Tomorrow’s the big day. The day I take my photographs to Syracuse and submit them for judgment at the New York State Fair photography contest.
Last year I was allowed two images for the New York State Fair photography contest. While one of the photographs – a long-exposure night shot of Washington Park – was summarily rejected by the judges, my other entry – a basketball action photograph taken from the rafters of Blue Cross Arena in Rochester – earned “Honorable Mention” and was displayed in the Art Center on the New York State Fairgrounds during the Fair’s entire run. I want to improve on that ribbon. As far as I’m concerned, a yellow ribbon for Honorable Mention is great, but the only thing yellow ribbons should be used for is tying them around an old oak tree.
This year, I can enter as many as six entries to the Fair. For me, that meant going through thousands of digital shots, film negatives, slides, scans, the works. I wanted one photograph from each of my photographic disciplines this year – six basketball photographs might have been nice, or six Kodachrome shots as well. But I couldn’t limit myself to one genre. Not in my nature to do so.
Out of all the photos I took this year, I had to narrow my choices down to six entries before I sent my application (and $21 in entry fees) to the Fair offices. The Fair sent me back an envelope with six identity tags (one for each of the six pictures), six postcards (so that the judges can alert me if my photos have been accepted or rejected), and three all-day passes (one pass earned for every two photographs submitted).
Last week, I brought a CD with those six images to McGreevy Pro Lab in downtown Albany. The New York State Fair has specific guidelines for photo presentation – everything must be applied and bonded to a foamcore base, with an area size of exactly 16 inches by 20 inches. I printed out a copy of the guidelines and attached it with the CD. All six images were carefully cropped and sized at 16″x20″ prior to giving the disc to Joey at McGreevy; he took the CD and told me that he’d have the finished product to me in a week.
One week later, true to his word, Joey had the materials ready. He handed me a bubble-wrapped package – all six images, printed and applied to a special heavy-duty composite museum-archival-grade foam board called Gatorfoam.
I looked at the images. McGreevy did a great job. Joey told me he thought a couple of them had a shot of winning. I applied the NYS Fair identification tag and a pre-paid postcard to the back of each photo, then re-wrapped the entries in bubble-wrap for the journey to Syracuse.
That’s right. I’m delivering these bad boys personally. You think I want to hear the following? “Well, Mr. Miller, we would have given this one first prize, but it arrived at the post office broken in half. Sorry.”
So after much consideration and thought, my six choices for the New York State Fair photography competition are:
| NIPPER’S POLAR PANORAMA
(Polar Panorama digital technique) I chose the one version of Nipper where he faces west, just as if he was staring at that gramophone upon which the trademark is based. Nikon D700, 28mm f/2.8 E-series lens, 28 photographs stitched together with panorama digital software. BACKSTORY: I always thought that the Nipper statue would make a great subject, and much thanks to Arnoff Moving and Storage for letting me up on the building to photograph it. And the clouds work well with the picture background. |
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| THE LIGHTHOUSE AT PEGGY’S COVE
(Landscape technique) I still have a soft spot for this photograph, and a lot of people like it. Including the Times-Union, who splashed it on the front of the timesunion.com homepage for a few days. BACKSTORY: Approximately 45 seconds after I took this picture, I readjusted my camera, slipped on one of the rocks – and almost went headfirst into the Atlantic Ocean. I survived the fall with a torn-up left hand (first rule of photography: protect the camera). Nikon D700, 28mm f/2.8 E-series lens. |
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| DESTINATION VOYAGE ROUGE ET BLEU
(Kodachrome technique) My Quebec City Kodachrome photograph. Shot along the streets of Rue St-Louis, just inside the Old City. Can’t let this one get away. Kodachrome KPA-40 film, Kiev-19 camera, Helios-81 lens. Five-second exposure, with manual shutter release and Quantaray tripod. BACKSTORY: This was shot with a very rare form of Kodachrome film that is balanced for tungsten light – without the concomitant flash, the pictures receive a beautiful bluish hue. |
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| BASKETBALL BACKBOARD BLAM!!!
(action sports technique) The backboard has just come down and is raining on that poor Battle Creek player. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nikon D70 (one of the last great shots I got with that camera), 80-200 F/2.8 telephoto lens. BACKSTORY: Some of the fans from the Battle Creek Knights still swear that I personally rigged the backboard to blow up, just so I could get that photo. If I was going to do that, I would have done it years ago when I was photographing the Patroons. Man oh man… |
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| STAR TRAILS OF THACHER PARK
(star trails technique) I just love those purples and violets in the sky, with the star trails cascading like white raindrops over the Capital District cityscape below. Nikon D700, MIR-20H fisheye lens, 120 photographs layered together with startrails.de software. BACKSTORY: I had to wait for months until Governor David Paterson signed a bill that allowed Thacher Park to open to the public. Even with that signage, I had to get a permit to acquire this shot after dark. |
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| COCA-COLA RELIEVES FATIGUE, SOLD EVERYWHERE 5¢
(layered film lomography technique) Of the several times I’ve photographed the Schenectady Coca-Cola ghost sign, this one – with my “bread and butter” film layering technique – really works for me. Holga 120N camera, films are Fuji 200 film and Fuji 200 “redscale” film. BACKSTORY: Coca-Cola refused to grant me permission to enter this picture in my Ghost Signs of the Capital District art book; but nobody can stop me from entering this shot – er – shots – into a photography competition. Hee. |
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So now I have a poll and a question for you. You are now a judge.
Of these six pictures, which photo or photos do you like the most? You may pick up to three selections.
And if there’s one you really really really love, or really really really can’t stand, let me know in the comments section. I want to hear good solid reasons from you why you like or don’t like a certain photo.
I’ve got a lot of confidence in these photos. I hope that the judges in Syracuse feel the same way.
[poll id=”4″]
Chuck The Writer 
They are all excellent and amazing but I guess I’m a local gal. I love the Thacher Park one. I love the color and the back story of how the State wanted to close this park. Makes it all that much more special.
And Nipper is a very cool picture. I just got a new Nikon camera and I just tried the panorama software that came with it. I can’t believe how easy it is — with simple pictures that is! I’m definately going to be using this software more often. I just think that Niper represents a part of Albany that a lot of people miss. I always have to point him out to our guests when we pass that way.
Good luck! I have a friend that also entered some pictures, but nothing compared to yours. If I do go to the Fair, I’ll look up your work.
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I would have loved going thru those thousands of photos! I could stare at Peggy’s
Cove lighthouse for hours on end…it’s captured me! Keep your lucky penny handy, but
I doubt it will be needed. They look like winners to me!
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You could also say that Nipper is looking west – towards victory in Syracuse!
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Oh Marcie if that were true… (crossing fingers)
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Chuck, I think about 4 of these have a chance to win…Nipper, the lighthouse, the Quebec one and the backboard. I don’t think the Coca-Cola one can win because it’s a building with an advertisement on it. Any Joe off the street can do that. The one in Thacher park I think would have a better shot if the pay binoculars weren’t in the picture, it’s still an amazing shot, I just think that the binocular things take away some of the lustre. I’m not a judge, nor a photographer, so I may not know what I am talking about, but I am one hell of a trivia player. 😉 I think the other 4 are stellar and are some of the best pictures I’ve seen.
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Thanks Ed, appreciate it.
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I think the Thatcher Park picture is my favorite…it was a very hard decision to make.
I disagree with #5- I like the pay binoculars in the pic- they don’t disrupt the picture and it makes me think, wow a quarter will get me a nice view, but not any where near as nice as the picture.
It gives a little perspective.
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They’re all better than the despicable ones over at TriviaNightsLive.com under ‘What’s New’.
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Good luck!! I will be sure to look for your photos when I am at the fair this year. I really like Nipper, the lighthouse and Quebec.
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It was tough to choose only three because they all have the potential to win. I chose “Basketball BLAM!!!” for the way you captured the moment at which a young man’s strength and competitiveness made the sky fall. I can hear the glass shatter and in the photo, some of the glass is still exploding into the air. I saw a larger version of this one and the expression on the cameraman’s face adds to moment.
Lighthouses make nice subjects for photos and appeal to lots of folks, and there are a lot of photos of lighthouses. What makes yours particularly pleasing to the eye are the varying shades of blue/gray layered across the landscape. The clouds are close, but there is clearing off in the distance. Below that is the outcropping of rocks upon which the lighthouse stands; a darker, shadowed rocky area lies below. Only then do we see the ocean; curiously, the mighty ocean does not dominate the photo. The puddle on the rock in the foreground gets more attention because it not only reflects but amplifies the only source of warmth or life: the light from the lighthouse. I can definitely see this one walking away with top honors.
My third choice was “Nipper,” but the best reason I can give is that I just like looking at it. I can’t even tell you why I like it, which bugs the heck out of me!
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What is the procedure of putting the photo together on the boards for the fair? I’m entering and I’m completely confused
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Sarah – Here’s what you need to do. The picture must be dry-mounted on 16×20 foamcore. If the picture itself isn’t 16×20 in dimension, you should be able to apply a matte to it. I don’t know if you’re from Albany or not, but if you are, my photo lab of choice, McGreevy Pro Lab, will take care of this for you. I’ve used them for the past three competitions and I swear by their work. If you’re not in the Albany area, there are plenty of pro labs around the country who will undertake the same mounting criteria for you.
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