What is in a name?
Nothing, if you accept that the title of an image is not disclosed until the score for the piece has been determined by a judge.
I consider that the name, title or caption of an image is a vital part of any particular piece of work.
While judges are not supposed to weight the title in scoring, it is possible that a particularly good title or a really bad title may influence the result.
I suggest that a title is a very small part of the many things that any judge may take into consideration. A good image with a poor title should be downgraded – that is justice. A poor image will not be improved with the best title ever.
As a member of the audience I have a strong preference for disclosing titles before display. The judging of the abstract set topic has shown that titles do help a judge in determining what author intended.
Lew Brown
Sunday, August 23, 2009
What is in a name?
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6 comments:
I agree with you Lew, I think that with some images it all becomes 'clear' when the title is announced. At our last comp, I noted that after the title was announced, our judge nodded his head as it all became 'clear' to him. It was all a little too late by then tho'.
I tend to agree with you Lew.
I don't see much point in reading the name at the end of the judging other than to identify it to the scribe on the night. It will be interesting how we identify the "No Title" images for the end of year comps etc.
While the title is not always a "vital" part of the image, I do believe it is an important one. For a start it identifies the image form others. We all know which image we refer to when we talk of the "Mona Liza". If we refered to it as "You know, the girl with the smile by Leonardo" it is a little more vague.
I also agree that a good title can describe the image and enhance the viewer perception of what the author was trying to capture. Conversly it can be rather misleading or vague. Either way I think the title should be diclosed before displaying the image to the judge.
Cheers
Andy S :)
I would like to present an alternative point of view.
I believe that a good image should be able to please the viewer without the need of a title.
When the judging of larger competitions such as the SAPF annual and nationals takes place the judges are not told the title. The image must stand on its own strength or weakness.
I have attended the judging of the club End of Year competition several times and each time the
judge was not told the title at all and it played no part in his decision.
I have seen on many occaisions where the author of the image has given it an inappropriate title and the judge has marked down an otherwise perfectly good image. Are we to be judged on our titling skill or our photographic skill? I would rather be judged on my photographic skill.
As for identifying images where the author declines to give a title could we not adopt a similar system to our EDI competition and give an identification name such as "wetherley1sept09".
Dennis
Interesting points you make Dennis.
I find it interesting that the judges are not priveliged to the title upon judging but I have not been to an exhibition yet were the image is not given a name when hung. I wonder why??
cheers
Andy S :)
I'm not sure that the title is on trial here, it's more about the capability of an image to speak for itself. Photography, as any artform should be able to tell a story, giving the viewer some emotion. If we need a title to set the mood, I personally think that we have failed in our task.
Titles should help as a classification, not as a image enhancement.
In conclusion, I have seen many great photos and more broadly artwork and I can hardly remember any titles. Our art is what sticks in my mind.
It's a great debate, keep posting.
Cheers,
Alberto Giurelli
The arguments are strong on both sides. If anything, I tend to lean towards the idea that if the image is a good one it will stand on its own without a title. On the other hand, I personally like the challenge to come up with a clever title even if sometimes it falls flat. Either way I would not like any Judge to mark an image either up or down because of its title. As Alberto quite correctly says, the judgement should be about the photographic merit of the image.
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