AV News Magazine | Page 36

AV News 178 - November 2009 Letters AV Queries Melanie Chalk In recent years I have become an AV enthusiast. One of my friends in my local camera club encouraged me to have a go and I became hooked. He gives me plenty of encouragement, advice and critique. I have entered competitions at club level and also County and Nationals with some successes. My mentor had learnt his methods via the slide and tape route but I have only known the "easy way", digital. I would like some clarification on various points from you, the experts and an authority on the subject of all things AV. I know and have studied the guidelines laid down by the RPS and PAGB but there are some "grey" areas and differences of opinion on other points that I would like your views on. When entering a competition, there is an opportunity to write down ones source of music etc on the entry form and if the entry is a personal one or made in conjunction with another person. At what stage is this information read by the Judge? I have read varying reports about the percentage of images that should be taken by the photographer him/herself. Should it be 95%? People having watched one of my sequences, have refused to critique it, as I readily admitted that I had used images from newspapers and magazines, rephotographed by me and images from the internet. How else could I photograph President George Bush? He was an absolute necessity in my AV on the "Credit Crunch". What is the thinking on this? With the ease at which these images can be viewed and downloaded, even with permission granted for their use, it is hard to resist, if it is just the image you need. I was very interested to read in the last issue of AV News that Eddie Spence had sourced images from the internet in his winning sequence "Isadora's Legacy". I am of course not suggesting that all or a majority of the images used should be sourced this way but if any are used should they be itemised on your entry form? With an historical subject for instance, for me, w