Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The good the bad and the ugly


Submissions to last month's Worst Photo Contest were pretty varied. Some were pleasantly awful. Others were disturbingly good. All were interesting for me to see. Given the right context I could imagine any of them in a well respected book, or perhaps in some avant-garde museum show.

Which one was the worst? I'm leaving that to readers. I've listed the entrants below in the order they were submitted. Please take a minute to look through them. In the right sidebar is a poll with numbers corresponding to the photos. Cast your vote for The Worst according to whatever logic seems fitting. You can vote for the best of the worst. Or the worst of the worst. Or just vote for your personal favorite photo.

Votes will be tallied next Wednesday, 8/24. The winner will receive a bunch of goodies, er, I mean baddies. Thanks to everyone who submitted photos.

1. John Moore

2. Robert Leonardo

3. Stephanie Mueller

4. Lesley Parker

5. Edwin Firmage

6. Phill Hunt

7. Christian Davis

8. George LeChat

9. Jay

10. Jacques-Olivier Philippe

11. Ales Farcnik

12. John Voves

13. Evan Scott

14. Jon Savage

15. David Diaz Vallejo

16. Chandler Tyrell

17. Ahmer Inam

18. Laura Brent

19. Blake Andrews

(late addition write in candidate) 20. Joe Reifer

(late addition write in candidate) 21. Vladimir Radivojevic

16 comments:

  1. BAD PHOTO IS IN ARM OF BEHOLDER/
    IN MY CONTRY BAD PHOT SOMETIMES GOOD PHOTo OF PRETTY LADY OF NITE. BLAKE ANDREWS IM IMPRESSED WITH
    I aM VIST US TODAY WITH TRAVEL TO SEATTLE TO SEE YOU>

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  2. Wow, they're all so perfectly awful, but in different ways. Those that show a bad idea, taken badly have my vote.

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  3. Sergie, On the contry, Arm of beholder am sometimes impressed.

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  4. I like Photo #8 George LeChat very much, what exactly makes it a bad photo?

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  5. Well that question goes to the heart of the contest. What makes that or any photo "bad"? For me #8 feels pretty familiar in composition and mood. I'm not sure if that means it's bad. Maybe "safe" is a better word, which often equates to bad.

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  6. Speciously dramatic subject matter, excessively dramatic printing. Vote for me! If elected, I promise not to serve.

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  7. Glad to see you watermarked yours Blake...

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  8. The one that Jay submitted is just fantastic. Keep that style!

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  9. I like all these photos - except No. 11, which is genuinely awful.

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  10. Funny Driver8, I think Ales' #11 is actually a great photo. My favourite here in a 'good sense". Full of mood and menace. A little dark, granted, but I'd love to see it as a bigger print.

    Guess this is all proving Blake's point...

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  11. Of all of these, #11 is the one which made me laugh out loud. It is just so inscrutable. WTF is going on there? But seen another way, you can attach whatever meaning you want to it. Maybe it's a million dollar lottery ticket?

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  12. the #7 and #15 are...almost perfect..perfectly funny and awfull. :D

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  13. I like Laura's pic to the point that I can't consider it bad. To me Ales pic kicks ass the baddest way. At first sight it evokes me the film "The village".

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  14. Congrats to Christian Davis, winner of the contest with image #7, a blurry still life of two bowls. Thanks again to everyone who submitted work.

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  15. I've seen much worse than these on many gallery wall and in many photo festival over the years. Next Level magazine publishes worse photos than these in nearly every edition.

    You've barely grazed the surface of this rich seam my friend.

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