The New York State Fair Film Shots, 2025 Edition

I have several traditions when visiting the New York State Fair.

These are important traditions. They must be upheld when possible.

• If I have artwork in the Harriet May Mills Art Center, I won’t visit the facility until 1:00 p.m. That way, I will experience portions of the Fair without feeling like I drove all the way to Syracuse for a few minutes and then all the way back.
• If I win at least one ribbon for my artwork or for my crafts, I must then eat some ubiquitous “fair food” (which usually involves the term “deep-fried”).
• If I win a BLUE RIBBON of any sort, then I must visit the “Fried Specialties” booth and eat their 2025 delicacy, whatever it is, without question.
• I must pose next to the bit I ❤ New York” sign and allow someone to capture me in a selfie.
• If I see that merchant who sells Donald Trump / MAGA memorabilia, I must pose in front of one of the Trump flags and salute it. And by “salute,” I mean with one finger. Yeah, THAT finger.

Oh, and one very important goal.

I must take fair photos with one of my traveling film cameras, which will allow me to re-experience the Fair weeks afterward when the film negatives arrive.

This year is no different. I brought along the Pentacon Six TL camera – along with ALL FOUR of the Pentacon’s lenses. Yep, we’re rolling with:

• My Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 80mm f/2.8 kit lens
• My Flektogon 65mm f/4 ultrawide
• My Meyer Optik Görlitz Orestegor 500mm f/5.6 telephoto (“Johnny Wadd”)
• My Zodiak 30mm fisheye and all the funky filters

Due to heat and other factors, I was only able to shoot three rolls of film, along with using just two of my camera lenses – the Biometar kit lens and the Zodiak fisheye – but since the film came back from the pro lab last night, I felt the urge to share my shots this morning. Take a look and enjoy.

Here’s one of my best black and white shots, this was taken with one of my remaining Efke 100 B&W rolls in the Zodiak fisheye. I used a yellow filter to bring out the clouds and sky detail.

Not bad. The fisheye lens allowed me to get the entire Ferris wheel in the frame. I’ll keep this in the back pocket for the future.

Now for a shot with the f/2.8 kit lens, and a pack of Kodak Portra.

Now this photo kinda tells a story, and judges like when a photo tells a story. Although the judges might not appreciate that pile of visible manure. I mean, if I want to see a photo of horse shit, I’d post a shot of Robert Kennedy Jr.

One more shot, this was taken with the Biometar lens and a roll of Aviphot infrared film.

Holy visible spectrum, Batman, that photo completely slaps. Let’s keep that one in the back pocket as well.

So this gives me three photos to choose from when I get around to the NYS Fair’s “Shot at the New York Fair” division of the photo contest. I could enter a maximum of two entries in that category, so let’s just see how things play out, shall we?