Experiencing the Iowa State Fair Photography Contest
The only place my photos have been on public display (so far)
With more than one million visitors each year, the Iowa State Fair is one of the largest state fairs in the U.S. Amid the crowds of people, livestock, carnival rides, and any food you can imagine on a stick, there is a plethora of contests and exhibitions that occur every year at the fair.
Among these is a particular competition that I have participated in every year since 2010 — the photography contest!
Every May/June, I select four photos to enter into the contest. One rule of the contest is that no two photos can be entered into the same category. This forces me to select a more diverse set of photos.
For me, the process of selecting photos is a painstaking endeavor. It often takes me hours across several days to narrow down to a set of four that I am happy with.
I struggle to choose between photos that really speak to me vs. what I think might do well in a judged competition. I try my best to find that sweet spot where I feel it satisfies both.
The judging panel changes each year. Because of this, knowing what did or didn’t get accepted to be on display in previous years doesn’t really influence my selection decisions.
There are a number of technical criteria that I consider when selecting photos. Does the photo use the rule of thirds? Are there leading lines that draw the viewer to the main subject? Have I removed distracting blemishes or elements (e.g. lens spots)? Are there blown-out highlights, poor exposure, or poor contrast? Does the photo look more like a snapshot? Is everything I want to be in focus in focus?
This year, I entered one photo in each of the following categories: USA Places & Landscapes (Color), Places & Landscapes (Black & White), International Places & Landscapes (Color), and this year’s theme category Sunrises & Sunsets. My husband, Jess, also submitted four of his own photos.
We delivered our entries to the fairgrounds in mid-June. The process is multi-stage as they check over the size of the photos, confirm the categories entered are appropriate, label the entries for accurate tracking, etc.
During the first step of this process, the lady checking the size of my photos said “as long as they aren’t AI”. First time that has come up. Clearly, AI is on someone’s radar. That’s a whole hot topic in itself that I won’t get into in this post.
In early July, we received the much-anticipated “golden tickets” in the mail. Every year, these cards reveal how many, if any, photos were accepted to the fair. Presence of an award sticker means that at least one photo received an award.
So, what was on my card this year?
I got two photos accepted and at least one had an award! Jess also got two photos accepted!
I was excited that we each had at least one photo accepted. We began hypothesizing about which of our four entries made it in.
Unfortunately, it would be more than a month before the answer was revealed.
In many previous years, there was a Photography Salon held the weekend before the fair opened. Contestants and a couple of family members were allowed to attend. We got a preview of the photos, saw fellow photographers, enjoyed snacks, and attended the award ceremony. The Superintendent of the Iowa State Fair Photography Contest at the time always gave a wonderful speech prior to the awards ceremony. I really enjoyed this part of participating in the photography contest and miss it.
Now, participants find out the results when the fair opens.
On the August 10th, opening day of the fair, we and several thousand others entered the gates to the fairgrounds. We walked to the Cultural Center and up to the 3rd floor where the photography is displayed.
The hunt for our photos began.
We started with a room that was mostly dedicated to photos accepted in this year’s theme category (Sunrises & Sunsets). Then we entered the main room where aisles of photos are displayed and award-winning photos can be found on the walls.
We quickly found Jess’ two photos that were accepted: a night sky image taken in Arizona and a photo of the incredible aurora we experienced back in March.
As we browsed the aisles, we stopped to talk about photos that caught our attention. Then we came across one of my photos. I received an honorable mention for the photo of the green door I took in Italy. Shortly after, we found my second accepted entry: the black and white lighthouse photo I took during -20F temps on Lake Superior two years ago.
2,536 photos were entered into the contest this year. 801 photos across all classes were selected to be exhibited. 176 photos received an award. If you’re curious about the numbers across classes, check out the photo below.
It’s an honor each year to have even one photo selected for display. My photos mainly live on hard drives. The Iowa State Fair is the only place where my photos have ever been publicly displayed. I’d like that to change someday. A future goal.
The Iowa State Fair is happening now until August 20th. If you’ll be there, I highly recommend checking out both the photography display and fine art display on the 3rd floor of the Cultural Center.
I hope you enjoyed this inside look at my experience with Iowa State Fair photography contest.
Thanks for reading!
Where else can you follow me & some of my projects?
Photography & Travel: @stephcoffmanphoto (Instagram)
Print Shop: StephCoffmanPhoto on Etsy
Nature films: @travelatmos (Instagram, YouTube)