Hopefully below is seen as constructive.
I think the balance of the subjects overall was about right but agree (with myself I suppose) that none of the subjects themselves should be an element of pure chance.
Every subject involves research, to a degree, like a quiz, it’s only easy if you know the answer. So if you know where there’s a clock tower, easy, if you don’t, you need to research. I like that bit about it.
I like subjects like the cement pumping truck, and last year cranes, again research involved and if you’re lucky, you come away making some good contacts who come back to you asking to do some aerial work at other sites of their equipment in use and you end up with some paid work out of it. A nice side effect of the competition
Only one person got the dual carriageway, and by the sounds of it they put considerable amount of time into trying to get it. The rest of us I guess had no interest in sitting for hours near a dual carriageway, or those that did, were not as lucky.
If anything people put more effort into trying to find ways around it with model toys (which could have gone very wrong, never assume everyone has the same level of common sense especially in the pursuit of cash prizes) it’s also not exactly a nice place to sit for hours either unless there’s one going through a hilly beauty spot, but I guess it would no longer then be a beauty spot.
By all means have all the items in the subject, but the main subject could be one of (something I tried to exploit with the use of / in the subject title, but got shot down) and then the bonuses being all the ridiculous stuff for the hardcore.
Most of us was probably willing to spend a full battery recording a dual carriageway and come away with one point, the ones that want to spend hours on it, can do.
Another way to look at it, is if one point becomes at least achievable, you strive more to get additional points for the subject.
E.g. the level crossing was about the right amount of achievable vs pure luck. Timetables allow you to easily know where to go and when, but what sits at the crossing is pure chance. I’m far more likely to keep trying here than I am if the subject itself is pure chance. Windsurfers I’m more likely to try multiple locations in the hunt for 5 for e.g.
But I get there needs to be an element of research vs pure chance vs hardcore
Speaking of hardcore, with the same top 3 (4 if you include me as joint 4th again also) the additional prizes for just taking part was a nice touch. I’d like to assume there was a minimum amount of entries that needed to be submitted to be included in that particular draw.
I would like to see loopholes of toys/miniatures closed in future years by being hardcoded into the rules, did it happen last year too or did I imagine that? (JCB truck, can’t remember, may have been a wind up) as well as ‘trying’ to ensure other bonuses can’t easily be got around with people themselves sitting in chairs, or bikes left on bridges, but appreciate this one is difficult.
And whilst I appreciate no one is paid to do this, and a considerable amount of effort and time is put into this by all behind the scenes. Call me a snowflake all you like, I’d like to see less snide comments. Members were encouraged to not do it but seems that didn’t transpire back to the committee in some cases, which quite frankly caused me to be snidey also. Apologies for that from my side. Practise what you preach I suppose.
There was a few inconsistencies with scoring imo, again appreciate thankless job, and i don’t think effected any of the cash prize awards, but things could get heated if they would have, also accepting entries where the formatting was wrong, this is me being mega picky though, so please don’t take this too critically.
Apologies for the long post. As I said I hope it’s constructive rater than too critical. I don’t need a reply to any of the above, or need explanations of why things are or are not, the way they are. It’s just feedback. I don’t need justifications, but happy to provide more information if required.
Just to repeat, much fun was had. I probably needed the competition to a degree, as like last year when I was new to drones it really helped me with flying skills. As I had just got the Mini 3, and my confidence was knocked after crashing it within a month. I was being extra cautious, this got me out flying and got my confidence back up.
Will I take part next year. Depends if I have a new drone to learn again, but I might put more time into actually capturing summer and doing more hiking next year rather than visiting building sites and dual carriageways. We’ll see what grabs my attention more. A lot can happen in 12 months.
Thanks again for all the effort and time put into organising this.
That neither Belfast nor regional buses are red was something we could have checked up on, we did discover several coach operators with red vehicles though.
… see below …
