October 2020 No. 7
AESTHETICS vs TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE A PERSONAL VIEWPOINT ON CRITIQUING by Tom Lee FSWPP CrSWPP FMIPP ARPS The art world consistently rails against the acceptance of photography as an art form and we, as photographers, don’t help much. We insist on thinking that we are the next Avedon, Bailey or Lichfield, and have an unbeatable technique or skill that makes our images stand out from the crowd, only to be smacked down by critics in our own profession who ‘obviously’ think otherwise. Why are the positions of ‘creator’ and ‘critic’ so far apart? As an experienced judge myself, having sat on many international qualification and competition
panels over the last 35 years, I feel well equipped to comment on the disparity between these two viewpoints. I still enter photographic contests from time to time (although not as many as I used to), to gain a perspective on how others see my own work. It was a recent experience with one such event that encouraged me to write this monologue. The object of this discussion is not to denigrate my peers, but to merely point out some of the issues that we face when making constructive criticism over someone’s pride and joy. I will make the point at this
