Fall Festivals

Fall festivals are a good place to take pictures.  There are usually a lot of interesting objects.  Also the light and the weather are often good. I saw this parrot at the Apple & Pork Festival in Clinton, Illinois Saturday.

One of the best events for pictures around here is the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County Indiana.  I took a lot of pictures there last year with a Holga lens on a digital camera. I think the Holga fit the subject pretty well.

I wonder how many years she has been going to flea markets?  The flea market seems to be one thing that hasn't changed much in the last thirty years or so. Although I would guess that the average vendor is much older today.  However since I am also much older I tend not to notice.

At least in this part of the US there are always some old tractors at the fall festivals.  I took this last year at the CBF on Legacy Pro 100 with a Canon F1 using a 24mm lens.








The main challenge for me at these festivals is deciding what cameras to bring.  Usually you have to park far away from the event so it is not convenient to return to the car for cameras or lenses.  I usually carry a combination of film and digital cameras and hope one will suit whatever I see.  After some experience I am getting to like the combination of the Olympus XA, the digital Sony TX7, one digital SLR, and a film SLR.  I can carry the Olympus and the Sony in a pocket and the SLRs with some lenses in a shoulder bag.

So far I haven't had much luck finding camera stuff at these festivals.  I didn't see a single thing that tempted me at the Apple and Pork Festival.  Just a few dirty old box cameras that were priced like they were mint.  So mostly I just see these events as picture taking opportunities. If you are the kind that likes to take pictures of people these are good events.  Most people are too wrapped up in what they are doing to pay much attention to someone taking pictures.  

Saturday I did see quite a few people taking pictures with camera phones, however I only saw one person with a more traditional camera.



















So even if you don't like the festival/flea market stuff it still might be worthwhile to pay a visit just to take some pictures.  One of the first galleries that I made on Google is of some photos that I took at the Covered Bridge Festival last year.  Covered Bridge Gallery.