A day at the Indiana State Fair

I'm still playing catch-up with my recent shoots, and today's post is directed at a visit of mine on Aug. 10 to the Indiana State Fair. It was a big deal for me, as I hadn't been to the State Fair "in years," and since "in years" usually means a long, long time, and since I can't remember exactly when I was there last, it applies here.

It was the first real opportunity I had to use my "one camera, one-do-it-all lens" plan for shoots when I know I'm going to be out and about for a long while, doing a lot of walking and not wanting to lug around a gear bag or even a backpack with heavy lenses and other stuff. That's why I bought the Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD lens in May -- to turn to for shoots like this. Plus, it's already proven that its vibration compensation feature (VC) enables me to hand-hold the camera when bracketing shots for high-dynamic range (HDR) renderings, which means ... no lugging of a tripod!

I did also bring along my wide-angle lens, but it's portable enough to carry in a small bag so wasn't too weighty. I had a sense I might want to use it for some creative shots, and I was right. All of the vintage tractor shots you see here were taken using the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 lens; I was able to get as close as a foot away from the vehicles in most instance, still fit the whole thing into the frame and also get that nifty, exaggerated look I was going for. I also used it for shots I took of the track grandstands from the south promenade, one of which is the final photo in today's post.

I enjoyed my day at the fair; I saw stuff ranging from livestock to a Lego building of Lucas Oil Stadium. My plan was to walk as much of the main loop thoroughfare and however many sidetracks I could come across, and in about five hours time, I did just that.

Here are a few of my pictures from my day at the Indiana State Fair.