The Big E double-dip trip, 2024

Saturday morning. I’ve gotten this trip down to a science. Load the car up in the morning, fill the tank, then get on the highway at about, oh, say, 6:00 a.m. That gets me to Springfield, Massachusetts by about 8:00 a.m., and completely beats the glut of traffic into the Eastern States Exposition’s “Big E” parking lots.

Of course, this time I planned TOO well, and arrived at 8:00 a.m. – even though the fairgrounds were open, none of the buildings – including the New England Center, where my two / three artworks were on display – were open.

Okay, let’s recap Competition Season 2024. And as per tradition and necessity, I try to visit two fairs at once – the Big E in Springfield, Massachusetts, and then the Durham Fair in Durham, Connecticut.

My two photographic entries – the Eagle Scout Badge still life Be pRepaired and the elliptical time-lapse How God Sees an Eclipse have landed on the walls of various fairs and shows, but neither of them claimed anything even close to a silk.

The two artworks have also run into a wee bit of bad luck. Be pRepaired was the only one of four entrants in the Iowa State Fair to not land on the walls; while How God Sees an Eclipse was originally cut from the Big E show and added by the judges at the last second.

Okay. One breakfast sandwich later (get the ones at the Agawam Lions Club booth, they use potato bread for their buns), I went into the New England Center the second the clock struck ten.

And right off the bat, look what I found.

Hey, I don’t know about you, but I see a blue silk there, so I’m happy. And finally. This artwork deserved some love, and it finally RECEIVED some love.

Now let’s see if I can find my eclipse photo. And guess what – right on one of the bottom rows of the display stands …

There it is.

And look at what’s attached.

<<*>>

For those keeping score, the last time I pulled two blue ribbons out of the Big E was in 2021, and even then, one of those entries was connected to a contest that ran pre-COVID and was shown post-COVID with the other entries.

But some of you might have heard … I actually entered THREE submissions this year.

No, I didn’t enter a third photo.

See, one of the Big E’s new categories is called “Ribbon Refresh,” and it involves taking leftover fair ribbons that the Big E provides you, and making something new and unique out of them. Upcycling, shall we say.

Yeah, if you’ve read this blog longer than a few weeks, you know EXACTLY where I’m going with this.

And of course I made a video about it.

And of course it’s now on YouTube.

Okay, time for a recap of Competition Season 2024 and its successes.

• 17 Jewel Movement, my macro shot of a vintage lady’s wristwatch, picked up an Honorable Mention at Iowa, my first-ever silk that used my Nikkor medical macro lens.
• The Sacandaga River Crossing garnered a second-place ribbon at Iowa, garnering my second-ever silk for anything involving the Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railroad. It’s also my first-ever silk with my newly-modified Nikon Df to an infrared-only shooter.
• be pRepaired picked up a blue at the Big E, my first-ever silk for a still life photo.
• After three different fairs where the artwork was simply “displayed,” this time How God Sees an Eclipse claimed its first-ever blue silk.
• And to top it all off … I picked up my first-ever ribbon for a drive-in speaker restoration project, as my Big E-inspired Ribbon Refresh entry claimed an Honorable Mention. And I’ll take that.

And for that, Competition Season 2024 is over. Two blue ribbons, a red for second place, and a couple of Honorable Mentions.

So … maybe it’s time to hunker down for Competition Season 2025? What do you say?

Yeah. I think it’s time to hunker down for Competition Season 2025.