I was able to get back to the Tioga County Fair this year to see what was happening. Unfortunately, between the weather and some bad luck, I missed the best day of the horse show! But that was okay because I knew I would be able to find something interesting to shoot. And I really wanted a chance to practice with my new camera. It usually takes me a good year and a half to really learn how to use anew camera. So the Fair would be good practice.

The first day I spent some time at the Lumberjack competition. The people with the hot saws were first. A hot saw is a souped up version of a regular chain saw and they are loud and fast!!

But the most interesting event for me was the next one, called the Springboard Chop. A discipline based on the need for old-time loggers to establish a cutting platform above the massive root bases of old growth trees, the competitor uses an axe to chop pockets into a 9-foot poplar pole and then place 6-inch wide springboard platforms into the pockets. The following series of images shows the competitors progression up the pole, culminating in cutting the "tree" down.

Looks like an awful lot of work to me!!!

On Sunday I was joined by my friend and horse whisperer Mary Lou at the Horse Show. We had missed the barrel racing earlier in the week but wanted to get a chance to see what was on the schedule for today. The following pics are some from the days events.
What really struck me is how young these kids are and how big the horses are compared to the kids!! But these kids knew their stuff and made handling these huge horses look easy!! We had a blast and I'm already looking forward to next year!!!

More to come.....