MPA - Mobile Photography Awards 2021

ImageArt

IOTM Winner - Feb 21, Sep 22
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Ann
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So the results for 2021 came out a week ago. Did I miss the discussion or has it passed Mobitog with not even a whimper?

As usual some extremely good stuff and some ordinary.


Did anybody enter? I didn’t see any of our names.

Personally, I feel I just can’t compete. The images seem more manipulated than ever. I do wonder how many of them are genuinely taken as is before a simple tune. Few I am sure. I do find the same bird pattern in the sky hackneyed. And the usual warped women images so boring now.
 
So the results for 2021 came out a week ago. Did I miss the discussion or has it passed Mobitog with not even a whimper?

As usual some extremely good stuff and some ordinary.


Did anybody enter? I didn’t see any of our names.

Personally, I feel I just can’t compete. The images seem more manipulated than ever. I do wonder how many of them are genuinely taken as is before a simple tune. Few I am sure. I do find the same bird pattern in the sky hackneyed. And the usual warped women images so boring now.
There are one or two nice images, but so many of them are clearly staged. I can forgive this for some of the photo essay assignments, but if you step away from the idea of 'mobile photography' - i.e on the hoof as it were - then the mobile device just becomes another camera and the image may as well been shot with a DSLR. For me Mobi photography is spur of the moment, shoot from the hip, opportunistic shooting - not stage managed, set up and professionally lit.
 
Did anybody enter? I didn’t see any of our names.
I did and struck out once again. :D

If I'd been judging Landscapes & Wildlife, "Crashing Waves" and "Sun Swan" wouldn't have made the short list, and a couple of others like "Sentinels in the Snow" and "Quarrel" would have been competing for the top spot in place of "Holy Stream." (And if anyone else here had been judging it, I imagine the rankings would have been different yet.)
 
I did and struck out once again. :D

If I'd been judging Landscapes & Wildlife, "Crashing Waves" and "Sun Swan" wouldn't have made the short list, and a couple of others like "Sentinels in the Snow" and "Quarrel" would have been competing for the top spot in place of "Holy Stream." (And if anyone else here had been judging it, I imagine the rankings would have been different yet.)
I do agree with you. I thought Quarrel was a totally amazing image. Sentinels in the Snow is also a very striking image. Crashing Waves is just ordinary. With regard to Sun Swan it looks like an unnatural yellow tint has been added to the head and neck. It doesn’t feel quite right. I’d love to see what the original actually looked like. Probably pretty ordinary.
 
Personally, I feel I just can’t compete.
Agreed.

But I think we need to stop beating ourselves up about these comps. My theory as I've already suggested, is that many of these 'winners' are pro or semi pro photographers that just take a mobile shot along with their regular DSLR. When prizes became the thing, these people muscled in on the fun amateur side of Mobile Photography.

Even if we take IOTM as a yardstick and to my way of thinking these are the best images on MobiTog, would any of those images have made the podium?

Oh yes then there is the magic mysterious post processing :rolleyes: I still think these images would make more sense if we knew (a) what they were taken on and (b) how they were post processed. Then all we would need is a ticket to Kathmandu or somewhere exotic ;)

But its all very subjective innit :lol:
 
Agreed.

But I think we need to stop beating ourselves up about these comps. My theory as I've already suggested, is that many of these 'winners' are pro or semi pro photographers that just take a mobile shot along with their regular DSLR. When prizes became the thing, these people muscled in on the fun amateur side of Mobile Photography.

Even if we take IOTM as a yardstick and to my way of thinking these are the best images on MobiTog, would any of those images have made the podium?

Oh yes then there is the magic mysterious post processing :rolleyes: I still think these images would make more sense if we knew (a) what they were taken on and (b) how they were post processed. Then all we would need is a ticket to Kathmandu or somewhere exotic ;)

But its all very subjective innit :lol:
Yeah, it is. I keep entering for fun, because surprises happen now and again. I have a feeling that in a couple or three years, judges will get inured to the work we're seeing now, and there'll be a new phase.
 
Did anybody enter?
I refuse to pay that type of fee just to upload some digital images. A small fee, fine, and if an image gets in maybe another small chunk for the processing, etc. But these prices are out of line IMO.
 
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