2011 State 4-H Field Day/ Second Annual CA 4-H Photography Contest

May 27-28, 2011


 It was that time of year again to travel up to UC Davis for the CA 4-H State Field Day.  Just like last year, I held the second annual California 4-H Photography Contest.  Unlike last year, this year would be much better, and would run mostly smooth.  On the 27th, My sister, dad, and I drove on up to Sacramento to get to State Field Day.  We drove my car, and I was the driver.  The less my dad drove the better, for he drives 65 all the way up, which would add over an hour to our trip.  I needed to get up there so we can prepare things at the State 4-H Office and get out of their as soon as possible.  We arrived at the State 4-H Office at UC Davis around 3:30 pm.  Mary Ann and the Imperial county gang were already there preparing.  All I had to do is prepare the award certificates, make sure we had all the supplies we needed, and talk to my adviser for the tech team, Steven Worker.  There was a little tense in the building, for our county adviser was there, which was the person who attacked our club and threw my parents and sister out of 4-H for no reason at all. It was tense because my sister and dad was with me, for they were my judges for the contest.  Luckily nothing happened, and we got out of there and headed to the hotel in Sacramento.  Right outside our hotel was a Black Bear Dinner, which my dad and sister had never been too, so we had dinner there, then crashed at the hotel.

     The next day was a very long day.  We woke up early, drove over to a starbucks, and got to the UC Davis campus by 7:30.  When we got there, I had to find out where the photo contest was being held, which they put us in the Social Sciences Building.  We started setting up, and people were already lining up to get photos turned in.  We started check in, and had mad rushes.  About an hour later, I got a call, and it was Sarah and her mom.  They had arrived, and I got them to the contest.  Sarah's mom has agreed to be a judge for the contest, while Sarah helped out with logistics, which is a fancy word for everything else.  At 9:30, registration closed.  We had 165 photographs show up.  Right away, we had placed them onto the wall, and judges showed up and we began judging.  We were in a hallway, and one of the walls was a glass wall, that has a view of the outside court yard.  People would stop by and look in as the photos where being judged.  We kinda got a feeling of how a goldfish feels, but we had to ignore them and continue with the work. While judging, things went mostly smooth.  Our biggest problem, we ran out of judging sheets, and we ended up having to hand write judging sheets.  That was my fault.  I counted the sheets thinking that we only needed one per youth, which we needed one per photo.  I will make sure we don't make that mistake next year.   We started judging at 10 am, and we finished at 2 pm.  We had opened the doors for people in the public to view them.  Last year, we didn't have time to open the gallery for viewing.  This year has been a good year.  As we got close to the awards ceremony, a small rain began.  This would be the first time it has ever rained at State Field Day.  Because of the weather, they had canceled toe award ceremony, and people went to grab their photos.  A few that had won awards had left, so I had to go home and mail them out.  The best of show winner, was there, and I felt very glad he one.  He would spend hours in the mud flats of Morro Bay, in a inflatable raft, with his camera, to take photos of the local birds.  Very impressive.  To see some of the winners, and photos entered into the contest, view the website at http://www.ca4h.org/Programs/Events/SFD/Photo/

     After State Field Day, we met up with Mary Ann and the Imperial County group, and as tradition, we went to dinner.  This year, we went to Outback Steakhouse. Afterwards we went to the hotel.  Sarah has stayed with us in the hotel, for she was coming with us to our adventure tomorrow, and it saved gas by letting her stay with us.  Right before we were going to bed, when planning what we were going to do tomorrow in San Francisco, I got word that Scotty and Jane (Two of my most best friends who were dating) broke up.  I spent about 30-60 mins on the phone with Jane to get what happened and to help her out.  But I had to go, because Sarah and I wanted to get to bed, for we had a long day, and tomorrow would be even longer.  My sister was already in bed and my dad went somewhere to talk to my grandma on the phone.  It took me awhile to go to bed (unlike Sarah who just passed out right away), for I had Scotty and Jane on my mind, and that I wasn't looking foreword to deal with their situation when I returned home, but I knew I would be caught right in the middle.  Finally, I passed out due to the exhaustion from the day.