Google Photography Prize Finalist

April 17th, 2012
Amy
Was intrested to see the finalists in the Google Photography prize.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/in-pictures-google-photography-prize-finalists-7654038.html

Worthy finalists? I'm not so sure! A couple of good pics, but I think I must be missing something!
April 17th, 2012
I think the judge should have looked on 365, there are far, far better images on here!
April 17th, 2012
I agree. I'm not a huge fan of a single one of those photos.
April 17th, 2012
Nothing there that I particularly liked either.
April 17th, 2012
well i was expecting more, but there must be soemthing in those images im missing as well.

whats with the curtains and carpet shot?
April 17th, 2012
Hhm - some of them would have been definites for the delete button and I don't often hit delete!
April 17th, 2012
wow, completely agree. We shouldnt be so hard on ourselves me thinks.
April 17th, 2012
I agree with you Paul I will certainly be less critical of myself from now on.
April 17th, 2012
I agree not very impressive, I would hate to see those that didn't make it
April 17th, 2012
Perhaps the judges were looking for potential. These are all young photographers and I see some real potential in some of the images. The hands coming out of the pool is a great shot from a lighting and mood point of view. I do feel that any water pic where the water has a hard horizon line needs to be level, however.
I also like the diver and the high diving platforms. Perhaps just a tad bluish overall, but an interesting pic. Again, a certain mood to the pic. Almost looks more like a body falling than a diver diving.
Also, the dog and owner b&w image. Although a bit centered vertically it also sets a mood.
Those 3 photogs show real potential, IMO.

ETA: I can not imagine having to wade through 20,000 photos and only pick 10. Those judges must have been worn out after that.
April 17th, 2012
Best one was the first one but I feel a great need to straighten it!
April 17th, 2012
I like the blue one from Norway and there is something about the graduation one from China.
April 17th, 2012
Err what? I could have made it to the finalists and I suck!
April 17th, 2012
Presumably they only had ten entries. If there had been 11 one of the above ten would have been omitted.
April 17th, 2012
I thought #1 & #5 showed Good creative processes and promise, but I don't anything compared to what a judge might be looking for. I wonder what the assignment for the contest was... maybe that would tell us a little more about why the photographers took the pics they took!
April 17th, 2012
If you look at the actual google page then you can see what categories each photo was in
http://www.google.com/landing/photographyprize/winners.html

I quite like a lot of them, beats a lot of the usual clichéd stuff we see here so often.
April 17th, 2012
Wow what potential 365 ers have, no comparison!!
April 17th, 2012
I don't get the one with the curtain, rug and baseboard heater.

These are students, so I can't be too hard on them. But my art student daughter, who dabbles in photography, has shots that could, in my opinion, blow all these entries away. :)
April 17th, 2012
@38mm thanks for that link. The albums from each contestant for their category are well worth having a look at. Some great ones in there. I wonder if the judges selected on the strength of each album. The overall presentation in the individual albums is great
April 17th, 2012
I think the judging has been done based on the album, and for example those swimming shots seen as a collection are very impressive.
April 17th, 2012
No matter how hard you try to avoid it, judging anything artistic always comes down to one's personal subjective taste. So what this panel saw and what we see are divided and always will be by that narrow line. That being said, most of them do have some sort of potential (since they are "students") and most of them are IMHO not spectacular- which is what I think you should expect if the shot is dubbed a "finalist". However, I do think the strongest images are the diver and the beach scene- those are the two that seemed to catch my attention. But the drape and carpet shot?????? My five year old granddaughter would take a picture like that. And the lady with the blob on her face- I don't get it. Well, enough of my ranting! Bottom line- I congratulate them all for being chosen as a finalist. That is an accomplishment to be proud of.
April 17th, 2012
@sarahricho lol i was wondering that too!?
April 17th, 2012
Wow? thats all I have to say... I only found one photo that I liked...
April 18th, 2012
just had a look at the curtain and carpet shot again to see if im missing something.....

still dont really get it
April 18th, 2012
also just looked at the whole album and i ont think i get even one of those carpet series shots!
April 18th, 2012
I agree - it goes to show that art is very subjective. There were 3 photos that I really liked - although none moreso than if I opened up the popular page here - I am always blown away by what people are submitting each and every day on 365!
April 18th, 2012
None of them made me say wow .
April 18th, 2012
actually the rug/curtain photo that people are commenting about, and the whole album actually is typical of stuff i see by "contemporary" photographers. i mean photographers who can take less than interesting photos and make them seem more valuable with a statement full of words that have no real meaning to anyone, but sounds "smart". it's hard to describe. i don't "get" a lot of contemporary photography either, without statements a lot of the images might not make a lot of sense.

edit: sorry i confuse my terms sometimes... maybe i mean more "conceptual" not contemporary.
April 19th, 2012
Even if they were looking for conceptual shots, I feel some of the entries that made to the top 100 were more powerful than those in top 10.

For example, have a look at Nathan Osborne's or Kyle Thompson's work.
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