This is a list item that I’ve been craving to accomplish ever since I picked up photography as a hobby when I was 11, taking pictures of sunsets off my back deck. The closest I’d ever come was submitting a lackluster picture of a frog into some big-wig National Geographic contest under my dad’s name when I was 12. However, I knew that this summer it had to be for real… and realistic. Therefore, at age 16, I mustered up the moxie to enter the county fair (for the record, our town sits on two county borders, so we have two county fairs – I chose the bigger of the two). The hardest part was definitely choosing which photos to submit. After pestering my family for 48 hours non-stop to ‘pick picture one or two’, I reached my final decisions. If I could, I would have entered more, but the limit is only five photos per entrant. I was a bit disappointed that the prints came out a shade darker than I had desired, but the overall quaility is decent. Next came the matting, which was one hell of a job in itself (my back is still complaining). My efforts did not go unappreciated though, because the presentation is very clean and professional, just as I had intended.
Here are the pictures I chose to enter:
I dropped off the pictures this afternoon, which is when the nerves finally started to kick in. Now I simply must wait… I will have the final results on Tuesday!
Love & Summer,
Sarah
Gone With The Summer 
hey Sara! Or Sarah, I don’t really remember how to spell it :) Well I just wanted to say I LOVELOVELOVE your blog! I check it all the time to see if you crossed anything off your bucket list. Even before discovering this website, my best friend (AKA fake sister :)) and I were DYING for Summer. It was probably during March or April that we made our Summer of 2011 Bucket List. We spent so much time talking about how excited we were for our bucket list! Finally on June 8 (Same as you!) school let out and we began on our bucket list. We only have 74 (my fave #) things on our bucket list and have about 35 done so far. Today and tomorrow were hoping to cross off like 10 more! lol :) so anyway I just wanted to say that your ideas are awesome and for our next year’s Summer Bucket List we are definetly (Correct spelling? :)) gonna use some of your ideas and maybe start a blog! Thank you soooo much!!
XOXO, Georgi <3!!! :)
Hey Georgi, thanks for commenting! I’m pretty sure yours sets a record for the longest response I’ve ever gotten on here! Way to have almost half of your list done… I’m beginning to think I was being a bit too ambitious. I wish you luck completing the other half! Feel free to try out any and all of my ideas, I guarantee you’ll find adventure! You are soooo welcome! P.S. It’s always been with an h, but you can call me what you’d like (:
I really like the first one. :)
Thanks! It ended up getting 3rd out of about 20 entries!
good luck! i love the one with the rock.
Thanks! That one didn’t place, but I agree (even though I am somewhat biased haha).
OMG! I am in love with the first two pictures! <3
Thanks Melina! Those seem to be the favorites!
These are amazing! I love the first two. Mainly because I love nature photography, but the composition in these are great! Good luck and I’m sure you’ll win something. But even if you don’t, the point was to cross off an item by entering the photos, not necessarily winning. :)
Thank you so much! You’re totally right – it’s not about winning, I’m just glad I finally did it!
All good choices. Good Luck, Sarah! It will be so gratifying to see your pictures displayed among all the others and I’ll be hoping for a photo of colored ribbons on the corners in your next blog. I like the mysterious rock with the sun shining at the top. Where and what is this??
Thanks Grandma Soup! I’m not sure what the statue in that picture is called, but it was taken in Millennium Park in Chicago when I went on the D.C. trip last summer. I thought it kind of looked like tin foil (: