This weekend is the deadline to submit photos to the Iowa State Fair Photography Contest. You may recall in 2017, two of my images were selected for display, of which one of them received first place in it’s class. My process for selecting images to be submitted is somewhat logical and somewhat artistic, left brain vs. right brain. Over the last year I have added images to a collection for possible submission. The collection had 74 images. In May it was time to start my critique and get the images down from 74 to 4!

Only 4 images may be submitted, and only one per class. I know from prior experience there are several rounds of judging. First, each photographer’s entries are looked at as a group. The judges want to see 4 very different images. After that, I can only speculate as to the process. I do know that one judge must like a photo for it to be displayed and all 4 judges must like an image for it to receive an award.

So, first thing was to reduce down from 74 to the images I wanted to have printed to see how they looked in print. Every image has its own story. As I was selecting the images I had to set aside the stories and personal feelings attached to each image and look at the image for itself. I was able to narrow down my selection to 23 images to be printed as 4 x6 images. Print images may look quite different than on screen if your display is not calibrated. Even then, each printer has it’s own unique profile and your prints may not look how you want.

The next step was to place the images in groups by class. The 23 images fell into 7 different classes. it was time to get extremely critical and choose the image I felt was strongest per class. Once down to 7 images, it was time to choose the 4 strongest images and look at them as a group to make sure they were all different. And if you have been following me, you know I prefer different!

The final step in my process was to adjust as necessary for final 8 x 12 prints. Once the prints were received they were then taken to a frame shop to be dry mounted on 11 x 14 white foam core as per the contest rules.

This weekend was the final two days for submission. Even with gas prices, the choice was made to drive to Des Moines to the Iowa State Fairgrounds and personally submit my images. Besides, what better way to spend my birthday, doing something I’m passionate about!

And below are the 4 images I selected for the 2022 Iowa State Fair Photography Contest. This is the first year I have submitted all color images. In the past, only my black and white images have been selected for display and/or an award. This year two of my photos are classes that I have not submitted images before, Anything Goes! and Macro. My goal is to have at least one image on display, anything more will be above my expectations.

Now it’s time to wait for the pink card to arrive in the mail letting me know how many, if any, were chosen for display and with more luck there will be an award sticker. They will be sent out in early July as judging takes place next weekend. Here’s the clincher, 4 images were submitted and if any one, two or three are selected, I won’t know which one(s) until August 10th! And if I’m extremely honored to receive an award, it will be unknown as to how many and which images received an award. For example, if two or more images are selected and there is an award sticker, not only will I not know if one or both images received an award, but also which award was received. In past years, the Sunday before the opening of the Iowa State Fair, there was an awards ceremony and all photographers who submitted images were invited to attend. At that time all the images were on display along with the correlating awards. However, due to COVID, there will not be an awards ceremony this year. The judging results will be posted on iowastatefair.org on August 10th.

Follow along to see how I fare at the fair!