Fair Photos

Last weekend I was a little disappointed.  It was a great time, all in all.  Got to see one of my favorite people and peruse a park and get a Cub meal at the-one-and-only Cougar Country with her.  Then Phil, the in-laws and I hit the fair, which as a small town girl I adore.  I love the small community coming together and presenting their crafts, crops, and animals.  I love the greasy somewhat-unsanitary food.  I'm trying to love the rides since that is my hubs absolute favorite part of the fair.  This year I decided to enter some photos.  Photography is just a hobby for me.  I do it for fun.  I never claimed to be an expert. So I don't want to sound snobby when I say this, but I've entered before and usually I get mostly blue ribbons with a few reds.  The last time I entered this particular fair I even won a best in show.  This time I entered five pics and came out with one blue, one red, and three whites.  That's more white than I've ever gotten before (except maybe my legs during the winter harhar).  I think the judges (sweet little old ladies) just didn't get it.  I took some risks.  I had a some safe-route photos, but I wanted to enter pictures that were difficult to take.  I wanted to enter photos that meant something to me--photos with a certain uniqueness about them.

Title:  Friendship.  This was my blue ribbon winner.  Ironically, I almost didn't enter this one.  It's cute and all, but I just feel like I've seen it before, you know?  

Title:  Against the Grain.  This won the red ribbon.  I like it because it is a picture of wheat, but as a silhouette.  Usually the thing that stands out about wheat is the golden color, and that color is actually in this picture (the sunset) but instead the focus is on the unique shape of wheat.  I also like that it has a lot of depth to it.

Title:  Hunter at the Office.  This is my lovely father-in-law while he was out hunting.  I intentionally focused on the log, and let him be blurred into the background even though he is the real focus of the photo.  I really like the colors and how the lines on the log draw your eye back to Leo.

Title:  Dancer on her Toes.  This was exceptionally hard to take.  My sister was a clogger in high school.  That's a fast-pace dance done wearing shoes similar to tap shoes.  Here she is doing a toe-stand which lasts for about a split second.  

Title:  Snowflake Stowaway.  Yes, this is an individual snowflake.  I was pretty darn proud of this one.  With my little point-and-shoot, it's pretty difficult to get this close.  The snowflake is on a kitten's fur so I was also wrangling that squirmer in order to have it still enough to capture that small detail.

I was upset at first.  But judges don't define my worth.  I still think I am a fair photographer (get it? harhar) and will keep doing what I love and finding small ways to share it with others.  

P.S. Here's me holding a chicken.