My entries that would have been into the 2020 New York State Fair Photography Competition

First, I heard that because of COVID-19, the 4-H groups would not have their meeting at the New York State Fair this year.

Then, I heard that because of a deadly rabbit virus, there would be no rabbits or cavies at the Fair this year, either.

Then this happened.

It’s been rumored, now it’s official.  The Fair is now postponed to 2021.

So since my images won’t get submitted for 2020, these would have been my entries.  Some of them will now be repurposed for 2021, others will find new lives in other competitions.

And they include…

CONTACT

I shot this last year on the campus of the old Catskill Game Farm.  It was a last-minute concept, and I think it worked well.

BROKEDOWN ON MAGGIE’S FARM

How can you go wrong with a beat-to-shit VW Super Beetle that got Dead-i-fied?

THE PINECONE

One of the two photos I would have entered that were part of my “shoot at home during COVID-19” phase.

FIVE TICKETS TO RIDE DAY AND NIGHT

Another one of my splitfilm experiments.  This did reasonably well at Durham last year, and I had hoped to enter it through Competition Season 2020.

HIGH AND TIGHT

Another entry from the COVID-19 shoot at home series, this one involved a 75-year-old baseball and a very, very, very powerful macro lens.

GRADUATION WITH A BANG

I was going to this in the “Pride of New York” category.  Guess THAT ain’t happening…

I know, I should have expected all this.  You can’t have a fair that operates for two weeks and brings in millions of New Yorkers.  It would be like a two-week-long Petri dish of infection.  And since all the other state fairs are shuttering for 2020, and the Big E closed their doors last year … this was my last true hope for any sort of Competition Season.  #Syracurse strikes again, yes it does.

Well, fuck you very much, COVID-19.

Now hopefully some of these can be entered in 2021, when (if) (no, when) (no, if) the New York State Fair operates again.

But for now …

Yeah, I’m pissed.