Fair Photos - Jesus at St. Paul's

This statue stands over the entrance to St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown Birmingham, blessing those who enter. As I searched through my photos for one I could enter in the "Architecture" category in the Shelby County Fair, I came across this one, and it was the closest thing I had to architecture that was any good at all. I liked the way the stained glass window sort of formed a halo. Glad I entered it, because it won a First Place Ribbon. I like the photo, but I did not expect that.

Jesus at St. Paul's

Fair Photos - Fading Railroad Car

This photo was entered in the Vehicles category at the Shelby County Fair. I made this on a trip to the Railroad Museum at Calera. It was a tough day to shoot, with glare from the sky, but I took this of one of the old cars, and had it fade out of focus as it was further away. I then, I must admit, did a little photoshop to have the color fade at the same time as the focus. To me, it represented a vehicle that was way past its prime and fading into history, and I tried to convey that. I was fortunate enough to get a second place ribbon in the Vehicles category.

Fading Railroad Car

Fair Photos - Willie

My first photography class was last year and was called Photographing the Magic City. In that class we had to pick a theme and prepare a series of photos around that theme. I had no idea what to do, but while photographing near the Five Points South fountain, I hit upon the idea of photographing some of the street people in close up intimate portraits. I wound up calling the series, Somebody's Uncle, after my wife said this photo just looked like somebody's uncle. I agreed, and except for the filter on the cigarette, this could have been taken any time. This is Willie, and he's probably 70 by now. I enjoyed talking to him, and giving him copies of this and other photos of himself. This photo was entered into the category of People in the Shelby County Fair this fall and it took the Third Place Ribbon in that category. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you:

WILLIE

Fair Photos - Honduran Beach with Fish

The next photo from my fair entries was in the category called "Beach." I've taken quite a number of beach photos in my life, but it's been a while and there was a requirement that the photo be taken within the last two years. Well I did go on a cruise last February, and at our first port, Roatan, Honduras, my wife and I decided to do one of the glass bottom boat excursions. Great idea, but not very good in the execution. First, we had to climb down into this very narrow, cramped hard seated bottom of a boat. Second the air conditioning was broken, and although it was okay for about 10 minutes, there were about twenty people down in there with no air circulation and it got stifling pretty quickly. The reef and the fish were very beautiful, but the windows weren't extremely clear, and photographing through the windows wasn't satisfying unless the fish was right beside your window. After a while people started getting desparate to get back topside to the fresh air, some almost became frantic. My wife and I sweated through it. It was better after about half of them climbed back to the top. Anyway, as we walked back down the dock to the bus to take us back to the ship, I snapped this photo looking straight down into the water. It took a third place ribbon in the beach category. There were some gorgeous beach shots, but this was the best one I had. You may have to click the photo to get the original to see the fish, or at least their shadows.

HONDURAN BEACH WITH FISH

Fair Photos - Santa and the Moon

Today is the first of my ribbon winners. There was a category at the fair called "Other," and since I couldn't fit this one into any of the "other" categories, it went into the "Other" category and took 3rd Place. I honestly don't remember the competition in this very diverse category, but obviously two "other" photos were deemed better. That's okay, just glad to be in there.

This photo was taken from my deck in November, 2007, so it really wasn't Santa. I used my longest telephoto, 300mm with a 1.7x teleconverter, and the smallest aperture of f40. Even so, it had to be cropped a little to better fill the frame. The reindeer, etc. are leaves hanging on a sweet gum tree about 200 feet from the deck. I took several, but this was by far the most interesting.

SANTA AND THE MOON

Fair Photos - Sunset and Oats

My third losing entry in the fair was the following photo taken in Pennsylvania. It was in the landscape category, and there were really some other good entries, so I did not expect this to win a ribbon. My judgement was correct, but I still liked it. Tomorrow, the first of my ribbon photos.

SUNSET AND OATS

Fair Photos - Red Lily

Now this photo was entered into the "Flower" category in the fair and I thought maybe it had a pretty good chance at a ribbon. I especially like the red and green counterpoint, but alas, the judges liked others better and this was an also ran.

RED LILY