The New York State Fair Photography Competition, 2026 results

My routine for the New York State Fair is simple. Drive up on the first Saturday or Sunday that the Fair opens, find a good parking spot, enter the Fairgrounds as early as possible, get a selfie at the I ❤ N Y sign, walk around, take some pictures here and there, check out the exhibits (including the butter sculpture), ride the elevated gondolas, and then at 1:00 p.m. – enter the Harriet May Mills Art complex and see how my photos and/or crafted pieces performed.

For the past two years, however, my photos have gone ribbon-less in Syracuse. Yep, it’s the return of the Syracurse, the portmanteau of a personal failure to not produce good-quality images that are ribbon-worthy.

And in the Arts & Crafts section, I’ve run into a different Syracurse – one where I do earn silks and accolades, but receive results that actually seem odd – i.e., artwork that earns a third-place silk without any second-place or first-place entries provided.

And a third mystery – I submitted six photos to the New York State Fair’s photography competition, but four were accepted. And I don’t know which four. By the same statement, I am unsure as to which two photos were bounced.

God, this sounds like a bad soap opera transition. Will Chuck find out how his photos did? And if so, which photos received accolades? And what about his latch hook rug, has that earned a silk as well? And what about that crime wave in downtown Pine Valley? All these and more will be answered after these commercial messages for Palmolive dish soap, Ty-D-Bowl toilet cleaner, and Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat.

We arrived on the Fairgrounds campus with a good parking space and plenty of time to walk around and see things. A nice trip along the gondola ride, a leisurely ride on the Ferris wheel, and we were having the time of our lives.

Oh, wait – you saw I used the word “we”? As a plural? You are very observant.

“We” means my new friend Suzanne joined me for this trip. And we enjoyed walking along the promenades, talking about many things, experiencing the sights and sounds of the Fair.

And at the top of the Ferris wheel, I looked over the side and saw – yep – an opportunity to capture a photo that I could enter for the Fair’s “Taken at the Fair” competition in 2027.

We also experienced the bumps and bruises – we thought we could ride a scrambler mouse ride, which was probably more than our bodies could handle at the time. But we made it through nonetheless.

Okay. It’s after 1:00 p.m. The pictures aren’t going to tell me how they’re doing unless I actually enter the Harriet May Mills Art Center.

So we enter.

And the first thing I discovered was that one of the accepted prints was my infrared tree shot, The Bur Oak. Looky looky.

Another successful image captured by my infrared-modified Nikon Df camera! Sweet!

Okay. Let’s keep looking. And on another panel, there it was …

There’s that macro shot of Herbie Jr :v) Was Here, right on the wall. This is good. I’m appreciative.

We kept looking for the other two accepted photos. And it didn’t take long before we saw something that made my heart dance.

That, my friends, is a brilliant white third place ribbon, the third successful silk earned by A CO Railfan’s Dream! This is combined with a blue from the Saratoga Fair, and a second-place color silk from Altamont! This also gets me my first competitive photography ribbon in three years at Syracuse, AND the first print in four years that wasn’t taken at the Fairgrounds itself to earn accolades!

But my understanding is that four images made the walls. I’ve found three of them. Where’s the fourth one?

Suzanne and I walked around the gallery, checking out each and every image. And after five minutes of wondering which of my three remaining shots got the love …

There it was.

And it was not alone.

Oh my God that’s The Shooting Star – my lenticular print of the meteor shower at the Corinth Reservoir from last year – the photo that couldn’t break through in any other gallery show or competition – but this time, it made the walls – AND IT GOT HONORABLE MENTION!!!!

Okay. Now let’s see how the latched hook rug did. That’s in another part of the arts building.

We walked along the arts and crafts gallery, and Suzanne marveled at the intricate and delicate quilts on display. She noted how much time each quilt must have taken to craft; all the stitches and the applications and the techniques necessary for these treasures to make it this far.

And then, around a corner … shining bright with its individually hand-cut neon yarns …

It’s that 50+ year old canvas of mine. All decked out in neon yellows and neon greens and neon oranges …

And a decidedly non-neon blue ribbon.

That smile you just heard was me discovering that – for the FIRST TIME in ten-plus years of creating entries for the Arts and Crafts category – ten years of soda crates and cathedral-radio dollhouses and illuminated Saratoga Vichy bottles and repainted drive-in speakers – I’VE EARNED MY FIRST EVER TRUE BLUE RIBBON IN THE ARTS AND CRAFTS CATEGORY!!! WHEEEE!!!

This was totally worth all the effort to create!

Suzanne and I celebrated – we purchased some salt water taffy and hand-squeezed lemonade, along with a few souvenirs and selfies of our day at the Fairgrounds.

This was fun all around.

Let me recap this –

• A CO Railfan’s Dream has now earned three different silks this year, with the Big E and the Photo Regionals still in the distance.
• The Shooting Star has finally, in its last showing anywhere, claimed a winning ribbon.
• The Bernat rug is now my second blue ribbon in latch hook rug making this year, matching the success of my hand-crafted covered bridge latch hook at Altamont earlier this yar.
• Herbie Jr :v) Was Here continues its streak of good showings. This I totally enjoy.
• And finally … the Syracurse got stuffed in a trash can with three ribbons and five appearances in the Art Center.

All in all, we had an absolutely fun day together.

And now the clock is ticking for 2027.

There’s photos that are scheduled for submission next year that I have not created as of yet. That I have not even conceived as of yet. And through my planning and creating and re-creating and tossing out those creations and going back to those creations and finding that one morsel of energy from those creations and building from that tiny morsel into a successful capture …

You can all join me on this journey.

Let’s make this happen.