I have to be honest. I wasn’t planning on entering Durham this year.
Part of it is the cost of putting together the prints and the two trips to Connecticut – one to drop off the images, and one to bring them home after the fair is complete.
But the thing is, I’ve always had a good time at Durham. If I can get past the usual parking lot adventures (where I’m either parking on a dust bowl farm acre, or stuck 10 miles away at a stone quarry), the Durham Fair can be a fun event. And at the last minute, I chose to enter my photos at Durham once more.
I had three images that I felt deserved some love, including a very recent image.
STRASBURG NUMBER 90
To enter this in its fifth and final contest this year, is to hope that this steam-powered locomotive has a chance at a ribbon at some point during its run.
HIGH AND TIGHT
Well, my macro baseball shot did get some love in Iowa this year, even if it seems like Iowa was the only place where anybody could figure out what that image really was. I’m still kind of shocked that someone actually told their wife that they thought this picture was a woman’s stomach after giving birth. Damn, fool.
And finally, the last-minute entry…
FISHING AT SILK BRIDGE
Wait, Chuck, you’re entering the Vermont covered bridge photo?
Yes, I am. The thing is, each year I find at least one image that becomes a last-minute entry in Durham, and then gets used for the next year’s Competition Season. Five Tickets to Ride Day and Night, my splitfilm day-night photo of a Ferris wheel, was one such image, and that pulled a second place stripe that year at Durham. So let’s see what a little tranquility in Vermont can get me.
The other thing about this year’s entries at Durham is … for the first time in a very long time, I’m not bringing any splitfilm images to the event. And I’m not bringing any experimental film shots. It’s just three images – two digital and one film. So this is also another step out of my comfort zone.
Oh, and one more thing that’s quite fun with Durham. It’s part of my “double dip” of hitting the Big E in the morning, and then zipping down to Durham in the afternoon, all in one day. And one of the images at Durham – Strasburg Number 90 – is also at the Big E.
Let’s see how everything turns out. That’s what September 27th is for. Right?
Chuck The Writer 