The Fair (an Update)

Reading everyone's comments on which photos were your favorite was so much fun, and as a bonus, had surprising results.

Since a single favorite didn't seem to clearly emerge, I decided to tally all of the votes. I also asked several people IRL and added their votes to the tally.

So the options were:

1. Twilight:

2. Tree lover:

3. 4th of July:

4. Easter Morning:

5. Miss Daisy:

6. Childhood:

At posting time, my favorites were 4th of July and Childhood. But I was also strongly considering Miss Daisy. And I loved Twilight, but was less confident about a landscape photo...

Here's how the tallies broke down:

1. Twilight: 9 votes

2. Tree lover: 16 votes

3. 4th of July: 6 votes

4. Easter Morning: 4 votes

5. Miss Daisy: 12 votes

6. Childhood: 5 votes

So my top favorites had some of the least votes. Hmmmm.

After picking up the printed versions, Easter Morning was clearly out of the running. The rest cropped ok, but I didn't love how 4th of July and Childhood's crop changed the photo quite a bit. Actually, I didn't love the cropped version of ANY of them as much as the originals, but. My fault, yada yada. Should have found a better printer than WALeffingMART and printed them sooner than the day before the deadline blah blah blah.

(Will I ever learn not to procrastinate? Yeah, probably not...)

Also, I was so surprised that Tree lover had the most votes, and by quite a bit. I love that photo of Marin, but I wasn't even strongly considering entering it at that point.

Twilight was a favorite of mine all along, and I was pleased that so many of you liked it too. And Miss Daisy... ahh, I love that photo too, but I was a little bothered by the focus not being really crisp and clean.

Basically, after seeing them printed, it was between Twilight, Tree lover, Miss Daisy, and maaaaybe even Childhood.

I played with putting them under the frame's mat. Tree lover was my (new!) favorite. Twilight also looked great matted, but I was lacking confidence in that one. The newly-cropped Childhood was ever-so-slightly more cropped under the mat, making it unacceptable.

Miss Daisy was great under the mat, even in it's cropped version. While I don't think that photo is the best in terms of quality of photo, I think it has the most appeal.

So. I ended up submitting Tree lover and Miss Daisy. Which are exactly the two with the most votes. Thank you so much for your help!

+++++++++++

As I stood in line with people holding loaves of bread, vases of flowers, needlework, vegetables arranged on paper plates, and all kinds of framed art work, I marveled at this thing called a County Fair. I've never entered anything into a fair in my life, but for many small-town people, it's something they've been doing since early childhood. Like my husband, for example.

I learned that only one person judges. And the judge remains anonymous, even AFTER the judging is over. I learned that artists' names are hidden during the judging, and then revealed afterward for the fair-goers to see. I learned that ribbon winners actually earn CASH MONEY. (Grand prize is, and I'm not joking, $2).

I left chuckling to myself and feeling like REAL Tiny Town dweller and small-town girl, now that I've entered something into the fair.

+++++++++++

The judging happened last night, and the fair opens today. Tiny Town County Fair week is my favorite time of summer, and we go to the fair nearly everyday that it's here.

Tonight when we get there, I WANT to be all cool and nonchalant... not all mouth-breathing and rushing to the Creative Arts building. I want to wander around, enjoying the sights and sounds, and not snapping at the kids to WALK FASTER and NO WE CAN'T STOP AND SEE X because we have to get to the Creative Arts building RIGHT NOW.

(It's funny how I really don't care if I "win" or not... and YET. Once I started the process, I started to care. Ya know?)

Despite how I want to act, any bets on how things actually go down?