Fine Art and Photography

One of my favorite things to do at the Tulare County Fair is to enter the Photography competition. You may have noticed? I snap pictures of everything? I don't always work to make sure that the composition is perfect, unless it's the composition or a subject I'm really crazy about. If it's a picture of my latest Estate Sale find, what difference does the lighting make? ;)

Not that I would know how to adjust it if I noticed!

Anyway, I've been entering the photography competition for 14 years. My first year, I won a second place on a photo of my son, who is now 26. He was at the beach, covered with sand, grinning from ear to ear. I LOVED that photo. I still do.

From that point on, nothing. Until last year. I earned a fourth place on a picture taken at Best of the Valley. woohoo!!! Ribbons are few and far between in the Fine Arts/Photography building. The competition level is high, and any mention sends thrills up my spine.

Yesterday I entered the building, and found my first two photos. They were landscapes. Nothing.

Then I found the "People Grouping/Families" section. Woo!! Woo woo!!! See that?!!! That's my Committee!!! And they earned a ribbon!!! I looked around for someone to tell...A uniformed CHP officer happened to be strolling by. "Look! My photo got a ribbon!" I'm pretty sure he thought I was a nut case, but I explained to him that no one was with me and I had to tell someone! Poor guy. But if that's the worst thing that happened to him yesterday, it was probably a pretty good day.

I turned the corner, and, BAM!! The picture of Monica's fabric, taken at the quilt show, was also wearing a ribbon!!! Two ribbons? In a single year?

And then, BAM!! A THIRD ribbon. My third picture of Best of the Valley, and my third ribbon for photography in a single year. Wow! I should have taken a picture of the entire display, so that you could see the wonderful photographs and the limited number of ribbons.

oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!! I was like the cat who swallowed the canary, and I'm pretty sure I drove all the quilters crazy yesterday. "Guess what?!! I won ribbons for PHOTOGRAPHY!!" They were all very nice and congratulatory, but I think that by the time I left they were thinking, "Enough already!" ;)

The other picture I have for you today is from the County Building. They used to have a fierce competition between the various communities, but apparently people have better things to do these days than promote their communities. Tulare and Pixley were the only displays I saw. Pixley went all out, Pixley won. Yay, Pixley!!

You may be familiar with Pixley, if you ever watched Green Acres or Petticoat Junction. The shows took place thereabouts. As you can see, it's a farming community, and they are very proud of their produce. Congratulations, Pixley! Thanks for feeding us!