I'm not saying that Jadie didn't do a great job, she really did and I'm completely appreciative of her time and efforts. I also realize that there were categories and I think she made a great decision by adding them. What I'm saying about the "themes" that most snake forums use for their photo contests (and notice I said snake forums because all photography forums I belong to have
never had a theme on their photo contests, just categories or it was a complete free-for-all based on the photography itself (composition, clarity, creativity, execution, etc.). Let me ask you this, does NARBC come up with a theme for its photo comps? Does WPPA? Does the PPA? Just some food for thought...
Ahh and there it is. I've always said, it does NOT matter what equipment you use, a good photographer captures the photo with their eye and creativity, not with their equipment. That's why some of the best will do most of their projects with P&S cameras or iPhones or whatever. They want it to completely be about their view of the world and not the equipment their shooting it with. They will use their equipment for shooting fashion covers or whatever because that is what the client is asking of them and what they expect to have on set and see on set. What it really comes down to, however, is their ability to see light. I've seen some of the most beautiful compositions come from a photographer who noticed light bouncing off of a window and took the photo using a Canon P&S that allowed them to set some of the settings manually. You would have thought it was a cover layout and with a little adjustment in photoshop it was ridiculous how good the photo was. So, blaming equipment or resources is a crutch IMO. If you feel like its the snake or animal that is going to win it for you, then go to the zoo! That's what I did and it seemed to work out fine. That photo was shot through glass without any ability to work with the snake. I just waited for the right lighting to hit, no reflection off the glass to flare, and for the snake to be positioned under the light well enough to really accent it and allow its darker surroundings to fade to black.
Of course this is all my opinion and everybody enters a photo contest for different reasons. I enjoy the more technical, execution side of the contest, others enjoy putting props around their snakes and trying to "theme" the contest. Its all about who you are and what you enjoy
If you think that it should be themed, that people should have to stick to a specific theme or be shunned, and that cameras and animals will be the deciding factor. Then run the next contest learning from how well Jadie ran this one, except make it be all about the theme, only allow photos to be taken of Normal corns, allow no digital manipulation, and photos can only be taken with cell phone cameras with a 3 MP or below camera. That would pretty much take care of all "unfairness" in the contest... just don't expect many people to enter
