Submission Deadline: Midnight, Saturday, February 1, 2020
This meeting will be our monthly competition. All photos (time permitting) will be critiqued. The February, 2020, theme is Open. Any photo on any theme is allowed. All photos must have been taken within the last two years. Each member can submit one or two photos to the competition.
Starting in February, 2020, all competition photos must be submitted to the Visual Pursuits website (http://napfs.visualpursuits.com); entries will no longer be submitted to our old website.
This new website has several advantages over the old website with respect to competition:
- Each member controls her/his own photos. You can remove, replace, or edit your competition photos anytime before the submission deadline.
- The Visual Pursuits website allows both “voting” and “judging”. Any member can vote on the photos in a “People’s choice” vote. This is a popular vote and has no effect on the awards (1st, 2nd, 3rd places and honorable mentions), but it is fun and interesting to see how the members would have judged the photos.
- The judges can judge online. The judges control the awards (see more explanation below).
- Winners’ galleries are automatically created after the judging.
- For the December meeting, a gallery of all the year’s winning photos can be easily created.
- The “voting” and “judging” is created by a single Visual Pursuits competition entry, so there is no need for a separate “people’s choice vote” setup.
- The deadlines are automatically controlled by the VP website, so there is no more “cheating” by submitting photos at 12:05 AM Sunday.
Submit your photos at http://napfs.visualpursuits.com/Competitions/SubmitImageToCompetition.aspx.
Photo Competition
Class 3 Judges Stephen Brkich, Bill Bunton, Phil Hawkins with Moderator Mark Laussade
Mark Laussade moderates and controls the photo judging. In the event of his absence, Stephen Brkich takes his place. Mark recruits four judges from the winners of the Class 3 competition. Three judges will rate each photo, and one of the judges will give a critique. There are four judges so that none of the judges gets to rate his/her own photos.
Unlike the old website, the competition levels are controlled by the competition coordinator (Mark Laussade). As with our old website, there are three levels (classes) of competition. The VP terminology is “basic”, “intermediate” and “advanced”; these are equivalent to the old “Class 1”, “Class 2”, and “Class 3” respectively.
When you first set up a Visual Pursuits account, your level will be unassigned. The competition coordinator will assign a level that he/she deems appropriate for you as determined from your previous membership years. For a new member, a level of “basic” is usually assigned. However, any member can request to the competition coordinator that their level be changed.
For more info, read this post about classes.
Moon Over Wheatfield by Mark Laussade
More Awards in 2020!
The number of awards is potentially increasing for 2020. In 2019, the number of awards was up to 25% of submissions. In 2020, the number of awards is at least 25% of submissions. What does this mean? In 2019, the number of awards per class was the number of entries divided by four and the fractional part was discarded (i.e. the number was truncated to an integer). In 2020, the number of awards per class is the number of entries divided by four and then rounded up to the next integer (unless the result is already an integer). For example, with 17 entries, there would have been 4 awards in 2019, but there are 5 awards in 2020.
Meeting Details
This is a free, public meeting so invite a buddy! but we encourage all to join the club if you regularly visit. Because then you get to enter our competitions and participate in other club activities!
Date: Thursday, February 6, 2020 starting at 7 PM.
Location: Pok-E-Jo’s Restaurant at 2121 W. Parmer Lane, Austin, Tx, 78727. NOTE that this is not our usual meeting place. Come early (5:30) to socialize and eat dinner!
Agenda
7:00-7:10 PM Meet & Greet
7:10-7:20 PM Meeting Announcements, Guest Introductions
7:20-9:15 PM Competition Critiques
Monthly Competition
The monthly NAPƒS digital competition is meant to be fun, inspirational, and educational. The judging and associated critiques are positive, supportive, and will be a useful learning tool.
You must join NAPƒS to take part in 2020 competitions. The cost of membership is only $24, and your annual contribution is used 100% in support of club operations and activities.