This Is Britain - editor's top 50 - YOUR VIEWS

[Amy Davies]

Hi Oldboy,

While you're right that the media does give the behaviour of some people a lot of attention, it's a fact of the matter that if you live in a big city (as I do) all you need to do is go outside on a Friday or Saturday night and see it happening right in front of your eyes. No matter what your view on it is, without it actually happening there wouldn't be anything there for the media to take pictures of/report on.

The majority of the images in the category don't feature alcohol (and even a couple of those don't feature anybody behaving badly, there just happens to be alcohol in the frame) and represent other parts of Britain as well, I like the variety it shows, perhaps this is why this is one of my favourite categories this year - but I do like the discussion its raising, it's always good to have a debate over photography, just like any other art form :-)

Amy

[Sue Allen]

Whilst it;s certainly true that British towns and cities have more than their fair share of moronic binge drinkers and the problems of general decay and rubbish, this selection is still totally skewed. On another flick through I put them into general types - 9 featuring drink/fast food etc. with another 6 I'd categorize as gritty urban - 5 feature mainly old/er people on seats and benches - 5 are best described as slightly eccentric [and a welcome lift from the squalor of the previous photos!] - 3 feature someones Dad and his kitchen and bedroom - 5 are sort of scenic to various degrees and 2 are a bit hard to place!
There is just so much more to these islands - so much more to the people - and a far wider variety of people asnd what they do than the ones portrayed. Irony is good - realism is good. But the category was'nt This is Run Down Britain. I wonder if any other country would come up with such an overall depressing selection.

[Amy Davies]

Hi Sue,

The different categories you've highlighted make it one of the reasons I like this category - don't get me wrong I absolutely love looking at beautiful landscapes and so on, but with this category I feel its the one that's got me most interested, and of course, sparked the most debate.

I didn't have the task of looking through the photos submitted, so I can't say whether or not the inclusion of drinking images is skewed one way or another, I suspect not, I suspect the judges chose them for a number of different reasons, only one of which would have been the subject.

And of course the biggest answer to what could be perceived as an unfair representation of Britain is to get out there, take some pictures yourself of what you think Britain is like, and enter your shots into the category, and that way the judges would have more than just drinking binges to look at :-)

Amy

[mungo373]

I'm with Amy on this one. I think the " this is britain" category is one of the strongest and will be the hardest to judge. The problem is, people didnt read the brief correctly, so we had lots of red phoneboxes, red arrows, red post boxes and your run-of-the-mill stereotypical brit shots. The judges said they were looking for a " fresh look" at the familiar! Like it not, Britain has a major booze problem. We do engage in eccentric things and past times , ie train spotting,plane spotting, dressing up, going to pageants, sitting on benches at lunchtimes feeding the birds! We do as a nation stuff our faces and we do collectivly do things that people dont always photograph. All the britain shots are powerful, have strong messages and fit the billl perfectly.

[mungo373]

id be interested to see the britain photographs that were submitted by the ones complaining, what makes your shots better? I entered a soldier photograph and accept it simply didnt make the cut.

[Sue Allen]

The point I am obviously struggling to make is the dearth of originality in many of the shots and the narrow subject matter of the selected photos. There are'nt enough of the eccentricly British ones and too many of roughly the same subject matter. I totally agree that stereotypical pictures of red phone boxes etc. are equally unoriginal. I'm not making any judgements on the individual images - although there are 2 or 3 that had me scratching my head - but rather the sum total. Whether this is the strongest category will obviously depend on the attitude of the judges to this type of photo. Shall we go ironic this year. Oh well, this category was no doubt added to stifle the cries of 'it's always people from overseas who win'! and the controversy that brings - and it's succeeded in engendering controversy of its own. We'll have to agree to differ on this one - a different take does'nt necessarily mean excluding what in the past we would have thought of as British but surely just finding a different way of showing i - thats where the different and original take comes in. Alcohol, fast food, litter and decay certainly exist but if you think nearly 50% of the selected entries in this category showing it in some way is a balanced view of Britain then you live in a different country to the one I do.

[Sue Allen]

... a cat may look at a queen...and if people submit pictures to a competition they are putting them up for public scrutiny. I am merely an observer who has looked yearly at the DCM competiton since the days it was magazine only and you had to be placed each month to gain points towards the title - it really was Photographer of the Year then.

[JanSolo]

Originally Posted by mungo373

id be interested to see the britain photographs that were submitted by the ones complaining, what makes your shots better? I entered a soldier photograph and accept it simply didnt make the cut.

Don't quite understand in the POTY thing when people have an opinion, just their own, it is considered complaining or sour grapes. I had one of my images out of 20 or so asked for a hi-res. That's enough for me.

I think it is great for those that have gotten through, good on them. All I am saying is that I think the standard across every category is weaker compared to last year. My wife and friends that are into photography all feel the same, and they didn't enter the contest at all.

People have opinions without feeling remorse for not being in the top 50 - I will still be going to the exhibition to see them in print and see if it makes a different impression on me.

[Dunkeld]

Well, I live in China now. Boozing is becoming ever popular here with really cheap beer and spirits. That said there are no problems with drinkers. The typical yob boozer does not exist here as far as I can see.

I agree though that so many alcohol related pictures seems out of proportion. A sign of the times I guess when it's easier to photograph drunkards or beer related pictures than it is to find a nice landscape or look for punchy urban shots.

Mungo373. You hit the nail on the head maybe with your comment about complainers. We all liked our own images, that is why we entered. But, at the end of the day in a competition our opinion does not matter. It's down to the judges. I feel if you cannot accept the decisions you should not enter.


I made the cut with one of my images in the 'Digital Vision' category, but was not asked to submit a high res. Is there any significance in that? Maybe someone can respond to this query.

[Hx]

Unfortunately bad news sells. So photos of drunks sprawled on the floor, people stuffing themselves with junk food and people living in sad existences on the breadline is contraversial and sells.

The good news for me is this is not my Britain. These images are not what I see, not my realitiy.

No, I dont live in a bubble. I live in Britain, but a very different Britain.