I attended the judging of sports action photos on Saturday, Feb. 26 and I have to say, the judges did not really bother to explain themselves at all. First they narrowed down the fifty or so entrants by simply stating “in” or nothing, and when they got down into single digits, interesting terms like “toning” and “balance” were thrown around without much explanation. I was able to draw limited meaning from their offhanded grunting of photographic terms, but in the lack of further explanation, my ability to draw educational value from this entire exercise was severely diminished.
Nevertheless, I did find the actual photos interesting and in following the systematic elimination process, I was able to at least compare my favorites to what the judges seemed to like. Two of them passed all the way through to the final judgment without trouble. One was a picture of two agility dogs and the other featured a man ”braining” a fish. The topic of both photos being animal, I could only surmise that my own interest in the photos has something to do with the fact that I do not enjoy watching sports very much. I would much prefer to watch dogs or fish. Perhaps the judges felt the same, as the fish picture eventually ended up in first place. I don’t know.
The fish picture, a barracuda being stabbed in the face, is actually haunting. Either through expert manipulation or luck, the photographer managed to mask the rest of the fishes body with its own blood, showing only a head and a flowing cloud of redness. Ironically, you can only see the fisher’s body, as his head is cut off by the surface of the water. Again, I’m not really sure why this photo ended up winning in the judges eyes, but to me it deserved to win because of the odd juxtaposition of man’s body to fishes head.
All of the final eight photos were aesthetically pleasing to my untrained eye, but aside from the animal photos, I was particularly drawn to a close-up of a tennis player whacking the ball. There was a lot of cool stuff going on. First, the ball was squished against the racket, forming a dome shape. Second, her earring swooped out to the opposite side of the photographer, leaving her heavily expressive face sitting right in the middle. This is one of those times I heard the word balance being used by the judges. Not only was this photo a great example of excellent timing, it also displayed a superior sense of purpose from the photographer. Most of the other photos were straight shots encompassing all important aspects of the scene, but this one focused on a facial expression while remaining balanced. I also happen to play tennis, so there’s that.
So far we have animal photos and a close-up. My guess as to why the other photos were contenders is the stories they told. One photo showed a little league baseball player up at bat but missing the ball while blowing a bubble gum bubble. For no other reason, it was the gum that made this photo entertaining. There must be thousands of pictures showing batter whiffing the ball (I have one of myself) but this may be the only one with a kid blowing a bubble. Questions immediately pop into my head. What was this kid thinking? Did he even care that he missed, or was the gum the most important thing to him? Answers to these questions are unknown, but the fact that I am asking them is enough. Aside from the gum, one other cool aspect is the cloud of dirt puffing off the catcher’s mitt as he catches the pitch. Again, just cool looking.
From what I can gather, it seems that to be a contender in a competition like this, a photo has to be more than aesthetically pleasing. This extra something is not a photographic term or a specific guideline. The extra something can be described only as what it appears to be in the photo. In one instance it may be some bubble gum, in another it can be described as a delicate balance of three very different objects (referring to the tennis shot now). From the wild expression of a competing dog to the gushing blood of a half-dead fish, as long as the photographer finds something that cannot be placed under any categorical term, the photo is worth a damn. Take a picture of yet another pitcher rearing his arm back, and the judges will probably give it the silent
Me just outside the auditorium (and to the left).
Photo taken by Dana Sukontarak.
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