Busy is Good, Right?
By Brian Auer • April 28th, 2009I’ve been avoiding the Internet lately, but only because I’m fairly busy with a few other things. Mainly, I’m trying to get a few prints together for the upcoming San Diego Fair (you know, prints — those jpegs on that paper stuff). There’s a photo competition and all entries have to be submitted IN PRINT — no online submissions. So I entered 4 photos and they have to be dropped off on May 13th. This is turning out to be an expensive (and time consuming) little adventure. 4 photo entries are going to cost me just over $400 — and I’m not even sure if they’ll be “good enough” to show at the fair (I know, this is crazy).
Regardless of the outcome, I’ll have four very nice images mounted for exhibition and ready to sell. I spent my Saturday printing 3 digital photos with Oscar, pricing out mounts and mats with a local San Diego framer, buying more materials for the darkroom, and printing my 4th photo in the darkroom.
All in all, everything is coming together nicely and I’m excited to see the four prints in their final state. I’ll post more about the process and the outcome when it all comes together. And here are the photos I’m entering:
Wide Open (digital, 16″ x 10.5″)
The Watchman (digital, 16″ x 10.5″)
Black and White (digital, 16″ x 10.5″)
A Dreary World (analog, fiber base, selenium toned, 11″ x 11″)
Brian Auer is a photography enthusiast from North Idaho. He's also the guy behind the Epic Edits Weblog. As a hobbyist photographer since 2003, his passion has been to constantly improve his photography skill set, to share his own knowledge with others, and to become an integral part of the photographic community.
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Hey, best of luck! I’ve entered my local fair the last 3 years or so. It’s a juried competition, actual cash money prizes. You’re right that it can get expensive to enter–not because of the entry fee (my fair’s entry fee is $3)–it’s the cost of printing and framing that get you. But it’s lots of fun and no matter what happens you get some great prints to hang on your walls. Recommendation if you’re entering to win: print big.
Hope you’ll win the comptetion! Your photos are awesome. Maybe I’m not the best critic ever but I enjoy them. Good luck Brian!
Thanks guys!
@John I thought about doing a full-bleed 16×20 (which is the size of the mount specified in the rules). But I’m not a fan of showing photos without a border. I ended up printing at 16×10.5 to give some room around the edges for matting (I think I’m going with black). Plus, the mat will help protect the print in case they get stacked with other entries, and the prints are ready to drop into a 16×20 frame.
Way to go Son! Excellent choices and good luck at the Fair.
Love that last one.
@bestgramps Thanks Dad! I sure hope I get at least a few of these in the fair. Would be nice to get a bit of exposure.
@the_wolf_brigade You’d dig the selenium toning on it too. Kinda purplish and a bit richer in the shadows — adds to the dreary mood.
Beautyful pictures Bryan , I’m Sure you gonna with this
Wish you best of luck
Best of luck. So you don’t have your bubble burst don’t expect your prints back in the same shape you delivered them. Through the review process prints often get damaged. I never had a positive experience with fairs and other similar contests. It quickly became obvious that it was a bit of a money pit. Of course my fuse was quite short.
Yeah, I’m expecting that there will be some damage by the time the prints get back. If nothing else, I’m sure there will be a gob of fingerprints on them if they make it to the fair. Why people feel the need to touch a print is beyond me…
How did this go, is it even over yet? I really liked your first picture of the four. I’ve entered at a couple of such fairs, not too great success though.
#1 and #4 made it to the fair, but the contest hasn’t happened yet. The fair opens up tomorrow, so I’ll be heading over there to check out the rest of the photos that made it. Should be a good display of work!