It seems I’m a bit late to the party. My local camera group that I’m a member of have just been talking about a series on Sky Arts (Freeview channel 11) called Master of Photography. I have just managed to watch an episode about backstage photography at a London Theatre, although it turns out this was filmed back in 2016.
So what’s it about? Sky say it’s “judged by world-renowned photographers… talent from all over Europe…compete to win 100,000 euros and the title of Master of Photography”. I’m afraid I didn’t have a clue who the world renowned judge photographers were, but I am just an amateur. I’m sure if I’d studied photography, the judges names might have come into my orbit.
For a start, these contestants have clearly got talent and confidence in their abilities to put themselves forward for a programme like this. Just watching the photographers struggle to take photos backstage at a theatre made my own anxiety creep in! They were advised to ‘stage’ shots to achieve the photograph they wanted, but I felt for some of them, as they preferred to document what they saw rather than fabricate an image. Added to that was the time pressure and then having to come back to the studio to edit their work down to 3 images before presenting a coherent ‘story’ of images back to the judges.
But those judges were like pantomime baddies auditioning to be Masters of Meaness. Barely was a constructive comment made. One male judge was so enraged by the photos he saw, his spittle glinted in the studio lights as he spat out the word “timid”. Timid photographs by a timid photographer – hardly great feedback. It was more an attack of the soul than a critique of the photo – we’re not all extroverts and for good reason.
The best judge by far was the guest judge for this episode, Lois Greenfield. Whilst the contestants were editing their images, she gave honest, worthwhile, level headed feedback that would have steered the contestants in the right direction if they’d chosen to listen to her! Being the troglodyte that I am, I hadn’t heard of her either, but her images are captivating. She captures movement in a way I didn’t know was possible.
Here’s just one of Lois Greenfield’s images – check out Google images to find many more:
The programme though was diverting to watch. It entertained me in an almost shocked but couldn’t stop watching type of way…Bit like dash cam footage. I think I’ll tune in again. However, I thought there might be more to learn about photography from watching as an amateur, but I don’t feel I gained anything on that score. Maybe it was that particular episode.
It might be worth checking it out for yourself if you haven’t already. Like I say, I’m only 4 years late!
The links below will take you to IMDb’s episode list summary for series 1. Or you can head to the Sky website to download the latest episode, currently in season 4: