I first sent my photos to the Iowa State Fair’s Photography Competition in 2014. Ten years ago. It took three years for them to accept one of my entries, and another year before I picked up my first blue ribbon from that organization.
The Iowa State Fair is the first of my five-event “Competition Season,” and it’s one of the toughest competitions of the five. You are only allowed four entries, and no more than one in each specific category.
The best I’ve ever achieved at Iowa is three accepted out of four, with two ribbons. Last year, one image out of four made the walls of the art center, but there was no ribbon attached to it.
And this year … I submitted my entries on the FIRST DAY OF MAIL-IN ACCEPTANCE. I do NOT want to repeat what happened last year. I don’t need that stress in my life any more.
So with that in mind, I went back into my archive, looked through my images, and pulled these four for consideration. And they are …
THE SACANDAGA RIVER CROSSING
This was a last-minute “swap-out” of another artwork. Listen, I felt this image just SCREAMED that it wanted entry into the photo competition, so it’s now entered in the Iowa State Fair’s “Infrared, Toned, Tinted and Solarized” category.
BE pREPAIRED
I want this to do well in the “Still Life” category. A still life photo has to tell a story within its simplicity. I hope the judges see the story that’s there.
17 JEWEL MOVEMENT
It was a toss-up between this image and two others for entry into the Iowa State Fair’s “Macro” category, where I previously scored a second-place silk with my macro shot of a baseball’s stitches. Let’s hope that the inner workings of a wristwatch gets some love in Des Moines.
And finally …
HOW GOD SEES AN ECLIPSE
For all intents and purposes, this image will be my “designate photo,” which will appear in all FIVE competitions this season. This is the photo I feel deserves the most love, so let’s see if “deserves” equals “receives.”
I’ll know as soon as the “Postcard o’ Doom” arrives from Des Moines later this month.
And we’ll go from there.
Chuck The Writer 
I love the watch
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