I had set a goal for myself to enter some photographs in the State Fair. To begin with, I was pretty darn pleased with myself when I sealed the package to send the pictures to the competition.

I was even more pleased today when I trekked to the fair to check out the photo exhibit, giggling inside when I saw that my image of a teahouse in the Yuyuan Garden in Old Shanghai had won 2nd place the black & white category. I just stood there with a silly grin plastered on my face, staring at the red ribbon on my picture, and stopping random strangers to tell them, “That one is mine!”

My grin grew bigger as I made my way through the other displays to the large color prints. Wow! All of my submitted photos are on display, which is an honor in itself because only those pictures awarded a certain score are exhibited.  My grin broke into a huge smile when I saw the Big Blue Ribbon on my cityscape that indicates that the picture sold.

The reflection of trees in water was hung upside down, but I think I like it like that. The old shoes, one of my favorites, earned a respectable score.