The Buzz Lightyear cast came off today.  My boy was a trooper through the entire experience of having a cast.  Not one complaint.  Which is not like him at all.  :-)  

We spent some time at the Pima County Fair yesterday.  We stayed way too late, considering my son's bedtime is 7:00.  I let him eat way too much sugar and lots of questionable food of unnatural colors.  He didn't settle down until after 10:00 p.m.  Ugh.  Sorry sweetie.  Mommy should do better by you, that's for sure.  It has been rare, and I mean rare that he has been out that late, so I don't suppose it will do long-term harm.  

Of course, we stopped by Old Pueblo Hall, which is where the Fine Art entries were on display, including mine.  It was interesting to eavesdrop on people as they came by my photos!  The Bighorn Sheep photo had a couple examining it up close and talking about it (couldn't hear what they were saying, though) and Goth Chick was, without a doubt, the one of mine that got the most attention.  What is it about that photo?!  

We went back again tonight, the last night of the fair, to pick up my entries and bring them home.  I was the first person to pick up at the Fine Arts division, and the woman in charge took me back to my category's area.  I pulled down one after another with a ribbon and she looked up from her paperwork with an assessing glance of approval and said, "Wow, you did pretty good, didn't you?"  :-)

We finished and she sent me off with a big grin and a wink as I walked out of the corralled area through the line of people waiting to pick up their photos and I will admit that I felt rather proud to be leaving with a bunch of ribbons visible on my work.  I got lots of nods of approval, a handful of congratulations and many smiles as I walked the gauntlet among my competition.  Mind you, the first and second place ribbons were won by the same person, and she was very deserving -- her photos were gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking, exquisite.  But I am still proud to have walked away with 5th place and two Awards of Merit, even amongst a small field.  Not bad for my first time out.  I can hardly wait to see what next year brings and see how I grow as an artist in the next 12 months.

Okay, here are some snapshots from the fair, taken on Saturday night.  Thanks for the memories, Pima County Fair!  You now hold a special place in my heart, and I'll even forgive you for those $8 french fries, okay?

To watermark this one of L., that is.  I was tempted to just post it as-is.  Then I had my regular watermark in its normal place but I had to move it down.  Her face is just too exquisite.  She is so beautiful.  This photo just takes my breath away.   I don't even think you'll notice the watermark.  

For other photographers looking at this, it was shot with a 5D Mark II and a 85mm f/1.2L II lens at SS 1/2500, ISO 160 and f/1.2.  Yep, it's wide open, but I think you could have guessed from the super-shallow DoF.  It was at the lens's MFD, which gave me a DoF of about a quarter inch.  Half of that in front and half in back, of course.  :-)  And in case you're wondering about the ISO 160, take a look at this article:  ISO Noise.  I've heard it's true for the 5D Mark II as well.  Thanks for RS for that link!

Like last month, April has proved to be an exciting month photography-wise as well.  I need to keep this short, but bottom line is that I won three ribbons in the Pima County Fair's Fine Arts competition for photography!  I won the 5th place ribbon and two ribbons for Award of Merit in the Color Photography competition in the Professional category.  It wasn't a hugely crowded field, but I'm happy nonetheless.  In total, they awarded ribbons for 1st through 5th place and four Awards of Merit.  It was nice to see that Goth Chick won again, as it was also the Food and Agriculture winner in the 2011 Eye on the Environment Photo Contest in March (shameless plug)

It was an amazing feeling to walk into the building where the photos were displayed and then see that there was a ribbon ... and then another ribbon ... and then another ribbon ... on my work.  And it was even more wonderful to see my 4-year-old son jumping up and down, exclaiming that Mommy won!  My Mommy won ribbons!  :-)  Having your child beam with pride about you is even better than being a kid and having your parents be proud of you.  And he will tell people with pride that his "Mommy won 5th prize for Big-Horn Sheep and two Awards of Merit!"  I love that he knows that.  Without further ado, these are my winners: