Slippertalk Judging & Awards Proposal

[slippertalker]

This comes down to a photo contest.....despite opinions to the contrary, pictures aren't always an accurate view of the quality of a flower. Lighting, camera angle and photoshopping can all skew the perception. Nice idea, but keep in mind that creative, good photography as well as manipulation will impact the viewer.

There is nothing like seeing the plant in person.

 

[Marc]

Maybe there should always be the option to opt in / opt out of the juding system.

 

[tomkalina]

I agree with Bill; the HOF sounds like it's going to be based on who takes the best photo, not who has the highest quality plant. AOS judges are require to review awards photos from various judging regions on a regular basis; in fact it's part of our continuing education program. Many times, we look at an awards photo and wonder "how could they have awarded that"? The fact is, you have to be there; you have to be able to touch the flower to gauge it's substance, look at it from various angles to describe it's texture and actually bring the plant to a natural light source to be able to describe the flower color accurately. You can't do this looking at a photo.

Finally, we've all had occasions to question the objectivity of the AOS judging system. I've done it myself. But todays AOS judges training program is not yesterday's; today we have modern tools such as OrchidWiz and AQ+ to help determine awardability on a more objective basis. If you have doubts about your AOS judging center, get involved. Ask questions, be an observer on a judging team and see close up what we do. At the end of each monthly judging in the Chicago center, every plant researched is presented after judging by an AOS judge, usually a student, and it's attributes are discussed; why it was or wasn't awarded, and the owner of the plant is allowed to question the judging team's decision.

Sorry for the length of the response. Enjoy your plants, grow them well and display them with pride, but whatever you do, don't base your estimation of their beauty on some judge's score sheet or an HOF award.


Thanks,

 

[emydura]

I think people are making the mistake that this should be an online equivalent of an AOC award. I personally think they are unrelated and should be judged differently. You are right about the difficulty in judging individual flowers by photos. That is why the focus should be more of a cultural award than a flower quality award. I don't need to see a rothschildianum with 10 spikes in person to be able to determine whether it is pretty special. Personally I think a cultural award is a much more significant achievement anyway. It is a reward of a persons ability to grow an orchid exceptionally well.

As for the argument that photography skills will have an impact on whether an orchid is successful or not. Of course it will and what's wrong with that. It is an online competition judged with photos. That is all part of the whole package. The same as you would clean the leaves on your plant and stake it well before presenting it to the judges. Here you have to take a nice photo as well. It might help people improve their photography. At the end of the day, if the HOF award is more culturally based, you still have to grow the plant well enough to have multiple spikes etc. Great photography won't help you otherwise.

 

[Rick]

Yes David.

That's where my comments were coming from too. I think it will be a more doable thing to push this into the direction of HOF culturing.

When individuals plants do better, we all can learn, and if we all learn then we do better for the hobby and the plants.

I would love to see ST members gain the credibility to influence CITES for developing ex situ breeding programs of endangered species.

 

[fibre]

I think people are making the mistake that this should be an online equivalent of an AOC award. I personally think they are unrelated and should be judged differently. You are right about the difficulty in judging individual flowers by photos. That is why the focus should be more of a cultural award than a flower quality award. I don't need to see a rothschildianum with 10 spikes in person to be able to determine whether it is pretty special. Personally I think a cultural award is a much more significant achievement anyway. It is a reward of a persons ability to grow an orchid exceptionally well.


As for the argument that photography skills will have an impact on whether an orchid is successful or not. Of course it will and what's wrong with that. It is an online competition judged with photos. That is all part of the whole package. The same as you would clean the leaves on your plant and stake it well before presenting it to the judges. Here you have to take a nice photo as well. It might help people improve their photography. At the end of the day, if the HOF award is more culturally based, you still have to grow the plant well enough to have multiple spikes etc. Great photography won't help you otherwise.

David, I agree absolutely! A HOF for the very best cultivated plants doesn't need perfect photographs.
On the other site, we all have to know that a good Paph needs a good photo! I personally don't like bad pics of good Paphs. So I don't like to see those pics in a HOF. A good Paph needs a good presentation, that meens a good photograph in the case of an online presentation.

 

[Rick]

David, I agree absolutely! A HOF for the very best cultivated plants doesn't need perfect photographs.
On the other site, we all have to know that a good Paph needs a good photo! I personally don't like bad pics of good Paphs. So I don't like to see those pics in a HOF. A good Paph needs a good presentation, that meens a good photograph in the case of an online presentation.

Does that mean we can't use a beer can or cigarette for scale

 

[fibre]

Does that mean we can't use a beer can or cigarette for scale

You got it! :clap: