Fair Weather

The first day of the State Fair, last Friday, dawned clear and sunny. A front had blown through on Thursday and the humidity that had been stifling for the last week or two was gone. Further, the temperature was only supposed to reach 71 or 72, and that by late afternoon.

I grabbed the Canon EOS R and the RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens, hopped on my trusty bicycle, and pedaled down the Monon Trail to the fairgrounds.

My fair routine has gelled pretty nicely over the last couple years. With the paved trail on the north side of 42nd Street completed, it's easy to take a left off the Monon and chain my bike to the fence outside Gate 12 on the north side of the State Fairgrounds, the closest one to Pioneer Village. I get there a few minutes before the first show of the day, which gives me time to grab a fresh-squeezed lemonade and chill in the shade after my short ride.

The 24-105 is a good general walking-around focal length range, but a little short for the kind of photography I like best, which is candid portraiture. You wind up with a lot of foreground.

That's okay, though, since I have eight more weekdays of fair action and plenty of longer lenses.

The weather on Friday was great, but Friday was also the last day of summer vacation for Indianapolis Public Schools, and it started getting pretty people-y up in there by 11:00AM, and so I split a little before noon. More fun come Tuesday!

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