Does anyone recall that wonderful day last year when yours truly was gloating about success at the local photography contest. This major award (ummm, okay, it was just an honorable mention, but can you say F*R*A*G*EE*L*EE ). This of course was followed soon by a devastating moment in my photographic history when my wife entered her GRluEAckT shot of a bee approaching a sunflower into another (smaller venue) local fair. The outcome of that was a Best in Show for her efforts. Although I did pretty well there as well, I had to accept my fate and put on the Umbrella B*tch shirt for the year. Well, that was one long year folks and it was time to put it all on the line again. First off was the HOI Fair (the larger venue I scored on the year before). Sadly, we were both shut out at that event (everybody say “AHHHHHH”). All was not lost for the Knox County Fair was soon to follow, but I was considered the underdog based on last year’s results.
Last week we headed out to the fair to see how our pictures did. The fate of Umbrella B*tch was hinging on this event so we were both a little nervous. Unfortunately for us, an awesome picture of a fox took the Best in Show. Our hats off to that photographer for a fantastic job. We definitely do not mind losing to quality (now that out of focus B&W at the HOI… well, that’s a different story). So now the HOI event was taken out of the decision process and the Best in Show was nixed. The good news is we ended up doing quite well in a number of categories. In fact, Linda and I each took two first places.
Linda scored with her Zion (I think that is where it was taken) water silk and her portrait she took at her niece’s wedding reception. Ironically, she really didn’t think that shot was that great, but I really like the composition and you can’t tell it in this shot, but there is some grain to it that goes well with the period shot. Apparently the judges agreed with me. I took first for my winter cardinal shot and a macro shot I took of a praying mantis. That cardinal shot finally gets some appreciation ( it is probably one of my favorite shots with the red of the bird contrasting nicely with the snow around it). Linda paid back the favor on the praying mantis. I was unsure about entering that macro, but Linda really liked it and forced me to enter it – I owe her a thanks. With each of us getting two first places finishes, that U.B. decision criteria was thrown out too.
Hit the link to read to see how the 2011 U.B. decision process plays out
