Thursday, July 26, 2018

Fair to Middlin'

You just never know.

My photo of Vlad the Amur Leopard at the Manhattan (KS) Zoo won grand champion in the open class division at the Stafford County Fair last week.

It wasn't even on my initial list of potential fair entries. During the year, I make notes about photos I might enter at the county fair or use for a family birthday calendar project. (Type A, anyone?!)
 
I'd quickly snapped it during a freezing cold day when we celebrated Kinley's 6th birthday at the zoo. At the time, we just wanted Vlad to pick the enrichment box the party-goers had created so we could go back to the warm building!
The up-close photo of Vlad ended up in a collage in the birthday post. But, as I was looking through photos I'd taken in the past year, I decided Vlad was more unusual than the cattle and kitties I normally photograph. What's another three bucks to print another 8 x 10? (And, I had a 60 percent discount!)

The "eyes" (Vlad's eyes, that is) had it, the photography superintendent later told me, and the judge selected it as Grand Champion. 

And it just goes to show you: Judging in one person's opinion on one day. I heard that from my parents whether it was before 4-H foods judging or a league music festival.

I'm sure there were people who looked at the purple ribbon by Vlad's photo and wondered "Why that one?" If you handed ballots to fairgoers and asked them to choose their favorite, I'm convinced that a few photos would garner more votes than others. But it certainly wouldn't be a unanimous decision.

For me, it's just fun to enter. Evidently, old habits die hard.

I've been exhibiting things at county fairs since I was 10 years old. I was a fourth grader and a member of the Lincoln Bluebirds 4-H Club. My only project my first year was "Snacks and Little Lunches," a foods and nutrition project. According to my meticulous record book, my first fair netted a blue ribbon on cookies and red ribbons on both my cupcakes and brownies.
If my 4-H story is to be believed, I had a "lot of fun." In fact, several times, I had "a lot of fun." Perhaps my descriptive writing had not yet been developed.

But, at any rate, I evidently did have "a lot of fun." Here we are ... um ... several years later, and I'm still entering exhibits at a county fair.

Even though I love to cook and bake, photography is the exhibit area I choose these days. However, I'm still connected to 4-H foods all these years later, too, since I'm 4-H foods superintendent and have been for more than 20 years.

All 4-H entries get a ribbon. But in open class divisions at the Stafford County Fair, only the 1st, 2nd and 3rd photos are selected in each class. Classes are divided into color and black and white divisions. Some of the classes were nature, people, landscape, agriculture, computer-manipulated, action, humor and human interest.

I ended up with four blues, three reds and five whites. About half of my entries didn't get ribbons at all.
This one got a blue. I took it during our trip to South Dakota last September when Randy's brother was sick. It was taken at a stream we discovered just off the highway, but the light was perfect at the time.
Another blue: I took this one at the Kansas State University greenhouses during a tour for Kansas Master Farmer/Master Farm Homemakers last March.
This computer-manipulated image got a blue. I loved the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote and used the image for an Ag Day blog post about farm wife partners.
This one, which I titled "Don't Eat With Your Mouth Full," got a red in the humor class. I snapped the photo of one of our feeder calves as we were waiting for the veterinarian to arrive last November.
This one got a red, too. Brooke was my "action" model during a playground stop during our spring break trip to Hays.
Another amateur photographer friend asked me if I had a favorite photo I'd entered this year. This one I took at the Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, S.D., was definitely one of my favorites. The black and white version got a 3rd place ribbon.
The color version didn't place at all. (Obviously, I couldn't decide which I liked better, so I entered both B/W and color and let the judge decide.)
The painted lady butterfly on roadside sunflowers got a 3rd-place ribbon, too. It's an image I've put on notecards since taking the photo last September.
This computer-manipulated image also got a red ribbon. I used a poem written by May Williams Ward in 1927. For a time, she lived in Belpre - a tiny town in the county to our west. Her husband was a manager at the grain elevator there, so her poems that feature Kansas landscapes are my favorites. I used this for a blog illustration.
My little hide-and-seek calf earned me another white ribbon.
This photo I took at our church last December was my black and white computer-manipulated entry. Part of the edits were done with the camera before I ever downloaded the image. It got a 3rd place ribbon, too.
This photo of Randy was one of my favorite entries. I took it last October when I took supper to the field and he was filling the wheat drill. I liked it enough that I made a 16- by 20-inch canvas that represents autumn in my "Seasons" display in our living room. However, the judge only gave it a 3rd place. I also entered it in the Stafford County Economic Development contest in the "commerce" category and got an "honorable mention" ... and a little prize money.

I also used my photos for my two entries in the Stafford County Fair's Arts and Crafts department. I entered two books in the online scrapbooking class. Though I don't think that's a particularly accurate description of what the books are, it's the category that fits.
 
 The book I made for Randy for Christmas last year got the blue ribbon.
So many times these days, the photos we take on our cameras or phones never get printed.
I use my photos for blog posts, so I do edit photos and use them.
But the books put the photos in a more accessible form.
A book I made for Kinley and Brooke after a spring break trip was 3rd in the online scrapbooking class. 
Sometimes, I write blog posts about adventures with the girls in rhyme. Later, I put the rhymes and photos in books and give a copy to each of the girls (and keep one for myself, of course).
Since I'm not a quilter or seamstress, maybe these books will provide a legacy of sorts.

I never bring in enough prize money to cover the cost of photo mats, enlargements, book production, etc. So why do it?

People have been experiencing fairs since the days of the Roman empire (At least that's what Wikipedia - the authority of all things - told me). I suppose there's a little rush to being chosen "best" at something, satisfying that little kernel of competitiveness in the human spirit.
But I truly think it's about helping to make sure fairs last another 2,000 years. Fairs give people an excuse to come together, to visit with people they don't see everyday.

It brings volunteers together to work on something that's bigger than what any one person could accomplish on their own.

It's about being part of a community. I'll give that a purple ribbon any day. 

10 comments:

  1. Congratulations! I've always love the county fairs and I do enjoy you photography found on the blog. Recently the 4th St Cottonwoods photos caught my eye. And now I'm eyeing those online scrapbooks. I think I can learn to do that--so you've inspired me! You are so right, my cell phone and both my cameras are full of photos not printed or used in any way. Time to get going with those!

    Thanks for the great post.

    Terri

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  2. I use Snapfish for the majority of my books and for the notecards I make using my photos. I don't know that Snapfish is the best. I just started using that one, and I like having photos I've used in the past accessible when I'm working on projects. I get emails for discounts for them frequently.

    For a farm ABC book and a farm counting book I've done, I used Heritage Makers. They have amazing "papers," designs and embellishments, but they are way more expensive. One of my nieces uses Shutterfly for her kids' scrapbooks. There are a number of companies you can choose.

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  3. Replies
    1. Thank you! It's a fun hobby. And it's cheaper now that cameras are digital - bonus!

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  4. Oh yes, I remember buying those yellow boxes of Kodak or green boxes of Fuji film and then waiting for it to be developed. Instant gratification now!

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    1. Yes indeed! And I have plastic tubs worth of prints and negatives to show for all those camera clicks - some good and some not so good.

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  5. Congratulations Kim. You continue to amaze me with all you manage to fit into a day, week, month!

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    1. I haven't been very productive this week after having our youngest granddaughter visit over the weekend. And that's just fine with me!

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  6. Well done Kim!! Your ribbons are ever so beautiful BTW!
    I think the photo of the leopard is amazing... and yes it is the eyes. But my favourite would have to be of Randy loading the seeder... the lighting is just beautiful.

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    1. Thanks. It's fun to see what the judge thinks. I'm contemplating entering a few in the state fair, including some in the Kansas Wheat contest.

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