And at the last minute… I’m thinking Vermont State Fair photo contest…

I have to be out of my ever-loving photo-snapping mind.

Here’s the deal.  My original plan this year was to only enter the photographic fairs that were nearby; that meant the St. Agnes Cemetery photo contest, the Altamont Fair and the New York State Fair, with the possibility of the Massachusetts “Big E” fair.  But the Big E’s photo divisions and restrictions were too severe for some of my photos – because the Big E contest doesn’t allow massive digital manipulation, Nipper’s Polar Panorama would have been disqualified on the spot.  So the Big E waits for another time.

Meanwhile, I kept thinking about the Vermont State Fair.  They have six entries, there’s no fee to enter the contest, and the images have to fit into one of several designated categories.  The prize money is small, but the exposure is pretty decent.  All it means is a trip to Rutland today to drop off my foam-boarded photos, and a trip back to Rutland to pick them up once the Fair has ended.

So I’m allowed six entries in this fair, in the following categories:

1. People Pictures
2. Landscapes
3. Scenes from the Fair
4. Still Life
5. Sporting Events
6. Barns
7. Pets
8. Birds
9. Lighthouses
10. Flowers
11. Butterflies
12. Wildlife
13. Photographer’s Choice

I can enter either a black-and-white or a color picture, but no more than six entries total.

So after much consideration and thought, my six choices for the Vermont State Fair photography competition are:

NIPPER’S POLAR PANORAMA (CATEGORY: Photographer’s Choice) Nipper enters his third fair.  He still gets a lot of love from blog readers – as well as a nice big fat red second-place ribbon from the New York State Fair.
THE LIGHTHOUSE AT PEGGY’S COVE (CATEGORY: Lighthouses) One more try for Peggy’s Cove; it will be entered in the “Lighthouses” category, where it should have a shot to take home a ribbon.
BENSON CALLIER SLAMS ONE HOME (CATEGORY: Sports) This is my “play to the home crowd” shot, and will be entered in the sports category.  In this triple-image stitched shot, Benson Callier of the Vermont Frost Heaves basketball team slams one home at the Burlington Memorial Auditorium in Burlington, Vt.  Corey Herring of the Buffalo Stampede can only watch.  Smile, Corey, you’ve been PBL Posterized…
TULIP OF FIRE (CATEGORY: Flowers) How can a good Albany boy enter a photography contest with “Flowers” as a category and not put a single tulip in the competition?  Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands would be sore at me… This is one of three Kodachrome shots going into the Fair.
BARN VERSUS WEEDS (CATEGORY: Barns) This barn is along Route 9N in Greenfield Center.  I must have passed this barn several times on junkets up to the North Country, and one day I had the Kodachrome in the camera and just got out of the car and took this picture.
SHELBY’S BUTTERFLY (CATEGORY: Butterflies) I got very lucky photographing this butterfly.  I was at a yard sale in Saratoga Springs, and I just happened to have my camera – yes, it had Kodachrome in it.  The name “Shelby’s Butterfly” is for Shelby, the manager at Brown’s Brewing, who loves butterflies and who adored this picture when I showed it to her.  Besides, I couldn’t think of another name at the time.

Each of these pictures was printed and foam-boarded by Ritz Camera.  For the Vermont State Fair, I am allowed pictures no smaller than 8″x10″, and no larger than 14″x16″.  I chose a size between the maximum and minimum, and each shot will be 10″x13″ and foam-boarded.

So I’m on my way to Rutland to drop these pictures off today.  Although the Fair opens soon after that, I won’t know if I won anything until maybe the last day of the Fair, which is September 12.  On that day, I’ll go – enjoy the Fair – and then pick up my pictures and head back to good ol’ New York.