To be... fair

I always get a bit giddy at this time of year.

It's County Fair time. And that means photography entries and the chance to be judged against other photo-enthusiats.

It's not fame or fortune we are talking about here... it's the Polk County Fair afterall. But seeing my work out there for the world to see is inspiring.

Here are a couple I didn't put up on the blog previously:

(Entered under "Farm Scenes")

I probably should not have entered this wheat one. The judges at the fair don't like any tricky business.  The superintendent of the photography devision is about 106 years old and likes classic, sharp, and straight images. It doesn't say that anywhere in the rule book, but from the winners I've seen in other years, I can tell "washed-out w/ sun flare" isn't his cup of tea.

I love it though. I love everything about it. (Is that like complimenting my own cooking? Probably.) 

I feel all warm and summer-filled when I look at it. You could say it's my cup of tea, iced with sugar please.

You've seen all the other pictures around the blog. This is a re-run:

I enjoyed it so much I had it printed off at Costco to update a frame I have hanging in the living room. Costco is cheap, but every time I get pictures back from them I think maybe I missed something in the editing process. Did my picture look this dark on my monitor? Oh well, it was cheap, I tell myself.

I accidentally ordered it again when I was putting together pictures for the fair. This time I ordered all my fair pics from the printing company I use for my photography business. I figured I could give the extra print of Mandy to some grandma somewhere. No one was complaining.

Until the professional print came back. Can you guess which one was "cheap"?

The top one is from Costco and is dark and drab. The bottom one fairly sparkles and is full of depth. I promise there was no editing between the pictures shown above -- it is the exact same high resolution JPEG sent to two different printers over the internet. The bottom one is printed at White House Custom Colour. I've used WHCC quite a bit and am always impressed with their quality. I wrote them a thank you note. 

So my verdict: Costco is great for hotdogs and tube socks, but leave the photo printing to the pros.