Do you have deep-fried sour grapes?

Yesterday was a trip to the New York State Fair – this time, to claim my six prints (four of which were accepted, two of which claimed ribbons) and my latched hook rug (which also claimed a first place silk). Once again, a successful run in Syracuse, and this time – for the first time in a couple of years – in addition to pictures being shown, two of them earned accolades.

Now long-time readers of my blog know that while I was somewhat successful at Syracuse this year, there were times in the past where my entries went 0-for-6. There was, in fact, a four-year span where only ONE Chuck Miller picture graced the walls of the Harriet May Mills Art Center. Yeah, I jokingly called it the “Syracurse,” in that I was apparently under some sort of bad luck or bad karma, but I took the rejections to encourage me to try harder. And eventually, trying harder paid off.

That being said, if my photos didn’t get accepted, I was okay with that. It would just spur me to improve my craft.

Apparently, however, one person in this year’s New York State Fair Photography Competition did NOT seem to have the same view. He entered six photographs and five were accepted – which is a pretty strong run. One picture, however, was listed in the black-and-white category, but the photo had a slight blue tint to the image. It wasn’t fully monochromatic, but there were some hints of azure in the capture.

However, the photo was entered in the black and white category, and after some discussion, the judges felt it was categorized incorrectly and rejected from the show.

Now mind you, this guy would eventually earn a first-place silk in a theme category, so he definitely has the talent and some killer images.

However … despite a five-out-of-six acceptance rate … he was still salty over the one picture that didn’t make the cut.

And he decided to voice his displeasure.

He voiced it on social media.

This is a screenshot of his Facebook post. I’ve edited his name off the screenshot for privacy’s sake.

What the hell … dude … bro …

Oh, it got worse. When some of his friends sympathized with him on the situation, he doubled down on his vitriol.

Okay. So let me put two and two together here.

Last year, according to this guy, “there are so many crappy photographers.” And continuing on this thread, apparently the ones that did make the cut, once again according to this guy, “Did you see last years gallery it was full of crap.”

So the photos that were rejected were crap, and the photos that were accepted were crap.

Wow. Just straight-up wow.

Look. Nobody wants their artwork rejected in competition. And yes, it happens. It’s happened to me. Heck, I’m on a two-year losing streak at Iowa. But that doesn’t mean I run to social media and badmouth the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. No. I simply try harder and plan for next year. Judging and review has its ebbs and flows. And we all go through this.

And I know the people who work behind the scenes at the New York State Fair’s art center. They work long hours with a difficult budget and with hundreds of artisans. They encourage first-time photographers; they cheer for their regulars.

And they do NOT need to be trashed online like someone who gave a dining experience at Olive Garden a one-star online review because he saw no olives or gardens in his meal. Give me a break.

As for this guy who got a photo rejected … again, sorry for your loss, bro, but we’re all putting our best into these competitions. Sometimes our ideas work, sometimes they don’t. But trashing the art center’s operators and volunteers on social media is just plain pettiness and crassness.

And nobody needs to hear any of that.