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AI Judging – will it replace Humans?
As a frequent judge of photography, from club level to national level, I am rarely lost for words or an opinion! However, later this year I will be pitching my judging experience against AI judging and I very much expect to come up short, because I find AI judging so thorough and knowledgeable about art in particular. What can I, as a mere human, possibly come up with to rival the vast human experience that has been used to train AI models? I simply can’t! I pondered this idea for a while, but not for very long, because it soon occurred to me that I could ask AI. So I…
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Back to Nature
June wasn’t exactly ideal for insect photography up here in Saddleworth. The temperatures were high, but so were the winds and finding a calm day was a real struggle. So, I decided to return to photographing small birds in the garden for a couple of days. I started to feed the birds a few years ago. At first, the food wasn’t taken…for two reasons, I think. First, the feeders were not sited in the right place and second, the birds didn’t much like the food mix I was offering. I now feed almost entirely sunflower hearts, which I buy in bulk at half the price of the local supermarket and…
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Langdale in Winter
As I revisit this scene, photographed from Blea Tarn, memories of that day come flooding back—along with the challenges I put myself through. I had been judging for the Scottish Photographic Federation near Bridge of Allen, battling through relentless winter weather and dangerous driving conditions. By Monday morning, I was making my way home, driving down the M6 in yet another downpour and contending with the spray from the endless lines of lorries making their way south. Approaching Shap, the rain finally relented, and patches of blue sky began to break through over the Lake District off to my right. On an impulse, I took the next motorway exit, determined…
