Teton County Fair 2017 - Teton Photography Group

The Teton County Fair happens each year during the last week of July—smack dab in the middle of the busy Summer season. I’ll be running the snow blower and shoveling snow soon enough, but for now this colorful event offers a welcome break! Our kids are grown and “out of the nest” but that doesn’t mean I can’t return to the Fair for my own form of fun.

The Fair is loaded with events and attractions, like Pig Wrestling, Figure 8s, Rodeo, concerts, 4-H exhibits and auction, magicians, and entertainers. The Fair Building is filled with photos, jellies, quilts, arts and crafts, pies and vegetables covered with ribbons ranging from Honorable Mention to Best of Show. I usually “check them out”, but I go to the Fair for the lights and action of the rides and midway.

I grew up in Moore, OK, a suburb of Oklahoma City. I have fairly vivid memories of going to the Oklahoma State Fair in Oklahoma City. My mom would pack us up and we would drive to the fairgrounds, park in a huge lot, pay to go through the gates, then on to the sprawling venue. The Teton County Fair is different! At least for me, the fair is only 1.5 miles from home. I usually park along the curb of one of the side streets a block away and save the $10 parking fee. The “featured” events at the Fairgrounds Arena usually require paid admission, but much of the rest is free to “attend”.

It costs to ride the rides, but it never costs me to go there to take photos. Frazier Shows have no problems with photographers bringing tripods. I love it!

Tripods come in handy on the long exposure shots, allowing the lights to streak through the night skies. There’s an almost invisible world available to a photographer with a camera capable of picking up the ghosts of carts and cages being slung around. The Zipper returned this year with a new paint job and new lights.

The “layout” is different each year. Two of my favorite rides are missing this year: Vertigo and the Carousel.

The two missing rides are replaced this year with Himalaya and Rock Star.

Technology has caught up the venerable rides like the Ferris Wheel. Electronically controlled LED lights change colors regularly on many of the rides. Long exposures can capture the changes.

The management at Frazier Shows allowed me to ride the Ferris Wheel for an elevated view. While stopped at the top, I took this four shot pano using a 24-70mm lens in portrait orientation. Of the five or six sets of pano parts, this is the only one Lightroom would process. This is a small county fair with a mountain backdrop. Pig Wrestling was underway in the Fairgrounds Arena when I took this image. After the event, the midway filled up quickly. (Click this image to see it much larger)

The Midway Attractions can make interesting images. I took this one quite a few times, including ones with people walking through it.

Kids and adults seem to enjoy the Balloon Water Race.

This is not the first time, nor the last time I get “photo bombed”.

The workers at Frazier Shows are amazingly cooperative and friendly! I asked the cooks if they would bring a hot pizza to the window and they said “sure”.

Cordell posed for me in front of his Basketball Toss game. I used a Lume Cube to add a bit of light and triggered the shot with a RFN-4s remote.

When I noticed Kevin, he was standing in this position. I asked if it was okay to take a few shots, which he said was okay.

Cash seemed to want to be in a photo at the Cork Gun shooting range.

The first night, I used a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens on a Nikon D5 body. I was able to stand well off the action and get a few “natural” shots.

I used the same lens to capture this image of the yellow duckies spinning in a tub. I processed this as a B&W in Photoshop.

My choice of lens greatly affects how I see the world!

These small jars are set up in rows. You can win a prize if you can toss a ping-pong ball and get it to land atop one of them.

This image was purposefully captured out of focus.

These are out of focus lights on the Ferris Wheel.

This shot was created by zooming during a long exposure.

At a County Fair, you’ll likely see things you seldom see in the “real world”.

The crescent moon caught my eye. I just had to find a subject quickly before the cloud covered it.

Motion and colored lights are still the star of the show, pulling me back each year! As I make this post, there are three more nights of opportunities. I’ll probably go again each night before the crews break everything down and head to Casper for their County Fair. July of 2018 will be here before I know it!

Check out these posts from previous years:

Photography Notes

The best part of photographing the Fair is knowing I have full license to experiment and have fun. I know the rides run over a period of five nights, so I have plenty of chances to go back with different lenses and “missions”. Over the years of Fair posts, you’ll probably see a few similar shots. You’ll also notice a few experimental shots, like the ones with the “star filters”. I’ve tried spinning a lens during long exposures for all kinds of abstract images. I am considering taking a macro lens to see if I can get up close to some of the faceted LED lights or maybe some out of focus bokeh shots of the same bulbs. I’d like to own a tilt-shift lens for some different shots. I still like using my pro bodies, like the Nikon D4 and D5 because of their high ISO capabilities. The F/2.8 lenses give me a bit more flexibility for both depth of field and gathering light.

If you are in Jackson Hole during our Fair, take your tripod and camera for a few shots. You can probably park close enough to take it back to the vehicle when you get enough shots. If you are not in Jackson Hole, watch for a County Fair in your area. You’ll probably get hooked, too!