The 2017 Handbook can be downloaded from my state fair page.   There will be a couple of minor changes for the 2018 Handbook.  As soon as I get them done I will replace the 2017 Handbook.  

Did you notice the new header photo for this blog?

Hard to miss it really.  It is of this years Best of Show entry titled Peace of the Sea by Heather Rooke.  Notice the nice black background?  The idea of taking professional photos of cake entries is not new but it is new to the Oregon State Fair. I got the idea from attending ICES Convention and the Washington State Sugar Art Show.  Both of these events use Stringer Photography of Kentucky to take professional photos of the cake entries.  

As a competitor it is really awesome having a professional photo of your entry because it is a depiction of your best work.  For me it is moving in the right direction to increase the professionalism of our State Fair competition.

I don't have a budget to bring Sam and Elaine to Oregon from Kentucky or even to hire a local photographer.  My focus this year was on increasing the number of entries and the number of prizes so I had no time to find a volunteer photographer.  So what do I do instead?

I improvise of course!

At the end of the fair I took a photos of every entry using the black curtains and my own camera.  I must apologize though as some of the photos are a little blurry.

I left my tripod at home (40 minute drive away from the fair grounds)!  Can you see me shaking my head at myself?  Even without the tripod the photos are so much nicer than  just whipping down the line of cakes and snapping photos.  

I took the time to do a little cropping and a little photoshopping to darken the imperfect backdrop and "voila!" you have some decent photos!