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The Spike or Victoria College Review 1937

Photographic

Photographic

For the judging of the entries for the Exec's photographic prize of £1/1/-, Spike is once more indebted to Mr. J. W. Chapman-Taylor, who in conjunction with Mr. J. W. Johnson, undertook the task of deciding which photograph was worthy of the award. For their very ready assistance we wish to express our gratitude to these gentlemen.

The following is the commentary on the entries, kindly prepared by Mr. Chapman-Taylor:

"Photographs are made to be enjoyed, to give pleasure and not merely for competition or criticism. Mr. Johnson and I obtained this pleasure from some of the work submitted and found some difficulty in discriminating between the prints.

"We had to make awards, however, and placed the 'Design for Spike Cover' first because it so perfectly fulfilled its purpose, and because the artist, being thrown entirely on his own resources with such a subject, had completely succeeded.

"Second place we gave to 'The folded leaf is wooed from out the bud.' This is to me a very beautiful picture. The delicate nuances of tone in the dark water and the fairy-like bracken stems catching the light are delightfully stimulating to the imagination. One gropes for words to express the pleasure this picture gives and I hesitate to say what visions it calls up for me. This surely is the perfect service and office of pictures. However, all this is so subjective and another person might react quite differently. Can we award marks on such a basis? On the hard cold basis of composition rules, the 'Spike Cover' comes first.

"'Distant Hills and Moving Shadows' is a 'painter-like' picture. The delicate gradations of tone and firm crisp edges to its forms and masses suggests well-handled water-colour. It would gain much by enlarging up to 10 in. x 12 in., or 12 in. x 15 in.

"Several other prints, if not so good technically, showed thought, feeling and imagination.

"Of these, 'Solitude' successfully conveys the idea suggested by the name. A good print on a much larger scale would make of this subject a fine picture.

"There is a relation between the size of pictures and the size of people. Below a certain size, out eyes do not appreciate the true values of objects, and their dignity suffers privation. A print on 10 in. x 12 in. paper is quite small enough to give proper value to a good subject."