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02-04-2015, 09:09 AM   #1
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Are paid judges normal at photo club competitions?

I visited the local photography club for the first time. They did an impromptu photo critique session rather than the scheduled presentation. The critique was good, with attendees commenting on what they liked or disliked in photos, plus discussions about alternative ways to capture and process the image.

The topic of photo competitions kept coming up. This club has a monthly competition where they bring in a different paid judge each month. The club consensus appears to be that judging is very subjective. Someone tested the scoring process by submitting the same photo each month, and got scores ranging from 6 to 9 (on a scale of 1-10).

I was the new guy so didn't ask "why the hell do you keep paying judges if you aren't thrilled with the results?" Judging is so subjective that a random club member or guest could judge.

02-04-2015, 10:24 AM   #2
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Never been part of a photo club, but art societies seem to have the same type of system with a paid person who arranges the art exhibition and announces the winners.

Seb
02-04-2015, 10:36 AM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by DeadJohn Quote
Are paid judges normal at photo club competitions?
Nope... they usually come with a few missing screws...

On a more serious note... it makes sense to bring someone from outside that can be "impartial" when judging the entries.
02-04-2015, 11:11 AM   #4
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Dunno, the club I'm in has no contests.

If this clubs contests are taken seriously enough, possibly provoking the occasional fist-fight between members, then random or not you're probably best off with an outside and hopefully impartial judge. At minimum a token payment of a tim horton's gift card (standard 'thank you' payment in my area) should be required as a show of appreciation for their time.

02-04-2015, 11:12 AM   #5
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Our club uses regular members to judge our monthly competitions, but those members are chosen from the ranks of the upper competition classes. However, when we choose our "Picture of the Year", the pics from our monthly competitions are handed over to a local pro (and his staff sometimes) to make that determination. No information is provided on the pics so the judgement is made without regards to competition class or how the pics scored in the monthly competition.
02-04-2015, 11:18 AM   #6
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When I was member in photo clubs, we never had paid judge for such small scale, non commerical, competion. Nor did I ever heard of this from other clubs. At the club level, the judging was simply done by present club members voting for their favorite picture. And we usually rather took the money to buy a participation prize which was drawn from all the participants. Simply because, at club level, the goal is usually to get the members to show their work and push them to take pictures, no matter what their skill level is.

Honestly, I really find it strange that a photo club focus as much as this on "photo competition". This simply discourages beginners, or less skilled people to bring in and show their work.
02-04-2015, 11:28 AM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by DeadJohn Quote
The club consensus appears to be that judging is very subjective.
How else can it be?

02-04-2015, 11:30 AM   #8
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I'm not sure how normal it is to pay judges but that's how it's done by our club (although the club only sponser one judged competition a year, which is open to photographers from the community at large). The club pays to have a judge flown in and put up in hotel. I suppose there is a fee in addition to that, but I'm not sure.

QuoteOriginally posted by mrNewt Quote
On a more serious note... it makes sense to bring someone from outside that can be "impartial" when judging the entries.
Yes, that's exactly right.

Generally speaking, photo club competitions, particularly when confined to club members, aren't probably a good idea, regardless of who the judge is. Competitions merely encourage rivalries between club members, which I doubt is a good thing.
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