By: Chuck Miller
Photography

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

Contact. Nikon Df camera, Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens, ISO 6400, 30 seconds on f/2.4. Photo (c) Chuck Miller, all rights reserved.

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

Brokedown on Maggie’s Farm. Nikon Df camera, five images combined in HDR construct. Photo (c) Chuck Miller, all rights reserved.

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

THE PINECONE

The Pinecone. Nikon Df camera, Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 lens (reversed) on Nikon PB-4 bellows, several shots combined in focus stack. (c) Chuck Miller, all rights reserved.

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

Five Tickets to Ride Day and Night. AGFA Clipper Special f/6.3 camera, Kodak Instamatic Gold 200 film (two rolls) and Kodak Verichrome Pan B&W film. Photo (c) Chuck Miller, all rights reserved.

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

Graduation with a Bang. Nikon Df camera, Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 lens. Photo (c) Chuck Miller, all rights reserved.

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.