This complaint brings up an important issue to be considered. Any competition or any individual judge can not address the
requirements of all photographers that care to enter competitions or all specializations in photography or any art. All judges can not be expected to be, in this case, a wildlife expert or a zoologist. A judge may critique an image strictly on his or her concepts of composition or any other criteria. In this particular case, obviously, the judge did not understand the natural habitat of the animal in the image, nor the configuration of the cat's tail as it would appear in nature. Certain images have documentary or scientific information or value that should not be altered for artistic purposes. A truly great image MAY have both artistic and documentary attributes.

In a perfect situation, specialized competitions, in this case, wildlife photography, would have a judge or judging panel that is expert or at the very least, familiar with the category. In a camera club with a relatively small membership, this kind of specialization may be unlikely and entrants need to factor theses limitation into their results and not become overly disgruntled.

Some folks on this forum tend to deriede professional competitions as being "cookie-cutter" or too conservative or having a sameness in scoring images. Some professional associations that are comprised of traditional portrait, wedding, and commercial photographers will have standards and judges that reflect the standards, norms, and tradition of these industries. This is not to say that creative, unique or "out of the box" or fine art images will not receive due recognition but this is a possibility.

My feeling on the subject of competitions is simple. They can be meaningful, educational and beneficial if they are taken with the right attitude. They are no place for sore losers, egotistical winners or folks who only accept positive reviews all the time. You have to take the criticisms from whom the come and evaluate them accordingly and sensibly. This business of having to have a "thick skin" is ridiculous- an open mind with common sense is a much better pre-requisite. If, however, "you can't take a punch, don't enter the ring" because if you become devastated, discouraged, angry or combative from any negative review, competitions are not a healthy activity for you. Yes, there will be unfair, uneducated and downright stupid judgments from time to time but in the long run, there will be fairer, reasonable and constructive reviews most of the time.

I am certainly NOT the foremost authority or expert on competitions. I do, however, have a long experience with them as a contestant and judge. In 1958, as an after-school part-time "slave" in a photo studio- janitor and passport-photo expert, and darkroom assistant, I learned my trade through critiques from the boss and all the senior photographers. They insisted that I shoot and enter my prints into pro competitions and attended as many open judgings as I could. I learned to take my knocks and accolades early in life. As a kid, it was fun and games but it retrospect, it was one hell of a learning experience.

Some 62 years later, I still have many critics. I still enter the occasional competition, but that's the tip of the iceberg. Among my OTHER critics are all the clients, art directors, editors, my lovely wife, my kids and grandkids, my in-laws- and it seems the janitor in the building where I have my studio has a keen eye for composition (really- no kidding) and if only our cat could speak! And... if only the criticisms would be confined to my photography. As Rodney Dangerfield used to say, "I get no respect"...well sometimes!

I have belonged to a camera club for the past 12 years. I always enter images on our competition
meeting. Judges constantly contradict themselves. I am so fed up with their interpretation of what a photo should be that I will no longer enter my images in competition. Have any others had or has the same complaint?

I think the judges or so called professionals should let the photographer have a minute to explain what they were trying to do with their photo. I realize that photography is subjective.