Adventure #10...Taking Photography to the Next Step...a Very Tiny Step, But A Fun One!

This adventure truly is one that has been on my "bucket list" for a few years! As many of you may know, I LOVE taking pictures!! To leave home without a camera is almost as disastrous as leaving home without my cell phone! My little 'point-n-shoot' is always in my purse and often I will throw my Canon Rebel in, "just in case" I really need it! So the fact is...if you always carry a camera, you are always taking pictures...and if you are always taking pictures, then you have LOTS of them...and I DO!!!

(As a side note: just last night and this morning, I spent several hours transferring photos from my laptop to my external hard drive and CDs. I am becoming very diligent about backing up my files after my old computer crashed several years ago, and I lost most of my photos. Luckily daughter-in-love, Amy, was able to retrieve a bunch of them after searching for a long time...and yes, I actually cried real tears over 'spilt milk' aka 'lost photos'!)

Well, back to my new adventure! This year I decided that it was time to enter a photo into the Photography and Fine Arts exhibit at the Fresno Fair! I realize that this isn't very exciting to the masses, but for a photography buff, it was FUN! I had been thinking about doing this for a long time, but didn't start early enough hunting through the 1000's of photos that I have on my laptop, (current count: 21,654...and that is after moving six months to the 'trash'!), so I decided to go with 2 of my favorites, one of grand daughter, Mary, dressed up as a bride, and the other is of my niece, Elyse, dressed up as a REAL bride on her wedding day.

So, the selection was made, the enlargements were ordered and picked up, a trip to Office Max for foam board and spray adhesive was taken, an online application was filled out, the fees were paid, little hooks were attached and I was ready to head to the fairgrounds to deliver my photos! It was so much fun walking into the building and seeing hundreds of other photos, knowing that mine would hopefully be hanging among them when the "Big Fresno Fair" opened it's gates in October! Both photos were accepted (I don't think they turn too many away unless they are inappropriate in some way!), and the young lady at the desk handed me two receipts to turn in when I picked up my entries after the fair was over. I DID IT!! Adventure #10!!!

Grand daughter, Mary and our photo!

The fair has come and gone...my photos hung among hundreds of others...and I made just one trip to the Photography and Fine Arts Building several days after opening day to see my entries! I received several texts and a couple of phone calls from friends and family who spotted my pictures as they 'mosied' through the exhibit...and no, I did not win "Best of Show"...or any award, for that matter....but there is always next year, and I am already thinking about which photo will make the 'cut'! I'm also trying to talk a couple of my daughters into entering with me...maybe one of us will be lucky and bring home a ribbon!!