Master of Photography

I've just had the opportunity to watch a few episodes, they were from the past couple of years. This series must be new to U.S. television market.

I love hearing the photographer's thinking process on each of the challenges. It gives the viewer insight into the struggles photographers have when on assignment, whether it is a personal project or a paid gig. The struggles are real and creating art is not as easy as most people think. The contestants' explanation of why they took the image and what they saw in the image they took is crucial to the enjoyment of this series.

As for the judging, it is a fail! These photographers are in a competition environment, not submitting images to an editor for a specific publication. There are no set criteria or point scale for the various categories/technical skills required to capture a good artistic image. The judges act more like editors arbitrarily saying whether an image is good enough, and most of the time I disagree with their assessment of an image. The photographers haven't had enough time to understand what each judge is looking for, except for the few who make it to the latter half of the season. At the least, the judges could provide some constructive criticism on how the photographer could have improved the image to make the cut.

They should improve the judging aspect where there is a grade card with specific exoteric (composition, lighting, focus, theme, etc.) objectives to be met and far less esoteric (mood, meaning, story, etc.) objectives. Each judge should independently score each image and the winner based on total points.