I find the carnival portion of Rodeo Austin to be a fantastic street photography venue. My favorite is capturing people deep in the throes of carnival games. Photographing people at their best when they are smiling and having fun is much more gratifying. There is enough seriousness in the world.

Of course, the kids are the best because they are genuine about their enjoyment of these simple games. Parents are often positively swept up in their kids’ emotions, so there is plenty of happiness to go around.

The image stabilization on the Sony A7C is not class-leading. However, I managed a clean 1/8 second exposure, enough to get a nice circular blur of green turtles.

There is also a great variety of carnival games. Some are games of skill, such as shooting basketballs or guns, as is the case here. Others involve throwing ping-pong balls into fish bowls. This woman is excitedly pointing because she managed a successful ball-in-bowl attempt.

Many years ago, my son played a game like this at Rodeo Austin, winning a fish in a small plastic container. Of course, the fish died in a day or so. Saddened by his loss, we got a pair of gerbils who lived a good two years. After they passed, we got Lucky, our first dog, who graced us for nearly ten years.

As you can see, I shot into the night. The well-lit tents allowed for low ISO photography even after dark.

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