The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) continues until 04 May 2025. Don't miss this opportunity to see the exhibition and as an O3C member you will receive a 15% discount off the normal ticket price.
Buy your tickets online at https://www.rom.on.ca and enter promo code O3C.
Image credit - As Clear as Crystal, copyright Jason Gulley, Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024.
Newmarket Fine Art Photography Exhibition
The first annual Newmarket Fine Art Photography Exhibition will take place in the beautiful Serpa Gallery in the Old Town Hall, Newmarket Ontario, Sept 3-27, 2025. Open to photographers from all over Ontario, the exhibition hopes to celebrate the richness and diversity of photographic art in Ontario.
Photographers are encouraged to submit up to two original photographs to a jury of three art professionals who will select the best images for a cohesive and engaging show. The fee for submission is $35. Click on the thumbnail for full details.
To Judge or Not to Judge by O3C Judge Lori Metcalfe
Photography is an art form that, like any art form, is highly subjective. Each genre or category of photography comes with its own guidelines to follow. Landscape photography is totally different than portrait photography and a judge needs to be well versed in the genre they are judging. The storytelling component helps to make an image stand out above the rest. All of us were beginners at one time and to get anywhere with a craft you have to practice, know your camera well and, most importantly, understand light. Photography literally means ‘drawing with light’.
I initially took the CAPA judge’s training course to help me understand what judges were looking for when judging an image. I also started looking at other’s work to understand what the characteristics of a great photo was. In later years, I took the O3C judge’s training course as I wanted to become a judge. I felt I could be fair in giving constructive criticism and also felt that it would help me to improve my photography even more. I have been a judge for six years. As a judge giving an image a score is the easy part; giving constructive criticism to help the maker improve takes a lot more thought.
Judges are people and will have their biases and differ on opinions even though we have all taken the same course and had the same training. I belonged to two clubs several years ago and always found that an image that scored well in one club’s competition did not get the same type of score or comments in the other club’s competition.
Judging online is a totally different experience than in person judging. The camera clubs that are part of the O3C are spread out all across Ontario. Remote judging has so many benefits and, when Covid hit in 2020, it became the only way to judge. I will always prefer judging in person as it allows you to talk about the image with the other judges in case of a discrepancy. It gives you the opportunity to talk openly about the image and why you scored it the way that you did, pointing out the strengths or weakness’ that may have been missed. Prints will always be my favourite to judge. There is nothing better then seeing a beautiful image in print.
Equipment has changed, software has improved and more people are taking pictures. A great photo can be taken with whatever equipment you have with you as it is not the equipment that makes a photograph but the photographer’s way of seeing it. With the arrival of AI, judges now have to learn how to tell an AI photo from a real photo. AI is not photography and should not be in the same type of competitions as true photography.
Photo credit - So Much Beauty
This is a new feature of the newsletter where members of the O3C Executive will be highlighted. This week we take a minute to get to know Randy Nickerson.
1. Position - I am now the Competition Manager who is transitioning to the incoming Judges Director.
2. Role as Judges Director - The Judges chair is responsible for education for new and experienced judges.
3. Photography Club Affiliation - I am the community liaison and a past president with my club, the Oshawa Camera Club.
4. Favourite Genre of Photography - Event and Street.
5. Personal Photography Philosophy - "Get out and shoot."
6. Photography Wishlist - Would love the 150-600 for the Nikon Z series.
7. Photography Hero(es) -Joey Lawrence: https://joeyl.com/overview/category/quick-portfolio
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