2022 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon

I haven’t made a post for quite a while (June of 2022 to be specific). I realize that my last post asked for your pick of my pano submission. In reality the grain bin pano was already submitted, and I’m happy to say it was chosen for display.

Edge of Night

While not winning an award, it is an honor to be selected for display. It was among 23 (37% of submissions) in the panoramic category that were displayed, with only seven receiving an award.

In addition to this photo, I entered three additional photos, rounding out the maximum allowed submissions of four. I typically enter the Themed category. “The Open Road” was the 2022 focus. It was my only submission that was not selected for display. Only 12 of 32 entries in the Black and White class were displayed.

Road to Glory

I submitted another black and white in the People class. I took this picture of four of my grands a few years back at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. It was partially chosen for entry because I won the People – Color class in 2021 with my “Bubble Girl” photo, featuring my oldest granddaughter. That precipitated requests from her siblings to have a submission as well. While it was not a winner, it was displayed, and they proudly posed with it when they came up for the State Fair. 38% or the 81 entries were exhibited. A small feature that I loved about this capture is the small rivulet of water that connects in middle foot to the foot in the reflection.

Four on a Bench
Four on a Bench

My last submission was in the Animal (Color) class. I felt it was the least likely to go through to exhibition, but it made it! A farm family in my church let me know of a Great Horned Owl nest on their acreage. I went out on a few occasions and caught this photo in the late nestling stage. It was among 74 or 251 entries that were exhibited.

The Better to See You

So with three out of four submissions making it to exhibition, I was very pleased. Only 10% of photographers had three entries progress through the judging process. There is a merit award for those who have all four entries exhibited. Curiously, no one received that honor in 2022.

There is a Youth Division in which the top age is 17. My grandson captured a picture of his dog that I thought would be a worthy entry. He was six at the time he took the picture with an iPhone. His photo was also exhibited, making him the youngest photographer exhibited at the Photography Salon!

Whit with “My Great Dog”

A total of 2,191 photos were entered by 394 photographers with 29% of entries exhibited. The numbers of submissions have been down post-pandemic. It will be interesting to see if numbers rebound this year. So that’s the update of 2022 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. Entry information for 2023 will be released in April on the Iowa State Fair website. Out of state and international entries are welcomed. The special Theme Class for 2023 is Sunrise/Sunset. It should be a highly competitive class. I’ll drop a few of my potential 2023 entries as the June deadline approaches.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Mirror

As Jen H issued this week’s challenge, she said, “This week’s challenge is all about reflections.” Reflections, mirror images, are fun to capture. Whether it is a shiny paint job or placid lake, the reflection seems to double the beauty.

The first was taken a year ago. My mother was a day away from graduating to her heavenly home and was a patient at the area hospice home. A church member’s grandmother was also a patient there and the granddaughter and her husband rode their new Harley Davidson Screaming Eagle Glide (CVO) to the home. As a diversion, I took a few minutes admire their new ride and to get a few shots of the beautiful bike. What made this picture special to me was the reflection of the hospice home in which my mother spent the last two months of her life.

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The second image was just taken today. While it was not the most spectacular sunset, the local state park lake was relatively placid, offering a nice mirror image of the opposing bank and the sky.

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For more examples of “mirror” click HERE.

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Golden Hour

The “Golden Hour Challenge” is to capture that shot in the first or last hour of sunlight. This picture captured my sister combing the beach at sunset on the Florida Gulf Coast.Karen on Beach

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard.Their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a groom coming from the bridal chamber; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat. (Psalm 19:1-6, HCSB)