A little yellow postcard from Des Moines, 2023 Edition

The fact that I’m even GETTING a postcard from Iowa – after all I went through to get my entries judged – is a miracle.

Of the five competitions in which I participate, the Iowa and New York State Fairs offer the “postcards of doom,” my nomenclature for if my photo entries were accepted or rejected. Syracuse has switched to an email notification, while the postcard from Des Moines is still de rigeuer for the Iowa State Fair.

Let me quickly review my four entries for this year’s Iowa State Fair.

Yep, these are my four for Des Moines. Did any of them make the walls? Did any that made the walls earn some pretty silk? Or am I expecting a quick USPS Priority Mail shipment of my artworks back to New York faster than you can say “try again next year, and this time don’t trust FedEx to ship your stuff”?

I thought about what might cause any or all of these pictures to get the punt. A Christmas tree without the tree. What are you trying to say here, Miller? Are you against Christmas? Oh, and entering two pictures with locomotives – that might be too close to one theme to count as a second, they should probably both get DQ’d. Oh, and that sunrise – come on, nobody’s going to like that photo. What were you smoking when you created that?

All I know is that the postcard is in my mailbox.

I’ve seen reports from various people that, like me, are part of a Facebook group for Iowa State Fair photographers. Many are posting their “golden tickets” online, especially if they have the coveted red “AWARD” sticker on them. A few, however, are also posting their “sorry, you didn’t qualify” golden ticket results – just like the college student who proudly tapes their employment rejection letters to their dormitory door.

But those results are coming from Iowa. My postcard takes a few extra days to arrive. But it’s in the mailbox now.

On Friday, it arrived.

And here’s how it turned out.

Okay. One got in. Fantastic. No awards this year, but I can’t expect to win an award every year. I’m just going to chalk it up to the competition being stronger this year than last. Heck, after what I went through to get my photos to Iowa in the first place, I’ll take one of my shots making the walls of the Art Salon and be happy.

I just don’t know which one MADE the walls … at least not until August, when the Fair opens.

I’ll say this much … it’s a good start.

Let’s build the momentum from there, shall we?

And I just received a full tank of 93 octane motivation. 😀