The not so 'Honourable' Hasselblad masters awards

It seems Hasselblad have not been fair to all the entrants of this years Hasselblad masters awards 2012.

Complaints were made to Hasselblad, several months ago, that some entrants have not conformed to the basic rules of entry for the competition where it states 'all 5 image submissions MUST be from the same series.

3 entrants were outlined to Hasselblad within the Fashion/Beauty category that failed to fulfil this basic requirement. It now seems one of these 3 'rule breakers' has won their category stealing the title from genuine entrants.

Hasselblad were notified of this several times and It has been ignored; Hasselblads response, from Denmark, was nothing but ignorant, rude and completely unfair to all those that have conformed to the rules of entry.

The prestigipeous Hasselblad Masters Awards are flawed and sadly, unfair!

This is not to say all photographers who ended are not talented, they indeed are- just that rules are rules and if exceptions are made for one, especially if it strengthens a portfolio submission or could sway the judges, then it should be an exception for all, or the competition is completely unfair.

Those not conforming to the rules should be rejected or disqualified!

I truly feel for all those who have lost out to such a shameful decision and opportunity.

The Unfairness of Hasselblad

Having read the preceding comment of John Hunt, wherein he states "Hasselblads response, from Denmark, was nothing but ignorant, rude and completely unfair", let me just add that this does not surprise me in the slightest.

As a once former user of Hasselbald equipment, I have had numerous dealings with the senior management of Hasselblad, and my experience corresponds exactly to the aforementioned quotation, except the word "arrogant" also springs to mind!

As regard the competition, imposing rules which are then blatantly broken, apparently with the endorsement of Hasselblad, simply makes a laughing stock of the competition, the worth of which is thus devalued to zero!

My advice, don't deal with Hasselblad, be it competitions or products!

Hasselblad

I once dealt with Hardy Hasse from Hasselblad (albeit 10 year ago) fantastic, inspiring and ultra helpful. Never been helped out by anyone lese (including Leica and Mamiya) in the same committed way. So I guess, like all things, its all relative and depends on who you speak to. If I could afford a HD4 I'd buy one. I don't work or have any affinity with Hasselblad but was so impressed I did buy a camera.

Hasselblad Masters

Having read John Hunt's comments on Hasselblad breaking the rules of entry for the Masters competition, we would like to state that in our submission conditions we clearly ask for 5 photos in at least 1 category. These rules have been respected by all the participants and we are very proud of the positive feedback we had so far on our Masters programme, which is an excellent platform for so many photographers around the world to present their work.

Masters

I find John Hunt's complaints rather strange. I entered the Masters this time around, and before doing so I read the rules. At no point did it say images had to be part of a series? Maybe John misread the rules, but even so, this sounds a little like sour grapes to me.

I've always had amazing service from Hasselblad. Far better than I've had from Canon or the like, but then everyone has their own experiences I guess.

Helpful Hasselblad

I have been using Hasselblads since 1985 (together with Linhof and Nikons) and on the rare occasions I have had to deal with them (repairs, advice, discussion at Focus, etc) I have found them helpful and enthusiastic about their products. One tech at Hendon workshops actually showed me how to field strip my SuperWide in case I had a recurrence of the issue. I still use camera bodies over 50 years old (with Phase One backs). Good result.