By: Chuck Miller
Photography, ,

The results from the 2021 Iowa State Fair Photography Competition

They posted the information last night. The first results from Competition Season 2021.

Wow.

I submitted four entries to the Iowa State Fair’s 2021 contest, and I know that at least one entry made the cut. That’s all I know.

Then, when I saw the premium book that was printed online, I found out that three of the images made the walls of the art gallery. This ties my personal best for Iowa. Whee.

And of the three that made the cut, this picture … earned an Honorable Mention in the black-and-white flowers category.

That’s right. After The Rain has earned its fifth ribbon in total. Three blues (Altamont, Big E, Durham) and two honorable mentions (NYS Fair, Iowa), along with an Honorable Mention with the Capital District Photo Regionals. This photo and The AGFA Bridge Over Ansco Lake is now a five-time ribbon-winner, although After the Rain still has three blue silks to AGFA-Ansco’s solitary blue.

And another picture made the walls – albeit without any ribbon, but it still made the gallery walls. And that photo was ….

Strasburg Number 90. Nikon Df camera, Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 telephoto lens. (c) 2021 Chuck Miller, all rights reserved.

Wee doggies. Strasburg Number 90 got accepted and will hang on the walls in Iowa.

But wait … there was a third image … and according to the digital gallery book that the Iowa State Fair produced…

Look what happened.

Um … you guys … a photo I took during a time in my life when I was rehabbing a broken ankle, and staying indoors to avoid COVID… a photo of an old Eastern League baseball from the 1940’s … a photo that made those baseball stitches look like anchor cables … a photo in which I practiced focus-stacking to get every seam and every stitch and every pockmark tack-sharp … that photo took SECOND PLACE in the macro category!!! HOO FREAKIN HOO!!

Listen, I’m happy that After the Rain got the love, but I’m also extremely thrilled that two new photos made the walls – and that High and Tight picked up its first stitch of silk!

And this isn’t the end for my new images. Both High and Tight and Strasburg Number 90 have already landed on the walls at Syracuse later this month, while Strasburg Number 90 will also appear at Altamont and the Big E. Hot and sweet. And I’m still deciding on images for the Durham Fair, so both of these – plus anything else I create in the next two weeks – are possible entrants for that final show.

Yeah, can you tell I’m having fun with this?

Good. Just wanted to confirm. 😀