N.C. Mountain Fair

dsiglin · Sep 19, 2013

I keep finding myself at festivals, guess fall is the time for such things. Due to a last minute change in plans I found myself at this fair instead of hiking in the smokey mountains. Glad I did though as this was an honest-to-goodness traditional county fair complete with produce, quilt, and photo competitions. Add on lots of fun rides, horrible foods, and interesting craftsmen and it was a great time. It also gave me the perfect chance to try out the Minolta AF 35-105 via LEA2 adapter. I bought the lens and adapter for portrait work and other paid gigs where I wanted to have the extra comfort of autofocus without paying a lot for AF lenses. The 35-105 has a reputation for being sharp and I am fairly pleased with its performance. Shooting mostly primes I did love the versatility of a zoom lens but as good as this lens can be it's no FD 50mm 1.4 or Helios 44m-7. Anyways, here's some photos of the day. These have been post-processed. I wanted a feel-good nostalgia look in keeping with the fact that fairs are often viewed as relics of a happier, more idyllic era.

What would a fair be without a $2 cow milking booth.

Live chainsaw sculpting.

A calf born 4am that morning is tended to.

Making molasses, the yield on molasses is 10:1 compared to maple syrup which is only 40:1. The guy I talked to had been making molasses this way for over 40 years.

Hook them when they're young . . .

Some good healthy fair food.

Mmmmm deep fried Oreos.

This gentleman's scrollsaw works are puzzles as well as intricately cut objects. For instance we bought a piece that spells "persian" in the shape of a cat which could be taken apart as a puzzle. Here he is giving the boy a dinosaur.