Wait, the Big E’s photo competition submission date is THIS COMING TUESDAY???

Okay, which one of you messed with my calendars?

Here’s how Competition Season is supposed to work. I get my four images ready for Iowa. Then I take a couple of those images, add a few more, get six choices, and submit them for the New York Stater Fair’s photo salon. Then I take the two images for which I feel most comfortable, and those go to the Big E – while I’m also working on four images for Altamont. And if I feel frisky – although I haven’t done it in a few years – I’ll submit four artworks to the Durham Fair in Connecticut.

That’s the schedule.

Leave it to the Big E to scramble things up on me. Because this year, they changed the specs.

The Big E used to only allow two photo submissions, and you sent those in in August. This time around, you can send in as many photos as you wish – with a $5 fee per photo – but those photos are digitally pre-judged, and the ones selected for display at the New England Center on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition will then be announced in August … which then require you to bring those images, all printed and foam-boarded, to Springfield.

Well isn’t that special.

And for the first time, the New England Center has opened the competition to allow adults to enter latch hooked rugs – so … hmm … do I have a latch hooked rug available for display?

Yeah, I kinda do, don’t I? 😀

This was my Bicolor Sunflower rug from 2023, and it already claimed a second-place silk at the New York State Fair. So … let’s dust this bad boy off, scrape off the cobwebs, and give it a go.

But now comes the issue of what to enter for photographs. Since this is now a “pre-judge” competition, I can send in several photos, and I’ll only have to professionally print the ones that are accepted. So I’ll send six, and if, let’s say, two get accepted, I’m happy.

Let me see, let me see.

I think I’ll go with these six.

Yep, these six are my best targets for 2025 in Springfield. I mean, I’d love to get a Holiday Train picture into ONE of these competitions (so far my Holiday Train photos have not made the cut in any competition), and I’m hoping that with two infrared entries, my Nikon Df that was modified by Kolari Vision can take home some silk.

Let’s see how this all plays out.

I’ll keep you updated. 😀