No Luck With the State Fair; Weather Update

Just a quick update--my entry into the Fine Arts competition was not accepted. That means I get to keep my nicely framed picture, although I'll probably make it a gift to someone.

Unfortunately the judges don't give explanations for their decisions. I'm going to speculate that it was seen as lacking a sufficient element of artistic merit. If that's their reasoning, I can certainly understand it.

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The long-term forecast for conditions during the Jeffers star party suggests that the very cool weather we've been experiencing will come to an end just before the party begins. Temperatures will climb into the low 90s with dew points in the low 70s. Typical steamy Jeffers weather, and if it persists into the following week and the Nebraska Star Party, there may be some big bad thunderstorms to deal with.

Framed and Registered

The print of M31 I talked about last time has now been framed, and I've registered it for the Fine Arts competition at the State Fair.  Here's what it looks like framed:

This is a snap using an inexpensive digital camera, and I think it went blue-heavy, but you get the idea. The matte and frame are blacker than this shows. I chose anti-reflection glass, too, which lends a very slight blue tinge, much like it can do when viewed on a lens.

In a fit of optimism I decided to put a for-sale price on it. My cost, disregarding time and travel is $14 for the print and $261 for the framing, for a total of $275. The fair takes 20% of the sale price, so that becomes  $330. I set the price at $350, which means I'll have a "profit" of $20. 

Two things about that. It would be nice to have the costs taken care of, and it would be a great pleasure to know someone was willing to pay for one of my images. Seeing it hanging in the Fine Arts building with a "sold" sticker would be a blast. 

One thing at a time, though, and I won't find out what its status is until July 14-15. If it's accepted, I'll take all the mounting hardware off, and my wife will deliver it to the Judges (I'll be at the Nebraska Star Party).

This week I should really finish my Binocular mount project. The Jeffers Stargaze and NSP are going to arrive quicker than I know.

Getting an Image Ready for the Fair

I'm a fan of our state fair, which I've attended almost every year since I was a child. In recent years I've been entering baked bread in the baking competitions with some success. My wife usually enters some of her craft work, too. And my mother, now 91 years of age, enters both stitched and baked goods.

The first day of the fair is usually dedicated to visiting the buildings where our entries are on display and seeing what ribbons we've won (most years at least one of us gets a ribbon, some years, all three). After that it's on to the Education building, the 4H building, Fine Arts Building, and then to wherever time permits. It's not unusual to attend on a couple of days, as there's a great deal to see.

One of my uncles was a painter (as I hope to be some day) and managed to get his work displayed in the Fine Arts building on a couple of occasions. He never won a prize or mention, though, which I think irritated him a little. To carry on with his tradition I'm going to submit an astrophoto this year.

In the past there's been some astronomy presence in the building. A local painter has entered her impressions of astronomical objects, and there's usually at least one picture of the Moon. Last year was a particularly fruitful year, with these on display:

At top are two star trail images, lower left is an aurora, and bottom right is art with a fairly realistic depiction of the northern sky (note the big and little dippers). Obviously my pictures don't do justice to the works!

Seeing these got me thinking that the judges might be receptive to other examples of astrophotography. So I'm submitting my M31 image from the South Dakota Star Party:

While I'm not suggesting that it's great astrophotography, it's one of my best to date, and I like it. I've had a test print made using the services of National Camera Exchange in Burnsville. It looked good and faithfully reproduced the image I submitted, but for the full-sized print (11x14 inches) I changed the yellow-blue balance a little, which nicely brought up the blue. I'm also going to print it on metallic paper, which is said to enhance the vibrancy of the color. The print will be ready next week, and then it's off to the framing shop.

The Fair requires that the image be framed with a glass or plastic cover, and I'll go with glass. Registration requires submitting an image of the art that is about 1,000 pixels on the short side. 

Judging takes place in several phases; Phase 1 is where they cull the entries based on the submitted image and is completed by July 13. Phase 2 is where the jurors do the hard work and decide what will be displayed and how awards will be allocated.

Between now and the end of registration on July 7 I need to decide if I will offer the print for sale. The price would be set by the cost of printing (a modest $14) and framing (probably not as modest) plus 20% to cover the Fair's cut and a few bucks so I can say I came out ahead on the whole thing. 

There are cash prizes awarded, and the dream would be to land one of those, sell the print, and do this over again next year with a better image. At this point reality says: Let's just see if I can get past Phase 1.

I'll post more about this as the process rolls on.