Judge Review: Rosemary Wilman: General thoughts, should we invite Rosemary back?

I thought Rosemary waffled on a bit at times especially if she wasn’t too sure about what she was looking at. A bit hyper critical about some things but the thing that confused me a bit was her scoring, it was to my mind inconsistant. If I remember rightly she was like this the last time we had her as a Judge. Should we have her again?  She obviously knows her stuff so can’t fault her for that so probably yes but I wouldn’t be sorry if she isn’t booked again.

My usual gripe about judging, I’m afraid, namely inconsistency. Sometimes the theme was being interpreted as strictly synonymous with “minimalist simplicity” (there are other interpretations) and then high scores were awarded to images where Less is More didn’t appear to feature at all in the assessment.

On a slightly irreverent note, the side comment of the night must go to the member sitting in front of us. Whilst Rosemary was discussing the merits of 3 chimneys or 4 chimneys, he was heard to remark “Well that’s chimneys for you”. It was extremely hard to contain ones mirth and not cause a scene!

I have to admit that her persona reminded me of a headmistress at times and I had PTSD type flashbacks to my schooldays. I was terrified of what she was going to say about my print as she seemed to be quite harsh with some of the PDI’s and prints. As it turned out I needn’t have worried as she gave me my first ever 20.  That said I have to agree that some of the marks did leave me virtually scratching my head as they did seem inconsistent at times.  In her defence, I found the theme a real challenge for coming up with ideas.

Yes I would like to see Rosemary Wilman Back again.  I think she is an excellent judge. I thought she was careful to select the right words and not cause offence , even though many images did not relate to the Theme of less is more.  As members we all had the opportunity of checking out her website and view the Theme less is more, in order to get inspiration and guidance .