Image Screening
February 2013
WE'RE NOW SCREENING IMAGES BEFORE THE COMPETITIONS
Background
The Charlottesville Camera Club is an organization that fosters photography as an art, a hobby, and a vocation, by instruction and by sharing of knowledge and experience. Our monthly competitions are one way in which we fulfill this mission. To ensure that all images compete on an equal footing, it is important for club members to understand and abide by the rules applying to each category of competition – Assigned, Open, and Abstract and Altered Reality (AAR).
There have been times, however, when a club member has entered an image in an Assigned competition that doesn't fit the category theme, or a member has entered an image in an Assigned or Open category that should have been entered in the AAR category, or vice versa. This had lead to images being disqualified before the judging begins. Or, because our judges may not fully understand the parameters of our categories, it has resulted in poor decisions during the judging process.
Therefore, to help avoid problems before and during judging, to enable members to ascertain the appropriateness of their images, and to enable members to enter replacement images that better fit the categories, the Executive Committee has decided to give members a chance to have any questionable images evaluated for appropriateness before the competition.
Procedure
If you have any question about whether an image you’re planning to enter qualifies for a given category, you have the option of e-mailing it to one of three members who serve as the club’s screening committee: Gerry Bishop, Jay Hirsh, or Lynn Gaffey. (Email addresses are available in the CCC Directory.)
We’ll evaluate the image among ourselves, discuss it with you, and advise you as to the best options. This committee also reviews all images after they have been entered and will notify anyone whose entries are questionable and need to be discussed. The committee has the right to disqualify or re-categorize any entry, but we want to help you avoid that outcome. So please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about your entries.
For projected images, you must complete this process well before the deadline for uploading images to PhotoContest Pro. For images to be entered as prints, you should allow enough time for selecting, printing, and matting an alternative.
Projected Images: On the days before the deadline for uploading images to the PhotoContest Pro server, the person managing the uploads will screen the images as they come in. If any seem inappropriate, they will be sent to the other members of the committee for their opinions, as available. If more information is needed from the entrant, he or she will be asked to supply it. If the committee agrees an image does not qualify for the category it has been entered in, the entrant will be notified and asked to move it to another category or remove it, as appropriate. Please be aware that images that are uploaded just hours before the deadline may not be reviewed, and if the deadline then passes, it will be too late to upload an alternative image.
Prints: On the evening of the competition, the screening committee will review all prints before the judging begins to ensure that they adhere to the rules and suit the Open category. If a print seems questionable, a committee member will discuss it with you. If the committee decides that the print is not qualified, it will be eliminated.