And Competition Season begins.
I’m boxing up four artworks for the Iowa State Fair today, and shipping them off. I’m sending them early, just because Louis DeJoy is still Postmaster General and he’s been notoriously slowing down mail at the worst possible times.
That also being said, the Iowa State Fair is very topic-specific regarding their entries, so I must make sure all my shots fit the target. Entrants are limited to four overall submissions, and you can only enter one image per category.
And with that in mind, I went with these four images.
WE SERVE WAYWARD STRANGERS
The Iowa State Fair has a infrared category, and that’s where this image is going. I really like the ultra-spookiness of what happened to the Toll Gate Ice Cream parlor in Slingerlands, and hopefully one day the Toll Gate will return to its former glory.
THE PINECONE
This is an image that I took during the early months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. I took an old pinecone and macro-photographed it to get that curvy repeating fractal pattern. Let’s see if the judges like it. Now the macro category at the Iowa State Fair prohibits macro photos of flowers, so I’m entering this in the flowers and trees category instead.
CONTACT
Nothing like trying to take a picture in the middle of nowhere, photograph yourself while you’re wearing a head lamp, and line it up with the Milky Way. I don’t know if this will capture the judges’ attention, but I’m going with it. Entered in the People Places and Things category.
And finally …
AS SEEN FROM SCREVEN COUNTY
There is a category at the Iowa State Fair called “Anything Goes,” and it’s for photos that have been radically altered or collaged. Well, 30 shots of the moon counts as a collage, doesn’t it? And I feel so strongly about this image, that I used it as a last-minute substitution. Let’s hope I made the right decision on this.
Okay. All I do now is box up the artworks, add a submission check, and add return postage and a return label. These are my four for Iowa. Let’s hope I’ve struck gold here.
Chuck The Writer 
Good luck. They’re all fine, though the Toll Gate I’m most invested in.
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