Which One Would You Vote For?

[Mike Farley]

An intriguing poll from Amateur Photographer which lines up some of this year's winning images from major competitions against each other.

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/la ... year-40688

Equally, how many of these shots do you think would do well in a club competition? Depending on who was doing the assessment, I can see a few which would lose out for various reasons. A shot of the Lloyds Building? There are some judges who automatically dismiss subjects which they have seen before, regardless of the merits of the image in front of them.

[Paul Heester]

That is an interesting poll pitting different competitions against each other. I had seen the Landscape Photographer of the Year winner of Glencoe previously and rolled my eyes ( ) at it. On viewing it again I can see it has grown on me and I admire its painterly feel, although Im not sure it deserves to win such a prestigious competition.

Personally I voted for Image 6 as Im immediately curious about it and it tells an interesting story.

[Mike Farley]

What I find interesting is how my perception changes when I see all the images together and some I had previously dismissed become more acceptable. For example, I do not much care for the second picture, which won the RPS International Print Exhibition, but in this company I can better appreciate some of its qualities. I was always intrigued by the LPOTY shot, although until I see the exhibition I cannot sure whether it is the standout shot from that competition. I suspect not, as I was less than impressed with last year's top effort after the original winner was disqualified and even the latter I found a bit disappointing, mainly due to the choice of subject matter. The upturned fishing boat huts at Lindisfarne have been done before and I would have preferred something more original, which can be said of this year's winner at least. Of course, the disqualified shot can be said to be original as it represented a scene which did not exist due to the unacceptable manipulation.

At present, I am torn between 1, 6 and 8.