NOTE FOR NEW VISITORS WHO MAY BE A BIT HARD OF THINKING: The purpose of this posting was not to bash the photo of a cow. It is, I suppose, nice enough as cow photos go. My point is that NatGeo chose as their Number One nature photo… a *cow.* A cow is a spectacularly uninteresting and non-newsworthy critter, especially when it’s just standing there not doing anything that cows don’t normally dow. Sharks in flight? That’d be spiffy. Squirrels kung-fu fighting? Yes, that’s special. Pigeons tearing Hillary Clintons hair off? That’d be worth seeing. But a cow just standing in a field? Feh.
Back in October my friends and family convinced me to enter some of my photos in the National Geographics photo contest. Didn’t expect that I’d win… and I didn’t. The fact that I didnt win doesn’t bother me much… hell, there had to be about a million people sending them photos. What does bother me is that the winning photo in the Nature section (the section I entered the bulk of my photos in) is of a cow.
Now, if you look at a photo of a cow in National Geographic and say, “But… that’s just a cow,” then welcome to my world.
A cow. A friggen’ COW.
For Bog’s sake, the cow wasn’t even on fire or anything.
But the topper comes in the comments from the Nat Geo judge: “It’s the knowing and sophisticated look of the cow at the photographer and the viewer” that makes this photo so special, said judge Susan Welchman, National Geographic magazine senior photo editor.
“Knowing and sophisticated look of the COW?!?!” It’s the New-Agey nonsensical PETAfied bullshit that really gets me.
19 Responses to “I wuz robbed!!!”
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Damn! Those beat the hell out of the NG cos and horse pictures.
If only you had known the kind of crap they were looking for!
As always, the secret is knowing what they *want,* not what they *say* they want. Pretty sure if I had a photo of cows genuflecting before The One, NatGeo would’ve snapped it right up.
…Scott, the problem’s clear. The fact of the matter is that all of the judges were either Hindus or Cattle Ranchers. The deck was loaded against any other subject, which is why the lamest photo won.
I’d rather eat a cow than a horse…
And you were not robbed, you didn’t have it to begin with… Stop blog’n and take more pictures…
> And you were not robbed, you didn’t have it to begin with…
I know that. The blog post title came from a discussion in another forum where I had posted my NatGeo submissions, and when the winners were announced, someone said “you wuz robed” as everyone boggled at the cow shot.
> Stop blog’n and take more pictures…
Camera’s busted, I’m afraid. It’s in the shop.
Check out the winners:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/photo-contest/2008-winners?startgallery=2
Especially check out the “Nature honorable mention” at far right, showing three eagles fighting for a fish. Now *that* is pretty damned spiffy.
OK this is BS! You delete what you do not want others to see. I saw what the winner had written to you and looks to me like this is very one sided from a poor looser! So is that how you handle everything in life? If you dont get your way you have to put everyone one else down to make you feel better about yourself?
A frickn horse! What the hell is the difference?! And you know if you werent so judgemental of others i would never be this forward but you deserve every comment comin to you.
What you need to do is read what the real professionals have written about the winners photo! Every animal is special! What makes an eagle more special than a cow? Every animal is important.
Its really too bad that you waste your energy on such nonsense. Photography is about ones views and artistic abilities. Everyone has their own ways. I think you need to step back and think next time you bash someone. Did you ever think of how you made the photographer feel? For them to be so excited that they could take a shot and win..and all you can do is be negative and poop all over it. I really dont think this is about the photo but more about you needing to look at yourself and where your real anger comes from. Maybe one day you can be happy for others. That would be a nice day.
>You delete what you do not want others to see. I saw what the winner had written to you…
Ah. So you saw when she had LIBELOUSLY claimed that I had “stolen” the photo. Given that US Federal law allows for “fair use” in commentary and criticism of works such as photos, claims of theft are strictly speaking libel, and legally actionable. You’d rather I had her arrested and/or sued? That’s bit harsh of you, isn’t it?
> A frickn horse! What the hell is the difference?!
That’s *exactly* the point. A horse, a cow, a sheep… all are BORING and non-news-worthy.
> I think you need to step back and think next time you bash someone.
And who, exactly, do you think I bashed? The photographer, or Nat Geo? if you think the former… you’re a moron.
> Maybe one day you can be happy for others.
And maybe one day Time and Newsweek will run hard-core porn. Aviation Week will run photo exposes on the latest sale at Target. Wouldn’t you be happy for the photographers???
And my very favorite part:
>Every animal is special!
Indeed. That’ cow looks like a very special hamburger-in-the-making. The claims of “dignity” and a “sophisticated look” the cow is giving are downright *hilarious.* What it’s actually doing is giving a look almost completely devoid of any thought. If unthinkingness equates to dignity for you… why, then I wholeheartedly support your feelings of outrage. They amuse me.
I love this thread. I found the winning photo on Flickr. I liked it. I didn’t necessarily agree with the judges but I didn’t see everything they were looking at and I am only an amateur. But, the winning photographer sends us here from Flickr to hear the complaints. I find this SO entertaining. Thank you. I don’t see the cow as a winning entry, but it is a great shot of a cow. And I am very happy for the one photographer that won. Someone had to. Unfortunately, that made for a lot of losers. But, I agree that it is the judges you were angry at. I just want to say that if you are more careful in your grammar, spelling and such in your initial entry, it gives you more credibility. However, it doesn’t decrease the entertainment value of the contrasting opinions and arguments. Kudos. You both have some validity.
Have a great day and I like you horse pictures. Very pensive. (Not knocking you or the winning photographer, but National Geographic.) Your pictures were nice. I liked the winner, as well. Better luck next time.
> I don’t see the cow as a winning entry, but it is a great shot of a cow.
As cow photos go, yeah, it’s good.
>I agree that it is the judges you were angry at.
Not really angry… just stonkered. It’s A Cow.
> I just want to say that if you are more careful in your grammar, spelling and such in your initial entry, it gives you more credibility.
Bah! This are teh internets!
> Have a great day and I like you horse pictures. Very pensive.
A note on those: When I was considering posting my little “You’re kidding… a *cow?*” blog post, I just wandered out to the back yard and took some quick snapshots of some of the horses out there. These were not my NG submissions; just sort of my sigh of disdain. The journal of record of the modern world… with volcanoes going off, tidal waves, huricanes, eagles battling for supremacy, lighting, auroral displays, NG chose… a cow. And the judges comments about how it caught the “dignity” of said monumentally dumb animal just made my engineer’s mind boggle.
Well, after reading the judges comments, I can see why they picked that one. The judges do not only look for unique, they look for TECHNICAL QUALITY! The photo of the cow in question, was TECHNICALLY WELL DONE, a UNIQUE ANGLE, the LIGHTING WAS PERFECT, must I go on? There are many people who can take wonderful photos of nature, but to get all the aspects of technique, lighting, focus, perspective, all in one shot is what makes an AWARD WINING PHOTO.
> The judges do not only look for unique, they look for TECHNICAL QUALITY!
Sure, fine, agreed. But the fact remains… it’s a frakin’ *cow.* When I think “National Geographic” I don’t generally think “boy, I hope they have some pictures of one of the most common largish mammals on the planet, a critter I’d have to travel literally *yards* to find!”
It’s not the quality I have issue with, it’s the incredibly mundane subject matter.
Okay, so what’s your point? Her photo happens to be better than your horse photos. Its well lit, exposure’s spot on, and the composition is perfect. I noticed you didn’t post the photo’s you sent it…hmm. Why not? If you’re so bummed about losing to a cow photo, what did you send in that would be generally better?
Right.
In my experience with photo contests, you never know what the judges are going to pick as the winner. The cow photo is very nice but I would have questioned it being in the nature category. I have always thought agriculture type photos were not nature. But it just goes to show. I recently participated in an exhibition in Tokyo that was supposed to be world nature and yet there were photos of people walking down a street, rooftops, an old man in a park with houses and power lines behind him, and other photos that didn’t fit the theme as I imagined.
I just remembered that some famous magazine once chose as its winner a photo of a mushroom in a forest. The shot itself wasn’t that remarkable but the mushroom had caught the sun just right so that it burned out the film with its glow, looking like an independent light source. It was interesting, but was it something that deserved first prize? Well, if the judges thought so what can we do? I almost never agree with judges even on the odd occasion I have won a prize. I wouldn’t dream of entering a National Geographic contest. But congratulations to the winner with the cow photo. It is a very lovely cow and a great portrait with beautiful lighting. I’ll think about it with the next hamburger I order.
>so what’s your point?
It’s a *COW.* If it was a contest for Hamburger Afficionado Monthly, then, yeah. But this is National Geographic.
> Its well lit, exposure’s spot on, and the composition is perfect.
Whoopee. It’s also entirely mundane. As I said, if the cow was on fire or something, or if Jihadists had strapped half a ton of dynamite to it and were trotting it towards an orphanage for an Islam Outreach Program, then, yeah, that’d work. But who buys NG to see pictures of stuff they can see every day?
Feh.
OP, if you’re an engineer, then I fear for the future. The photos you posted, while interesting, are not award winners. I would have at least expected you to crop out the corners on the first photo as to not draw attention. You continue to assert your position on it being “just a cow”, but you still haven’t provided your entries… nature is nature, and everything it encompasses. If that happens to be a cow, so be it! Every animal is beautiful in its own right, and who are YOU to judge what’s newsworthy, and for that matter, interesting?
To paraphrase, “You have been weighed at the scales, and you have been found wanting.” Better luck next time, kiddo.
> if you’re an engineer, then I fear for the future
You should truly fear for the future if your fears are based on the artistic opinions of an engineer you’ve never met.
> The photos you posted, while interesting, are not award winners.
Correct. They are shots I wandered out to the back and snapped in response to NG picking one of the dullest animals imaginable.
> Every animal is beautiful in its own right…
Uh-huh.
> who are YOU to judge what’s newsworthy, and for that matter, interesting?
Ummm… really? You leave it to “experts” to tell *you* what you should find interesting? Wow.
Well I for one thought the photo was wonderful!. The overall composition was stunning. OK..so you’re not happy with the subject of the photo, but how unprofessional and unsportman like it is to blog a ranting about “a friggin cow”.
If you are not happy with the judges choice then step up your game. it’s CLEAR the judges saw the criteria they wanted in the winning image and that was that. Next time, step up your game..get out there and REALLY think about the lighting, the subject matter and whether to use bokeh or a marco technique, instead for ranting. Camera is broke you say?, well then READ up on the latest in photography until the camera is able to be fixed.
I’m sorry but with all due respect..you have a very bad attitude about the whole thing. I can’t tell you how many contest I submit photos to, but when I do I go by the old saying “you win some you lose some”. This time wasn’t it for you. Chalk it up to learning something and move on.
respecfully,
M Revis
> I’m sorry but with all due respect..you have a very bad attitude about the whole thing.
Yes, perhaps. I just see cows as exceedingly bland, uninteresting topics regardless of how well photographed. From living next to them for years, I can assure you that cows are monumentally uninteresting animals. Tacking on New Age mumbo jumbo about “capturing their dignity” just sets my teeth on edge.