Fair Enough
Ever dream about falling from a great height? Or, how about the dream when you're in a crowd and suddenly you realize that you're naked? Some people dream about being chased by someone or something.
These are all very common dreams for people. I've had them, too, but I also dream about fairs.
Yes, fairs.
The other night I had a dream that I was covering a 4-H auction and everything that could go wrong, did. In this dream, I stepped away from the photo area when I should have been waiting patiently for the buyers to come forward for photos. That was mistake No. 1. I also didn't have a sale program, which was mistake No. 2, and decided that I had plenty of time to walk to the other side of the arena to get one. By the time I returned to the photo background, everyone had left.
I panicked and tried to find everyone—the 4-H'er, the animal and the buyers. I don't know which fair this was, and I don't know which animal was being sold. This dream was short on specifics, which is pretty common.
Under normal circumstances, it takes only a minute or two for people to report for photos. Modesty prevents some people from coming forward right away. They don't want to appear too anxious to be photographed, so they wait until someone else makes the first move. Sometimes, the buyers decide to bring their spouse and children, too.
Once everyone arrives at the photo area, my job is to line them up so everyone's smiling faces can be seen in the photo. Taller people in the back, shorter people in the front. Large buyer groups can be a challenge in terms of positioning people. In my dream, this is when I chose to walk away and pick up a sale bill.
I was shocked when I returned and noticed that everyone had dispersed. I smile as I'm writing this, because I know better. I should have waited for everyone to arrive and been in charge of positioning the buyer group.
Somehow, I was able to reconstitute the group. That part of my dream is also a bit sketchy. I brought everyone together and reached for my camera to take the photo. Unfortunately, error lights were flashing on my camera, and nothing worked. That was mistake No. 3.
All of a sudden, the nightmare, er, dream, ended.
"Whew," I thought to myself. "I'm glad that wasn't real."
As an experienced fair photographer, one of the first things I do when I arrive at a 4-H auction is pick up a sale bill. This tells me the order of the sale and, more importantly, the names of the 4-H'ers and their placings. Then before the auction begins, I test my camera to make sure it's working properly. Once the auction gets going, I record the sale prices and buyer names on all the grand and reserve champion sales. I try to get as much information as I can so I can write my story.
And once the picture taking starts, I am always where I need to be—except in my dreams.