Sports Portfolio

Part 1- Portfolios

1a.
a. Name of photographer - Travis Haughton
b. General focus of portfolio (photoj, sports, stories, etc.)- Stories
c. List three problems that the judges noted with the portfolio - Pictures are cut off, unclear subject of photos, doesn't cover the prompt
d. List two things the judges like- balance of photos, pictures didn't look staged
e. What is your overall impression of the photographer? What did you like or not like? I think this photographer has potential to be very good, but these photos just weren't amazing. 

b.
a. Name of photographer - Sam Adams
b. General focus of portfolio (photoj, sports, stories, etc.)- Sports
c. List three problems that the judges noted with the portfolio - photos don't cover prompt, distracting backgrounds, no clear subject
d. List two things the judges like- caught in action, good lighting
e. What is your overall impression of the photographer? What did you like or not like? I think Sam had a lot of really good photos that were unfortunately overshadowed by the not as great ones.

c.
a. Name of photographer - Justin Mott
b. General focus of portfolio (photoj, sports, stories, etc.)- Stories
c. List three problems that the judges noted with the portfolio - blurriness, repetition in the feeling of the pictures, not enough information
d. List two things the judges like- creative angles/space/composition, interesting depth of field
e. What is your overall impression of the photographer? What did you like or not like? There were very good pictures that told stories and had global issues shown very clearly. I loved the different angles that Justin shot from.

d.
a. Name of photographer - Anthony Soufflé
b. General focus of portfolio (photoj, sports, stories, etc.)- Stories
c. List three problems that the judges noted with the portfolio - unclear subject, bad timing of the shot, repetition
d. List two things the judges like- originality, stories shown very well
e. What is your overall impression of the photographer? What did you like or not like? I liked the clear differences between this portfolio and others, it's very original.

2a. What did the judges note as strengths as they were critiquing it? uses many different composition rules and tell very good stories 
b. What do you see as strengths? Do you see any weaknesses? His strengths are that he is able to use many different composition rules, covers the prompts, and tell a story with each photo. The only weakness I see is that he used photoshop a little bit too much on a few of the pictures.

3. Briefly describe the process the judges went through in deciding the winner. They first went through and got rid of the portfolios that they thought were the worst, and then they narrowed it down to the few they liked. From there, they looked at originality of the portfolios from each other as well as originality from each story in the portfolios. The one that stood out the most, in a good way, was declared the winner.

Part 2- Individual Images

1. Describe one photo that you agree with the judges on. Explain why you and the judges do or do not like it. In the fourth video, the picture with the greyhounds in action, racing to the finish line is definitely first place worthy. I agree with the judges when they said it was a great picture, there was no blurriness and you could see how much power each one of the dogs were putting into their run. I like it because it is virtually perfect; it could be in a magazine. The judges like it because not only is it a great picture, but it also wraps up the eight photo long story perfectly.

2. Describe one photo that you DO NOT agree with the judges on. Explain why you think the judges are wrong. I don't agree with the judges on the wrestling picture in the second video. They said it was good, but I think the lighting wasn't that good. I understand that the dark shadows provide an intense feel to the picture, but I can barely see the wrestlers' emotions, which would ideally help me decide on who won and who lost. Also the kid on the ground is kind of blurry.