Meeting the Auburn Photography Club

Yesterday, I drove the 2½ hour trip to Syracuse to drop off my three entries for the 2011 New York State Fair Photography Contest.  In the car with me are the two entries that the Fair did want to see – Lodge’s in Polaroid PolaBlue and The Agfa Bridge Over Ansco Lake.  The third entry?  Midnight at the Palace Theater.  Yes, I prepared that one for competition as well.  How could I not?

Now in addition to dropping off my artworks at the receiving area in the Harriet May Mills Art Center, I had scheduled a meeting with some other photographers – they are members of the Auburn (N.Y.) Photography Club; they have their own flickr site and a Facebook page.  Their members also read my blog.

I got to the Art Center – from the front gate of the New York State Fair, drive down to the New York State Lottery Pavilion, wave at Yolanda Vega, take a left turn, and drive to the end of the street.  The Harriet May Mills Art Center is right there.  I park Cardachrome, and get my three foam-boarded entries – along with the hang tags and the postage-paid postcards – and enter the building.

Once you get inside the building, you must walk over to a table, place your artwork face down on the table, and on the back of each artwork apply the hang-tag (upper left corner), the postcard (lower center) and a “rejection checklist” card (upper right).  You also need to put the name of the artwork – not your name, but the artwork’s name – on the upper right corner.

“Hey Chuck, how you doing?”

It was Drew Mosley, one of the organizers of the Auburn Photography Club.  We agreed to meet at the drop-off location, and he and his two friends – Don Miller and Dean Aversa – were also preparing their artworks for display.

After our pictures were collected by the receivers, one of the people on staff – a guy named Dan – took our pictures to a holding area where they were sorted and prepared for the upcoming judging.  He let the four of us go back and see what everyone had already brought in, and was very gracious and answered all our questions about the Fair and the photo contest.  Then, Gail Glagola, the Fine Art & Photo Superintendent, answered some more of our questions regarding this year’s contest – why we had the option of submitting a CD (to both cut down on entrants’ foam-boarding expenses, as well as to provide photographers from outside Central New York an opportunity to show their talents).

Afterward, the four of us drove to a nearby restaurant – Meme’s Diner on State Farm Road – and had a nice meal together.

“How did the Auburn Photography Club begin?” I asked.

“Sarah Palin,” Don Miller answered.

“I don’t understand.”

“We wanted to photograph Sarah Palin when she came to Auburn during the 2008 Presidential election, and we made up the name ‘Auburn Photography Club’ so that we could get media credentials.  And we were up in the press area with Fox News and CNN.”

And from there, the Photography Club has grown.  I’ve seen all their works, they’ve got some very impressive entries and some of them will claim ribbons.  We also joked about the same tired subjects that everyone submits in photo competitions – kittens with balls of yarn, frogs on lily pads – “Grandma’s hands,” said Drew.  “Two cans of paint,” replied Dean.

As I said, I’m especially liking several of the group’s photos, including:

“I remembered seeing you at last year’s drop-off, Chuck,” said Drew.  “I remember that the fair had the name of one of your artworks wrong on the hangtag – something you had written in French – and I went home and tried to look up the tag name, and I found your blog.  And I’ve enjoyed it ever since.”

Ah, he must have meant my Destination Voyage Rouge et Bleu, which the Fair had listed as Destination Voyage Rouge et Blue.  I didn’t want my entry disqualified via a typo.

All in all, it was a great chance to meet some great guys.  I even got their picture outside of the diner.  But they had to leave – one of the members had to pick up a new lens from FedEx, and they were going to photograph an event in Auburn – Founder’s Day.

“They’re going to light up the old Genesee Beer sign for first time since 1971,” Drew Mosley said.  “It’s going to be fun.  We’re going to get lots of pictures.”

I wish all the members of the Auburn Photography Club the best of success at the New York State Fair Photography Contest.  And I hope that all of us take home nice ribbons from the event.