This year I decided to go out on a limb and enter 3 items in the 2014 county fair. 2 entries in the photography division and 1 entry in the home arts division. I was a bit nervous, since this was the only the second time I have ever entered anything in any kind of competition. But what the heck.
When we were in Bristol ENGLAND a few years back, I was walking to the train station and I took this photo of a farmer's market that was just outside the entrance to the station. Everyone who has seen the photo has remarked about how colorful and beautiful it is and that I should enter it in the local fair. I simply took the photo because I was drawn to the lovely colors of the market. I didn't have time to set up the shot correctly, I just simply did a quick point and shoot of two quick frames. The second shot was a complete throw away, as the people moved and ruined the photo.
Well, I entered the photo, and amazingly it won 1st place in the county fair. I was so shocked!! I am now wondering if perhaps it might win a ribbon in the Utah State Fair. I am still toying with the idea of entering it next week.
One of the biggest thrills of winning, was that my grandson, Ian was with me when I saw this ribbon on my photo exhibit. I started saying "aah, aah, aah". He came running over to see what was wrong with me. Took one look at the exhibit, smiled and gave me a great big hug and smiled at me saying "congratulations Gram, I am so happy for you". That was better than the win!!
Last year our pear tree has an abundant amount of pears and they were so sweet and so large. I found a wonderful recipe for a Pear and Cranberry Conserve. It turned out delicious and I shared the recipe with several friends, who also had great success with it. Everyone that I shared my conserve with has loved it. So, on a whim, I entered a jar in the county Home Arts Dept. And look - I won 2nd place!! A red ribbon!! I was so surprised. My grandson's mother, (Shelle), was with me on this day and she kept looking at all the first place ribbons and still thinks my conserve looks better than the others. She said she knows it taste like a blue ribbon winner.
For my third entry, I decided to go with this photo I took of a century old cobblestone street on our visit to Ephesus TURKEY a couple of years ago. I was drawn to the quaint charm of the scene and the fact that the old and the new mixed so well together. These streets are over 100 years old and still used today. It was just a very relaxing sight, and I love to take architectural photos when we travel.
This photo won 3rd place!! The fair photography supervisor told me that the photo was an excellent photo and worthy of a higher ribbon, but when the local Michael's Craft store mounted it for me to display they did not do a very good job. The edges are exposed and rough along the bottom, which costs me points in the judging. The supervisor said there was much discussion among the judges about my photo and the others. They very much liked the architectural lines shown in my photo, but in the end had to deduct for the mounting. The supervisor gave me some very useful tips during our 5 minute talk. I learned so much about how to look at photos for competition entry and display. He also encouraged me to continue taking photos, (as he said I had a good natural eye, and good camera).
In the end, I was extremely happy with my 3 ribbons. As I said that's "3 entries and 3 ribbons". A very good trip to the county fair this year. I hope that my grandson will think about trying his hand at an entry next year. He is so talented at drawing - who knows, maybe there's another blue ribbon winner in our family.
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