What makes us stop, or at least hesitate?

This week is the fair in good old Juab County. It is a great week and they have plenty of activities for children of all ages. My personal favorite is the Dutch-Oven Cook Off. Probably because my former scouts were 2 times Champions! (yeah, had to throw that in.)

Well, one of the mainstays of County Fairs are the exhibits. When I was younger, I loved to put items in the fair. I think it had more to do with the Fair Premiums than anything else. Nevertheless I would draw pictures, put together models, or a variety of other things. The fair was always something I looked forward to participating in.

Fast forward 20 or more years. I have not put in anything for the exhibit since those younger days. Well, while I was looking at some of the photographs hung on my wall, I was thinking about how good they looked. I mean, I liked them, why shouldn't everyone else? I thought maybe I would take some of these photographs down and enter them. Only problem was, not all of the pictures were mine. Some of them were pictures taken by my brother Michael. I called him up and asked him if it would be okay if I entered a couple of his pictures. (Under his name.) At first he kind of balked at the idea. After a few minutes of conversation he decided it would be okay.

I looked at the pictures on the wall and thought to myself. Maybe not. Do I really want pictures I have taken to be critiqued and judged by other people? These things are personal to me and I don't want to have to know what everyone thinks about it. I decided no, looked again at the pictures and thought yes. Back and forth I went, until I finally convinced myself it would be okay. Even if I got the a white ribbon. After all, the Judges should have some knowledge in the subject and maybe they could offer me some advice on how to better frame the shot, or an idea on how to sharpen the image. At least, that was the tipping point for me. The photos in the collage above have been entered into the fair and so I wait, wondering what ribbon I am going to get and even a little worried about some of the comments from my friends and neighbors. So, if you are at the fair this week and you run into me after you have seen any of the photos above, I would love it if you just smiled at me, nodded your head and lied through your teeth. Tell me they are the greatest photos ever and you would pay me thousands of dollars to take photos of nature for your house. OK? Thanks.