There has been considerable discussion via e-mails about the advisability of a rule concerning the admissibility into FCC competitions of photos taken during workshops and photo tours. In order to alleviate the press of e-mails, I’m starting this blog entry to provide a forum for discussion of possible rule changes.
First, here is an excerpt from Cliff Lawson’s e-mail that started this discussion:
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The second thing I want to bring up is a recap of our discussion last week about images shot at instructor-led workshops.
A bit of background for those who were not there: I attended a workshop last winter in which the instructor set up specific lighting scenarios and the participants photographed the setup and then shot the image that was a result of the setup. A great teaching/learning device.
A few months later while looking for images to enter, I cam across the one I shot at the workshop. I entered it. It got 10 points and a first. It went to council – did just as well there. It was then I began think that I really should not have entered it at all. It really was not MY image – it was the instructor’s. I just stepped in and shot it. Then last May I attended the workshops in Breckenridge and one of the instructors there made the comment that we need to remember that the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) does not permit the entry of any image shot at a workshop during the hours of the workshop. After hours on your own time with your own equipment is fine.
After all, if you cannot replicate what you learned at the workshop/seminar, you: A) wasted your money, B) went to the wrong workshop, or C) are not ready to work at that level yet.
I absolutely believe we should never enter an image shot if the setup is supplied by/done by an instructor. Will we make a club rule? I don’t know. There are some workshops that follow a different plan and images shot at those would be OK. For example, I attended the Rich Clarkson Sports workshop two years ago. Instructors never accompanied the participants, but offered critique on what was shot the previous day. In that case, the students had to arrange their own shoots. The workshop made arrangements to allow permission for some venues, but what you did there was up to you. Those images should be allowed.
Photo tours should be allowed. Even though the guide gets us to the location and know the best times of year and times of day, the actual choice of subject and composition are up to the participant.
On the other hand, as an honorable person, if the tour guide tells you to…”put your tripod here, put the left edge of the frame against that tree, and the sun will come up over THAT hill,” I think you should not enter it as you just pushed the button and the tour guide did the set-up. But that is your choice.
There are questionable areas to be sure. I went on an organized “Senior Shoot.” There were no instructors, just a group of about 6-7 photographers of varying skill levels (really good to really mediocre). We took turns posing the models (who were hired for the event). We could use whatever lighting we wanted – we could borrow another person’s lights and reflectors. I would suggest that those images are acceptable as there was no set-up by a professional or instructor. However, even in that situation, if another person set up the whole image and I just stepped to take my shot, I would be reluctant to enter that particular image because it really is not mine.
So the so-called litmus test is: Did the instructor (or any other person for that matter) set up the lighting and/or the models? If so, I would suggest it is not really YOUR image.
I think a club rule might be too vague to write and impossible to enforce, but I also think we should understand that some images may not really be ours even though we were able to move a forefinger.
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The comments made by e-mail are reproduced here as comments. To see them and the subsequent comments made directly to this blog, click on the word “Comments” under the title of this post.
