Andrew - in a photographic competition, photos are usually judged on how well the convey to the viewer the subject matter at hand. Composition matters, of course, but if the subject, i.e. "motivation" was posted as the criteria on which a photo was to be judged, then the judges will look at the photo and ask themselves "if I wasn't told what the subject was, could I guess it?".
While any photo subject taken may motivate the photographer in their own way, would it necessarily mean the same thing to someone else without a border stating "this photo motivates me because..."? This, I believe, is how people should think when they're given a subject to answer. My old man was the president of the Northern Suburbs Camera Club in Sydney for years and ran many comps for the members. I've always tried to follow his advice when taking photos, and endeavour to apply his comp principles whenever entering one.
Otherwise I could simply post a picture of a bus and then explain it away by stating "I'm motivated by this picture because these things get me home from work on a Friday". Sadly, whilst it is a great picture of a bus, it doesn't mean diddly-squat to anyone else and no-one understands the motivation behind the photo's capture.
LOL! I'm not trying to be harsh here, and certainly am not looking for trouble, but merely giving my opinion on the way photographs should be judged IMHO, and voted on IF there is a "subject" at hand. Criteria for the judgement - not how "nice" a photo is but what does it say?
Nice lot of photies this month, all aside
