The long exposure of this shot allowed the people in it to look blurry, which I think protrays the busyness the NC State Fair. Twilight was fading fast, but I was able to get set up take this picture while some blue sky was still visible.

Above is my personal favorite that I took while I was shooting at the 2010 NC State Fair.  I set up my camera and tripod and waited for The Enterprise ride to begin and lift up from its platform while spinning fair goers around and around.  I watched and waited until the tip of the ride looked to be touching the ferris wheel and took the picture.  I also made sure I composed people in the scene to really give a sense of time and movement.

At the NC State Fair I noticed that the moon was rising up around the time that I was heading down to The Midway to take night shots of the rides.  I’ve always wanted to shoot something with the moon in the picture, but the conditions never seem right when I had my camera with me. I thought about a the ride spinning kids around and around, deifying gravity for brief moments, which the moon was above, being pulled around and around by gravity.

This was the light that I set out to take images of while at the NC State Fair.  The hours of walking around with my wife while I had a camera bag full of gear and a tripod attached to my back, as all worth it once I was set up and ready for the shot when the sun went down.

As my night of shooting was coming to a close, I stopped by the ferris wheel on more time.  The ferris wheel would not move very much because most of the time it seemed like people where loading and unloading.  I was finally set up when the ferris wheel would spin long enough for me to get a nice long exposure of it.

While the camera was exposing a shot of The Enterprise, I zoomed in to create a psychedelic effect.

The use of a wide-angle lens in this shot really gives the viewer the feeling that the people enjoying this ride are really attached to the ride by only a few threads.

You can view more of Brantley’s photos at Richbourg Photography.