The Parade of Clay People is a difficult subject. It is not easy to choose something from the many submissions depicting this event. There are beautiful, original models, interesting arrangements, exotic combinations and unusual situations. In addition, there is also the playfulness and posing of the Clay People.
This year's competition photographs can be divided into three categories: poor portraits, badly framed group photographs, and kitschy posed photographs.
Portraits
There are more portrait photographs than anything else. The Clay People have always attracted photographers with their originality. Unfortunately, almost none of the authors managed to make a good portrait; only beautiful people were photographed.
Although art is meant to imitate nature, it is something artificial—that is, it creates its own reality. Therefore, photographing a beautiful model (or painting one) does not yet mean that a quality work of art has been created. A photograph is not good (beautiful) because the model is beautiful. A photograph is valuable when its creator has managed to present an artificial reality aesthetically. There is one such portrait among the competition entries. It captures a child's sincerity and simplicity. The photograph is not overworked.
Group photographs
The basic errors are poor framing and masses of rubbish in the background—and quite often in the foreground as well. Photographers often snapped a picture without thinking. They pressed the shutter because something was happening.
The author of the photograph above probably does not realize that they have shown the viewer a Mercedes van and a woman assisting the Clay People. They were actually photographing two girls painting themselves with clay. Intentions are not enough to make a good photograph. It turns out that the art lies in showing the photographed subject, rather than something that happened to appear by chance.
Posed photographs
The competition organizers should ban them. Each one is more unnatural, insincere and reliant on such banal, unoriginal associations that the word kitsch comes readily to mind.
The main motifs are most often copied from pop music videos. Edward Scissorhands with his beloved, sad girls leaning against walls, models lost in thought for no reason. Nostalgia and affected poses, as well as cut-out figures placed against a black background without the slightest idea behind them. And all of it accompanied by inflated, pretentious titles: Peeping Tom (because the model looks through a window), Sculptures (because the models stand motionless), In the Clutches of Feelings (because the model has claws attached to his hands and kisses the model), Under the Banner (because a cut-out figure on a black background holds a stick in his hand), Together (because the cut-out figures on a black background stand beside one another), and In the Embrace of Evil (the motivation behind the author of this title is impossible to guess).
Outstandingly good photographs
We selected four photographs that are so good one would like to say they should not have appeared in this year's competition. They stand out drastically from the rest.
The author brought out in the photograph what Karolina's creation radiated: the exoticism of the costume and the strength and power of the figure. By juxtaposing the model with the wall in the background, the author also brought out the fragility of this extraordinary phenomenon.
This photograph is a story. It creates another, artificial and fascinatingly rich world. The narrative introduced by the figures (the protagonists) is its greatest strength and testifies to the artistry of the work.
This is the only photograph in which this year's courtly costumes of the Clay People become original. The author photographed elegantly dressed female Clay People on a Normandy beach and thereby freed them from the stereotype of courtly associations. This year, the costumes in the style of French ladies of the court were so unambiguous that it turned out the models had to be stripped of that connotation in order to bring out their extraordinary beauty.
This photograph enchants with its concentration, simplicity and delicacy. It is also anecdotal. It proves that one does not necessarily have to tackle great subjects. A good detail is enough to create a valuable photograph. It should be added that photographs of human hands are among the more difficult subjects to depict. The author managed to capture, in an unusual convention, the human warmth that hands most often symbolize.
The editorial team of IstotneInformacje.pl wishes the jury fruitful work in selecting the competition photographs. We await the results with impatience and great interest.
(information: ii editorial team)