149th Show & Tell Competition: The Vernacular as Art.

[raynerj]

The Vernacular as Art. . . scan or photograph those passport, work, class or record shots you feel have some artist merit. . . not necessarily taken by yourself, but they must not have been published anywhere else and must be owned, privately by you.

(or you have permission to use them)

I will attempt to explain – Vernacular photography is photography that has a specific purpose e.g. as a record of something, be it of a sports team, a crime scene, for identification (passport), to provide instruction (a manual) . . . the list is endless. In fact it is all photography other than for its own sake.

Now if a vernacular photo contains an element that, quite unintentionally, is pleasing to the eye or provokes an emotion, it could be said that this is ‘The vernacular as art’.

It does not matter who took a vernacular photo as their intention was not artistic, it is the image itself that matters in this regard.

In this contest I was attempting to introduce other elements from Photography, other than the usual portrait, landscapes and still-life, in an attempt to understand what makes a photo pleasing to my eye and therefore improve my own humble efforts at taking pictures.

Examples here:
http://www.squareamerica.com/gallery.htm


CLOSING 4TH MARCH 07:26 GMT

[chasp]

Jay,
Not sure I understand this slight rule change. As I read it, you are saying that you CAN submit other peoples work, as long as you own either the work or the rights to the work? Is my reading of your intent correct? And also would like a better definition of what you mean by Vernacluar.

Thanks,
Chas

[gpmerfeld]

Not sure I understand the purpose of this topic either. Show & Tell should be a place to create and exhibit and improve your own work, not images from a family album, usually taken by someone else, no matter their "artistic merit." Doesn't make sense for this kind of competition. Just my opinion...

[fishit]

Not sure I understand the purpose of this topic either. Show & Tell should be a place to create and exhibit and improve your own work, not images from a family album, usually taken by someone else, no matter their "artistic merit." Doesn't make sense for this kind of competition. Just my opinion...

X2

[bclaypole]

Ok, been wrong before but found this:
Vernacular Art: "Vernacular photography is therefore art made, not by the photographer, but by the user of the photographs"
from: http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php? ... a=i&ID=497

During a stag (later, more inibriated part) I took this, and called it "Herpes"

[raynerj]

This definition is fine:

Vernacular Art: "Vernacular photography is therefore art made, not by the photographer, but by the user of the photographs”

Just thought I’d try something different for this competition, only because I’m interested in photographs taken for a specific purpose (other than artistic) that unintentionally have something inherently artistic about them and could therefore be classified as ‘accidental’ works of art.

Judging would be based on the entrants ‘eye’ for finding such images.

If no one enters within a day or two I’m happy to change the theme.

J

[sandiwhi]

Can we put the rules, deadline and link to past winners back into these posts please? Our standard format went away a few contests ago, and has not returned.

Thanks!
Sandi

[kirstenmary]

So we are being judged on our eye for photography?

[pavona]

I'm with Sandi.... I used the automated system when I won, and everything was just fine.... I'm really not sure why it hasn't continued on...
And also, I agree that this topic doesn't give photographers a chance to show off their OWN work, which I thought was the whole point....

[fishit]

Can we put the rules, deadline and link to past winners back into these posts please? Our standard format went away a few contests ago, and has not returned.

Thanks!
Sandi

We might have to start back to semi manual mode if the automated system is not working correctly.
It is not like we do not know how to do this stuff ourselves ... : ]

[happypoppeye]

Just some random ramblings.

- The past winners are up to date in their own "Show & Tell Competiton History" section and it may be better to just let that be as it's just getting longer and longer ...in my opinion, no need to do put all those extra lines in (and it's only going to get longer). I think a deadline would be helpful in the posts though.


- J - you won the last competition (congratulations) and I don't see any rules saying you couldn't pick this subject, so hey - it's your choice. Plus, the fact that there is an entry would actually lead me to say leave it as is.

- With the automated system being very sporadic these days and with more and more people joining pbase and the competitions, there is really no way to insure that there is consistency with each new contest posted. I think we need to just bear with it and be open to change from week to week (...and honestly, there are no actual rules that are, at this point, really easy to see or find, especially for newer members who may not be too familiar with the contest - PS: not eluding to you J, but just in general).

[sandiwhi]

No rules and pretty soon we no longer have embedded pics, and people post more than three, etc. Embedded pics are a big help when you're judging, so you can easily see them in their larger format. The rules aren't much to add. One little paragraph. Just my preference, but I like the ongoing list of winners, somewhere. Gives me, and especially newcomers, a reference so we don't repeat a contest topic. Fun too see how long it's gone on too.

This contest has been going along for years with a given format, and it's worked great. Guess I believe in the old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

But I could be wrong. )

sw

[mangoman]

But I could be wrong. )
sw

Nah, Sandi, you are right! Hopefully someone (ha-ha) will get the automated system straightened out. It was pretty nice when it worked. Kept the format similar, locked the thread position, automatically injected the rules and history, notified the winner...

[agroni]

This is a strange topic?!?!?!?!?!
so far raynerj will have to choose a winner based on the comments cause i don't see any photos
You want to jugde the work of someone else presented by us? strange...

[viveksg]

Don't understand the topic....seems to me we're wasting time since I don't see any photos posted.
Can we move on and post another topic please?