Do you consider these ratings/winners justified? Could you do better?
If so..
>which video/picture (timestamp)?
>how would you have made it better?
>what skill set/gear is needed?

>1 - All About Photo Awards 2025: WINNING IMAGES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGenNwdqDLk&ab_channel=AllAboutPhoto

>2 - Sony World Photography Awards 2025 - Overall Winners
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI5UY390DYM&ab_channel=WorldPhotographyOrganisation

>3 - All About Photo Awards 2024: The Remarkable Winning Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANbhzjxb3cY&ab_channel=AllAboutPhoto

>>4444702 (OP)
>Winner is a crippled swimmer being shot head on by whoever could be fucked buying a waterproof housing for their camera
A low bar was set it seems.

>>4444705
In other words, /pol/ was right again
>Jews own and operate the art world
>it is not about beauty
>it is about being political
Black crippled swimmer. Probably a woman, or a tranny. Of course it wins. Art is not about beauty. It is about politics.

The bolshevik way is "the personal is the political"

>>4444705
>>4444708
things like this always highlight that inherent "identity crisis" of photography, if you will. In that, is it a documentary technique, or is it an art form in itself? a lot of times these awards tend to reward the documentary, irrespective of any art notion to it. as we can see by the winner, i also first thought "that's it?" in terms of photographic technique and any sort of artistic sensibility. but then tthought well she's crippled, there you go.
I don't know that photography will ever escape this muddled nature. creating a "painting" scene to capture with your camera seems to never be as award worthy as capturing real world drama/excitement/etc. i don't know if that makes sense, but there you have it.

>>4444740
Photography can not be an art form because it is literally reproduction. Its like saying tracing can be an art form.

If tracing is art then you either created the art to trace first, and utilize intersectional principles to add to it through the trace, or you create something from the trace. But tracing in itself is not automatically art, it's just copying.

And to the owners and operators of the art world and other inessential parts of high society, a disabled black woman is far more important and needs far more elevation than anything else.

>>4444745
>Photography can not be an art form because it is literally reproduction. Its like saying tracing can be an art form
think of photography like a hilariously easy version of painting/drawing for those that are actually *good* at photography.

>>4444702 (OP)
this picture would be worth nothing if the subject was an attractive white woman without mangled limbs.

>>4444745
okay reddit spacing

>>4444745
I don’t think this is true. Photos can obviously have artistry outside of just being a reproduction. Are we saying that there’s essentially no artistic or aesthetic difference between Todd Hido and blurry smartphone pictures of a hot dog eating contest?

>>4444760
in a way i kind of get what he's saying though. todd hido isn't good (if you say so im actually not familiar) because he can use a camera, it's knowing what will look good and capturing that. kinda like how we don't praise a painter for how they hold a brush. yet photography is in a weird area where many people seem to care about the brush as much as what its capturing, if that makes sense. As a product of poor american education i don't have a great way of elucidating philosophical and metaphysical concepts.

>>4444764
i guess what i'm thinking is something like: who can call themselves a "good photographer", the one that knows all about technique and the equipment, or the one that knows what to point at?
And beyond that, i've seen people here say that the secret pill is that the ones who know what to point at are the biggest gearfags of all.

>>4444766
Knowing what to point the camera at is all of photography. The gear is simply a means to an end of doing so.


You see the same thing in the music world, people who are mega consumers talking about guitar tone woods and special cables, boutique mic preamps and tube amplifiers and blah blah blah. It sucks, but I don’t think it reflects poorly on like the concept of music as an art form.

>>4444766
>i guess what i'm thinking is something like: who can call themselves a "good photographer", the one that knows all about technique and the equipment, or the one that knows what to point at?
Technique doesn't make you a gearfag, it makes you an artist

>Shitty photo of a nigger cripple
Fucking everything's politicized garbage these days.

>>4444702 (OP)
I'm taking a shit while watching these videos, felt appropriate

>>4444702 (OP)
It’s not surprising the photos are lame because photo contests are inherently lame. The people who enter them are lame, and the people who organize and judge them are lame.

>>4444773
nta but I get and share your point to some extend
If we go with the guitar example, top musicians aren't the ones who constantly talk about tone woods and shit but they can hold a conversation around the subject because they simply are interested in the art as a whole
I'm sure Klimt didn't obsess over brushes but did have a preference and a knowledge of what worked for him
Gearfat think that there is one camera out there that dominates them all, which is retarded

>>4444766
It's a combination of all the things. Different cameras and lenses produce different looks. Knowing what combination of lens + camera helps produce the best possible image for whatever they're trying to produce.
You can take a picture of the same thing with a 2MP digishit and an 8x10 camera and produce vastly different images even if they are of the same thing and framed exactly the same. It's up to the photographer to understand what combination produces the best look for their intended image. It isn't about specs or numbers it is about being able to actually capture the image you want and making it look how you want.

>>4444786
>top musicians aren't the ones who constantly talk about tone woods and shit
no retard. they are the ones who invented the tonewood shit. they are the market for it. they play enough guitar they can notice the 5% extra instantly. top musicians have one to three guitars per song that arent used for anything else. they fucking name them.

and, have you noticed, the top photographers all shoot medium format, top shelf ff, lf film, and leica? no? they arent using /p/s woke right anticonsumer reccs. your right wing poverty cult is the polar opposite of reality. art has a wealthy left wing bias.

>>4444790
noooo buying things is le basedboi meme and profits da jooooooz

you cant buy nice things you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps first

>>4444790
Thinking the easiest to use camera is the best is such a midwit trap.

>>4444790
Maybe 60 years ago musicians believed shit like that but nowadays pretty much every band plays through entirely wireless systems to digital amp and effect modelers, direct to the PA and to wireless in-ear monitors alongside a midi click track.

The people who still get bent over backwards about toan woodz are blues lawyers and dentists who buy $9k Les Paul’s to play smoke on the water.

>>4444794
The top artists all use top shelf ff mirrorless, medium format digital, mf film, lf film, and leicas.

If gear doesnt matter why dont they use shittier cameras? Photography is a scam. Its not like music. There is no talent. Their expensive camera plus a modicum of skill plus social connections with prestigious subjects equals good photography. If you were given annie leibovitz’s life for a day you would take the same photos she does.

>>4444796
Live sound is shit because money and time, but top artists are still rolling tube marshalls into the studio to record and releasing albums as flac. You are a nitwit. Art has a wealthy left wing bias. Art has a sentimental and emotional value bias. Git r dun, gud enuf, and cost/benefit are right wing ideals from the trailer park poverty cult.

>>4444797
Did you read >>4444788??

Conceding that photography and art was conquered by jews is the gayest thing I've ever heard. You can make art and participate in art, but you just whine and cry anonymously online about how much better people with silly hats are than you and how badly you lost to them. It's a loser mindset that they want you to believe and cry about. You play right into their trap like the tool you truly are.

>>4444797
Then old photos would all be considered bad because they used those shitty cameras
Good gear is good gear but you can't shove a leica into a random retards hands and expect him to shoot like Cartier-Bresson

>>4444801
It's not about "good" gear. It is about achieving the correct look, the right gear. A professional art photographer would mog most of us with the 2MP digishit because they understand the output and produce images that play well with it.

>>4444801
Do you really think moriyamas work would have been better with a 200MP phase one?

>>4444801
Old photos are mostly shot with leicas and MF/LF film.

Objectively better gear than your cuck sensor and blobSLR.

>>4444804
moronyama’s snapshits arent good period. daido is a clown. he asks for attention in exchange for being ridiculous.
https://www.shashasha.co/en/book/the-tokyo-toilet

>>4444803
Shows how old I am but I miss DigitalRevTV doing their regular “give a pro a toy/shitcam” series. Don’t think anyone really does something like it that I’ve seen these days. Essentially proves you right though, what’s important is what you point it at more than what you’re pointing with.

>>4444806
Stay on topic please. I wasnt asking for your opinion on the artist.

Would a photographer that chose an inferior format or camera to produce his images actually have been better if he used the "best" quality camera. Using 8x10 instead of 35mm or whatever.

>>4444808
I fondly remember those as well. :D

And there you have it. "Good" gearfagging or maybe justified gearfagging. It isn't about spec sheets and numbers. It is about the output and ability to successfully capture the image you intend. A good photographer puts intent into these gear decisions.

Some people shoot large format because their intent is to produce contact prints. This is not gearfagging it is simply using the necessary tools to produce the desired outcome.

Incel adams carried around 35mm and 120 cameras when he was doing his LF landscape work. Why would he do that when he had an 8x10 camera that produces significantly higher image quality?

>>4444805
funny because I shoot mid format film

>>4444806
Saw a signed book of his at a fair this sunday
>200$

>>4444809
Yes, just check out Unsane by Steven Soderbergh. Despite all the money poured into lighting, the artifacts from being shot on a phone are all over the place and detract from the work.

>>4444815
This looks like a naughty dog game screen shot, holy hell.

>>4444815
Was it their intent to have the poor quality or just an iphone experiment? I know for a fact many movies look way better shot on 35mm film, which is a technically worse format than high end digital.

>>4444817
>Was it their intent to have the poor quality or just an iphone experiment?
It was a marketing stunt and proof of concept, meant to show how "one could shoot a movie on a phone". Despite using every technique you can think of, the result is mediocre.

>>4444819
Considering iPhones can actually shoot log now, I’d imagine it’d actually look pretty acceptable if done today.

>>4444819
I watched the trailer. The cinematography is kind of unique/interesting looking, but pretty shitty too. It sorta works well with the story, but I'm not a movie guy.

I don't think it is a good example to use when answering my question..

>>4444817
35mm film used for movies is about 24mp in full frame, 16mp in movie format, and distribution is 8mp tops. true color mp, same as foveon. 16 stop DR. huge exposure latitude. NON LINEAR highlight rolloff. NO to almost no rolling shutter. film is exposed all at once when the gate opens and then it closes to advance to the next frame.

Vision3 film is technically superior to an a7iii’s imx410. American technology vs japan-refined china-made american research.

>>4444826
Wow. America numbah won. I don't think cinema is a really good example to the point I'm making about photography. There are plenty of examples of people intentionally using 35mm when they could be using larger formats because the look is what they care about instead of achieving the highest possible technical image quality...

>>4444828
Film is ahead in technical iq

High end digital is bootleg imax. True high end films are shot on 70mm.

>>4444829
35mm film is better than a 200MP phase one?

>>4444830
70/65mm > digital imax > 35mm > ff digishit
200mp p1 is a rough attempt at replicating 120 stills film. It cant be used for movies.

>>4444832
Oh that's pretty based. I love film a lot more than digital. Why do you think bresson chose 35mm instead of 8x10? Do you think his work would have been better with large format?

>>4444833
Because then it'd break the suspension of disbelief that street sold as spontaneous photos requires to be successful. It'd pull the veil that covers the fraud.

>>4444836
>laughs at you in superior format.

Why are you so averse to discussing the point I bring up about the reality of gear? Every reply is just off topic gobbledy gook.

>>4444837
Weegee didn't rely on his photos passing for stealthy ones. Bresson described himself as a "hunter".

>>4444838
Bresson, like most street photographers (Weegee was more of a photojournalist) is cringe.

>>4444839
>>4444838
Instead of squirming out of answering my question with an off topic response please try your very best to answer it. Thanks!

>>4444841
You asked
>Why do you think bresson chose 35mm instead of 8x10?
And the answer is the one I gave you, because the so-called decisive moment is a tough sell if you're shooting a slow conspicuous system like 8x10 is.
>Do you think his work would have been better with large format?
No, because the only reason his work was seen as worthy of consideration is that it was allegedly caught "à la sauvette", that is, stealthily. That is what "the decisive moment" was all about, the original title is "Images à la sauvette". Don't take my word for it, ask your Quebecois friends.

>>4444845
Well yes, but you're missing the context and reason for this whole discussion, which is my argument that gear is about look more than it is about always having the best/highest numbers and that artists choose gear to produce a look rather than simply having biggest number or highest image quality. People choosing gear for these reasons is "good" gearfagging.

>>4444847
Your camera model doesn't affect the look. Your lens, filters and most importantly film stock and lighting do.
Your camera model only matters if you need some very specific thing like a leaf shutter for shooting flash lit pictures and overpower the sun.

>>4444849
You are impossibly autistic.

>>4444851
Nice concession.

>>4444856
Your constant and purposeful avoidance of my argument is the only concession. What are you scared of little autismo?

>>4444849
This is also incredibly retarded to say. I said camera, which includes lenses, obviously. Your reading comprehension and contextualization skills are severely limited if you did not understand that.
If we are talking digital than different sensors and color science 100% produce different looks. Different film emulsions as well as different film sizes also produce different looks. I did not realize I needed to state the incredibly obvious. Sorry I thought you were smarter than you are and had the ability to follow along to multiple posts.

>>4444702 (OP)
>video 1
how is it that every other photo was leagues better than the swimming bitch? The only reason it's 1st place is because shes disabled? insulting.
As for the other photos, some are excellent, some are okay.
I particularly like 1.07 smoking grandma and i dislike the first one.
>what would have made it better
I think a shot from below would emphasize the arm through the silhouette produced. itd also give ALL the focus to her rather than half the focus above water, a quarter focus on the yellow cap, a quarter focus on the stub and fingers.
>skills required/gear required
not retarded. waterproofing. camera.

>video 2
The horse one was my favorite and my least favorite was micaela's set
micaela's set and the NASA portraits arent award worthy. unless the nasa one is a before and after which would be fucking funny.
>what would have made it better
micaela's shots just felt like pictures of things. i dont see any artistic vision. maybe for the clothes line one she couldve moved the table on the right so its not clipping?

>video 3
Actually nice pics in this one. and the documentary types didnt get podium spots like the palestine dad, the leg swimmer, or female solider
2.10 cart kids, 1.30 dog jump, 2.57 soldiers and lots more were my favs. 3rd place doesnt deserve it i thought it was boring. put 5th place up there instead or maybe 3.25 plane kid or 4.10 grave chilling.
definetly the best video set.

good thread OP. too bad the gearFAGGOTS took it over to argue about nothing

>>4444740
yeah. i think its fair that awards go to both documentary and to artistic things but i dont like how pure documentary takes precedence. artistic vision + documentary is what i like to see best.

>>4444868
Any winners use an m43 camera?

>>4444857
What argument? I saw a question and answered it. I think you might be projecting and might be the actual sperg in the proverbial room.
>>4444858
>I said camera, which includes lenses, obviously.
It's not obvious to anyone but you.
>If we are talking digital than different sensors and color science 100% produce different looks.
All Bayer is basically the same if you shoot equivalently, shoot RAW and calibrate.
>Different film emulsions also produce different looks.
True
>as well as different sizes
Again it's mostly how you use it, but if you're shooting to print big then sure there's a difference. Same as shooting a 50MP camera vs a 16MP one.
>Sorry I thought you were smarter than you are and had the ability to follow along to multiple posts.
It's only obvious to you.

>>4444880
Concession accepted. Excited for you cope.

>>4444870
First place was either M43 or cropped to that ratio. Could be a smaller sensor too though, gopro perhaps since it went underwater and the photographer doesn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed.

>>4444745
>Photography can not be an art form because it is literally reproduction.
Like most things, it's about perspective and interpretation and the story it tells. That banana taped to a wall is still just a banana, but the perspective is what changes it and makes it something artistic.
You could even argue that drawing a picture of something that already exists is just making a copy.

>>4444881
What cope, nigger? People often pick certain pieces of gear for practical reasons. Ansel Adams' work wouldn't be as impressive if he shot 35mm. Much of Terry Richardson's work would probably not exist if he didn't shoot a waterproof Yashica with a WLF.

>>4444883
>and makes it something artistic.
omegalul that's not the case at all. The shilling of it by early lifers is what makes it pass to scam victims like yourself for something artistic.

>>4444886
I don't consider it to be good, but it can be considered artistic. You're missing that point about it being about perspective.

>>4444815
>iPhone 7
Little wonder it looked like shit, phone cameras were really bad in the 10s and LOG footage wasn't properly available yet. Even the Google Pixels were lauded for their photos but shit on for their terrible video abilities.

Since then, a few movies have used phones and turned out well, like 28 Years Later (shit movie nonetheless but the improved cameras and LOG ability made it possible). How the fuck they thought it would be a good idea for a gang called The Jimmies that all wear white wigs and dress like Jimmy Saville made it past pre-production is beyond me.

>>4444885
LOL. Seethe more cringe consneeder.

>>4444890
So this is the power of LOG...

>>4444887
it's not about good or bad, it's about the fact that it's nothing but a money laundering scheme. There's no art in it.

>>4444891
I might be seething but at least I'm not pretending I presented a coherent argument rather than dropping a lump of coal in the thread and calling it a day

>>4444896
Beautiful concession.

>>4444898
Coalescent cope on your part

>>4444899
>no u

Kekcession kekceptted.

>>4444886
Get out of here Pierre Bourdieu

How could Bresson shoot street with a beanie, lofi hiphop, a passive aggressive lowercase persona and a fuji/leica? It's impossible