It’s time to prepare your photos for the 2019 Photo Contest and Exhibit at the Bangor State Fair! The official rules can be downloaded from the fair’s web site at the following address:
2019 Photo Contest Rules, Entry Form and Photo Tickets
More information regarding contests can be found on the fair’s web site at the following address:
http://www.bangorstatefair.com/contestspremiums
Eastern Maine Camera Club members will be available to accept entries at the South East Entry of the Cross Insurance Center on Monday, July 22nd from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. There will be signs to guide you. You can also mail your entries, details for that can be found in the Contest Rules (link above).
Every year we regretfully end up turning some entries away so please do take the time to read the rules. The most common reason for photos being turned away is improper matting or size. It’s really important for your photos to be matted according to the rules. Proper matting will help protect your images from damage, and facilitate the way we hang the photos.
Photo tickets are very important and often misunderstood. We often have over 200 photos to process in one evening. This identifying system allows us to judge the photos anonymously, then quickly pull down the ticket for display, so the photographer can be recognized, without marking up your image or matt.
Unfortunately tickets can sometimes fall off, making it impossible for us to know who the photo belongs too. For that reason, your name and address must be on the back of the photo prior to entry in addition to the tickets mentioned above. Missing this step causes a significant delay for everyone.
I’ve given you some key points but this is no substitute for reading the entire rules. Please read the entire rules to help us make this an enjoyable experience for everyone. I’ll post the link again so you don’t even have to scroll back up.
2019 Photo Contest Rules, Entry Form and Photo Tickets
We at Eastern Maine Camera Club will do our best to answer any question and help you in any way we can. You can reach us via email at: info@easternmainecameraclub.org.
Now, in closing here’s a look at the adult categories for this year’s contest:
1. People
2. Children
3. Nature—the “hand of man” cannot be evident in the picture.
4. Animals
5. Flowers
6. Open—Any subject matter in good taste.
7. Maine—Photos that symbolize Maine and were taken in Maine.
8. Panoramas— Subject matter is completely open, but this category will pose a unique challenge. You may create a panoramic image, either horizontal or vertical, of any dimensions, up to a maximum width or height of 40 inches, but the challenging part is, the total image area, Height X Width, must not exceed 320 inches (the area of a standard 16 X 20 print). This means you will have to carefully plan your photo's composition so the image will fit within an aspect ratio that conforms to the above width and area, rather than width and height. Please study the following description of what we will consider an acceptable panorama to be. A "panorama" is defined as an image having at least a 1 to 2 (1/2) aspect ratio (twice as wide as it is high) though the most common ratio is 1/3. For example, a 1/2 ratio panoramic landscape photo could be printed to 20 inches wide, but would be limited to a 10 inch height, and would have an area of 200 inches. Similarly, if your photo can be composed in a 1/3 format, you could print it 30 inches wide, but the height would still be 10 inches, and the area would be 300 inches. As a final example, if you wanted to utilize the maximum 40 inch width allowed, you would have to compose your photo in a 1/5 ratio, making the height 8 inches to get the maximum area of 320 inches.
Prize money and ribbons in all the above categories include: First Place, $20.00; Second Place, $15.00; Third Place, $10.00; Ribbons only will be awarded for Honorable Mention.
The only category for Youth entries this year is Open, which is “any subject matter in good taste.” Any Youth photographer (16 and under) may enter up to two color AND two black and white prints. Please indicate on your registration form how many prints of each type you are entering.
Prize money and ribbons the Youth categories include: First Place, $20.00; Second Place, $15.00; Third Place, $10.00; Ribbons only for Honorable Mention.
Good luck, but most of all, have fun!