What do you think?

I'm thinking about County Fair time, about the photo contest.  I'm still stung by my first time entering two years ago when I didn't get a ribbon, an award or even a comment.  I'm thinking I should just stick to the Genealogical or Historical entries and leave the photos to the big guys . . .

 . . . but then I look at this Amish buggy trotting down the road, and I think again.  So I pulled some scenic photos out, dusted them off and I'm trying them on for County Fair size. 



This buggy one is one of my favorites. 

I love these scenic photos but there's too much road in this pic.  I needed to zoom in.  Way in! 

I really, really like the composition in this old farmstead and country roads but I need a good photo program where I could sharpen this photo, flip it all over to graytones or sepia and make the photo look as old as the farmstead.  I might work on this.  I wish I could brush the electric lines out of the pic. 

I like this photo, above, of the house at Icaria but there's a lot of sky and earth to the left and maybe not enough house.  I think it is a little off balance.  The clouds were so low this winter day it made it all seem bleak and forelorn.  How did the pioneers get through some of the winters without going stir crazy? 

Something about open country, clouds and big houses speaks to me.  The clouds in this one suggests that we might want to take cover.  Soon.  Very Soon. 

Here's another that I like but again, there's too much road and too much sky and not enough detail. 

This is a little change up for me.  It is brighter and greener and I like the hay mowed and raked and striping the ground but this pic is probably not as clear and sharp as needs to be for fair. 

This one is pleasing to my eye but too bad there's an electric pole right through the middle pole.  If I noticed it, a judge sure would. 

This one could be a County Fair entry.  I think I should tweak the contrast just a hair -- try to sharpen the grass and twigs.  I think the colors are good. 

This one should be in an environmental category -- not that there will be such a category at the Union County Fair.  The evergreens in Colorado are dying from some beetle or disease.  Mountainsides worth of evergreens up by Estes Park in the Rocky Mountain National Park were dead 2 years ago when Dad and I were out there -- then this March when we were in Southern Colorado, we were seeing acres of dead or dying trees.  This photo has some healthy trees up front but do you see all the dying trees in the back. 

It is a testimont to Mother Nature.  Seasons, diseases, weather patterns all ebb and flow.  Temperatures and rain amounts change from year to year.  You can dig in gravel pits in Iowa and find sharks teeth left behind from oceans a million years ago.  In New England and "out west" you find huge boulders swept south by huge frozen glaziers from years ago.  Where pastures once were, now are desserts. 

Oh Wow!  how did this mutate into an environmental post when I started out showcasing some of my photos?  I'll stop!  I'm done! 

I welcome any and all comments and critiques on my photos. 

Vote, if you like!