And here we go. Four photos went to Iowa for the 2025 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. I sent an infrared photo of a harness horse, I sent a shot of the sun piercing the New York City skyline, I sent a shot of a dandelion with a swirly bokeh background, and I sent a photo of the CPKC Holiday Train at night.
Yeah. The typical Chuck Miller assortment o’ images.
My acceptance record at Iowa has been bumpy, and there have been years where none of my photos made the cut. And there were years when three out of four submissions made the gallery walls, with some images receiving pretty silk awards. I’ve even earned a first place or two in my specific categories.
But that’s all past talk. This is current talk.
The Iowa State Fair sends an oblong colored postcard to entrants, and the postcard can either say that you’ve got (1) (2) (3) or (4) pictures accepted, or you will have NO pictures accepted. And if anything garnered an honorable mention or better, you’ll get a big fat AWARD sticker on the postcard.
But because the postal service is the postal service, anyone who entered from Iowa will get their postcards instantly, while I have to wait until after the 4th of July holiday period to receive mine. Ugh. I blame Louis DeJoy for this. Yeah, I know he’s not the Postmaster General any more, but I don’t care. He’s a Trump appointee and he deserves all the blame. So there.
Yesterday, I received the little yellow postcard.
Okay. I know the routine. Carefully palm the card out of my mailbox and quickly cover the results with a piece of paper. So long as the paper covers the results, I have four winning entries, right? Isn’t that how it works?
Quick refresher. These were my four entries for Iowa 2025.
I’m nervous as hell. I don’t want to look.
But I have to look.
I slowly slide the paper off the postcard.
And …
The checkmark is on the “NONE OF YOUR ENTRIES WERE ACCEPTED THIS YEAR.”
Ugh.
Failure.
Sorry, everyone … I’m going to need a moment.
Yeah, I’ll need more than a moment here. Ugh.
Chuck The Writer 
Well they’re just wrong, that’s all.
LikeLike
Food for thought: For next year, maybe an ear of corn instead of a dandelion…?
LikeLike