Veracruz Dancers: Wins 2nd Place at State Fair

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Perhaps a little boasting is in order.

For the past two years, I have been submitting prints to the State Fair of Texas Photo Contest. I have won a ribbon every year.


This year I won 2nd Place for my print entitled, Veracruz Dancers. (See image at the top left of the blog.) It is a picture of two dancers in a troupe dancing to the music of Mexico. These dancers were wearing the costumes of Veracruz State. After I looked at the images on my computer I realized right away it may be contest grade. So I submitted it to the State Fair in the Adult Division. The category was People. The contest's theme is images from Texas.

I shot it with my Nikon D200, using a 18-70mm Nikkor DX lens.

The print was mounted on a grey cardboard. It will be displayed with a red ribbon behind a showcase in the Arts and Craft Building. The building is behind the Cotton Bowl.

I submitted a second image in the Floral Category. It won 10th place. It will not be displayed. The title of that print is Rose Swirl (top right). It is a simple image of a 'American Veteran' rose in my back garden. That day I noticed the rose bloom was almost perfect in that it was not fully opened. It looked like a red vortex of petals. One tiny tear drop of dew was on the rose. We planted the rose in 2001 to remember September 11. The tear drop seed to convey sadness for the victims of the tragedy of 9/11.

This year's wins add to the 3rd Place finish in 2006 for A Mature Tulip (above left) and Honorable Mention for My Friend Bill (see below). Earlier in 2006 Star Burst (bottom right) won 3rd Place in the Dallas Master Gardeners Photo Contest.


I had set up a meeting with Bill at Starbucks in Carrollton. He was seated and sipping coffee when I got there. I brought in my D200 sat it down and ordered coffee. While we talked, I snapped the picture that won Honorable Mention in the People Category.


A Mature Tulip was shot at the Dallas Arboretum. It was the Dallas Blooms celebration it holds every year. This was March or April 2006. I noticed one tulip was older and had opened. It seemed to have the elements of good composition. So I snapped it with my then new Nikon D200. I was sitting on a tripod because the tulip was in deep shade. It captured the subtle pastel of the tulip.




Rio Samba did not win any awards. It was published in the Plano Insider newspaper in May 2006. I submitted Rio Samba and several over prints to the editor of the newpaper for a feature article on the Collin County Rose Society's annual garden tour. I thought one of the gardens submitted by another photographer would be use. Even then I thought the image would go on an inside page. I was shocked to see it on the front page with my name as the photographer. A neighbor noticed it and asked me about it.


Star Burst was a shot using a flash. I don't really like flash as lighting. However, flash will help freeze a close up image. So when I submitted images to the Dallas Master Gardeners Photo Contest I looked for images with natural lighting and pastel colors. I had two good images that I liked, but the contest allowed three entires. I decided to submit Star Burst anyway. Oddly, the first and secon place winners were images using artificial lighting, too. The Master Gardeners invited me to their presentation meeting. They had a slide show of every entry. I was presented with a certificate and a prize. It was a very good day.