


I like entering competitions. It can be scary to put your work out there in front of professionals from related industries, but I don't think the fear should put you off. Sometimes your work gets nowhere - maybe it just wasn't suitable for that particular competition. Sometimes your pictures get noticed and put into the finalists selection or even better, given placements above being short-listed. It's a very good feeling knowing that someone else liked your work and thought it worthy to put forward as a nominee or finalist.

We often work in isolation (unless we're acting as part of a team), for the past year I've been working in the cupboard under the stairs. When I was at college we had peers and tutors to help critique our work, but then we had to get used to assessing our own performance. This is good up to a certain point and if you're doing something you love then you must find a way to keep doing it (within legal restrictions of course), but by entering a competition you get the chance to ask "How am I doing? Am I any good?" or "Hey, here's some crazy stuff I've been working on and I want a second opinion."

We're never going to agree wholly with the jurors' choices, Some competitions are simply not for me and I know (after failed attempts to prove this otherwise) that my work will fail in some and succeed in others.

If you buy a book of a photographer's work it will often have a bio at the back and competitions are a decent way to legitimise our work and start creating a bio of our own.

Every now and then you might even get a first or a second place. (Or win something awesome like the Leica M Monochrom this blog is based around).

Here I am working in a small town on a small island in a small cupboard under the stairs and every now and again I catch myself having a little smile at some of the results on my competition bio.




Anyways, back to self portraits... I think I've found a comfortable way of being in front of the camera. More Negative Space Man than Invisible Man, it's time for another outing with Mr Jones whilst the Leica is off in Germany for a service.

As it was Valentine's Day last weekend I thought it only right that we saw the romantic side of Mr Jones today...



Mr and Mrs Jones always looked forward to Date Night

Copyright: Clayton Bastiani

Mr Jones

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of joining some of the 2015 BPOTY judges, members of Black + White Photography Magazine and Vicki Painting (This year's winner) for a questions and answers session at The PrintSpace in London. The room was full of interested people asking us questions on the process of judging and choosing competition winners, as well as our opinions on various photography related topics. A daunting but valuable experience (to myself and hopefully the audience).

Black and White Photography Magazine and The PrintSpace are currently hosting a competition to win a solo show in the PrintSpace building. This is an incredible prize. Please check the following web address if you'd like to find out more.

www.bwpshowcase.com

There was nothing Mr Jones liked more than to sit in his favourite chair and read a good book.

Copyright: Clayton Bastiani