Tag: Iowa State Fair

Spring at Lacey

Published on by tbeckerphotos2 Comments

The final image submitted to the 2022 Iowa State Fair was Spring at Lacey. I entered this image in the Iowa Places and Landscapes class. Another class that I strive to have a photo chosen at least for display if not receive an award. Spring at Lacey is a favorite image for many of my followers.

This image is a favorite of mine too, the number one reason it shouldn’t have been submitted. But is the image or the story behind the image, that makes it a favorite of mine? I have made images at this location in the fall and winter. But a spring photo was what I envisioned. The different shades of spring green with just a pop of redbuds in bloom and hoping there would be water.

My fellow photographer friend, Stephanie, and I went to Lacey Keosauqua State Park to photograph the woodland wildflowers. We spent time in another location of the park and then I wanted to go to this location to see if my vision would come to fruition. Seeing the water made me giddy with excitement, however, the wind was not being my friend. The light was uneven, not at all what I wanted. Even light, no wind and a reflection, not much to ask for right? Not to mention to time it right for the different shades of green and the redbuds to be in bloom.

We waited to see if the light would even out and for the wind to hopefully die down. We waited for two hours, yes two hours! We chatted at length and watched what was either a small beaver, river otter or mink swim by. And then the magic happened! The light was even and the wind died down. Click, click, click went my shutter. Trying different shutter speeds until I was able to get the best exposure.

I will never know why not one judge liked this image enough for it to be on display. And that’s okay. Other people like it and so do I. Now you know the story, which do you like best, the story or the image? Let me know your thoughts on Spring at Lacey!

Spring at Lacey

Twirling Swinging Bridge

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The third image I entered in the 2022 Iowa State Fair is titled Twirling Swinging Bridge” This image was submitted in the “Anything Goes” class, which means the image is to be dramatically computer enhanced or radically altered. This type of processing is something I do for fun. I have used this type of processing on several images, but Twirling Swinging Bridge has captured the most attention on social media.

The image was radically altered in Adobe Photoshop using the twirl filter. With this filter l find it best to use multiple layers and save the file as a photoshop file. One time, I failed to save the file with all the layers and saved it as a .jpg file after merging the layers. Oops! I wanted to change something and couldn’t. I tried to recreate the image again, but guess what? The filter never works the same way twice! I was unable to duplicate my original enhancements. Lesson learned.

Often I am asked what the original imaged looked like. Below is Twirling Swinging Bridge and Swinging Bridge in Spring.

Twirling Swinging Bridge
Swinging Bridge in Spring

I have photographed this scene in all seasons. Making a black and white image of this scene still dances around in my head. But the vision I have, well let’s say, it might not be so easy to get to this location to make that vision come to life.

There was an image on display for this class that the photographer had used the twirl filter in Adobe Photoshop. What was different from my image? The colors were all primary, red, blue, green and yellow. And the image was more geometric. It reminded me of patterns I made using Spirograph from the 1970’s. Did you have a Spirograph?

I’ll never know why at least one judge like the other image over mine. And yes, it stings to know that someone who used the same technique had an image on display and mine didn’t make the cut. I keep reminding myself it is a tough competition and this year only 29% of the images submitted were chosen for display.

There will be one more image for me to write about, so stay tuned! Until then, leave me a comment on your thoughts about Twirling Swinging Bridge.