I
entered 17 photos in the Advanced Division of the Lake County Fair this year
and won three 3rd place ribbons and one 1st. I had to
laugh because the blue ribbon was for a “just because I can” photo, meaning one
that fit the category and didn’t embarrass me but that I didn’t expect to win
anything. The one I thought was my best and had my hopes riding on got a 3rd
place. Photography is subjective, and you can never predict what a judge will
do.
The
photo at the top of the page is the first-place winner from the Color/Weather
category. It is from my trip to Iceland. An interesting fact is that I took it
on my cell phone because I couldn’t get my more sophisticated camera to set up
correctly. The best thing about this win is that I met my long-time goal to
beat a particular member of my camera club.
This
next photo is the one that I really, really like. It was taken at the Waterford
Crystal factory in Ireland. The woman is cutting a design into a wineglass, and
I love the concentration on her face. The category was B&W/Human Interest.
"Man and Mountain Goat" took third place in the Color/Portrait category. The man was
obviously expecting people to photograph him and his goat because he had a cap
out to accept donations. I dropped money in his cap and asked for permission
anyway, which he gave.
The
final photo took third place in the Color/Architecture category. Competition
wise, I do better with photos showing details of buildings than I do with
photos of an entire building. That’s probably true for others as well, since
taking the entire building is more touristy. (I take both, though.) This photo
shows some of the detail of the Melbourne (Australia) Arts Center, which was
designed to look like the Eifel Tower.
I’ve
been entering in the Advanced Division for several years now, with varying
results. I’m up against strong competitors, and many of them take a lot more
time with their photos than I do with mine (both in setting up the photo itself
and in post-processing). So I’m happy with whatever I get.
With
this year’s fair behind me, I can’t wait for next year.
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