Photographer’s Portraits of People With Prizes Captures the Fun of Fairs

Sep 02, 2025

Jeremy Gray

Three photos: A boy plays with bubbles outdoors; a smiling woman holds a giant elephant plush toy at a fair; a girl blows a party horn while holding a large stuffed hamster.

State fairs are a trademark part of the American Summer experience. Many have fond memories of going to their local fair, partaking in fried foods, and trying their luck at challenging fair games to win big, fun prizes. Photographer Carlos Gonzalez went to the Minnesota State Fair to get portraits of fairgoers with their precious prizes, capturing the magic and wonder of fairs.

Gonzalez’s portraits feature intense, impactful flash, which helps freeze a moment in time and give the photos a more traditional street photography feel. The photographer tells PetaPixel he used a Canon EOS R1 camera with the company’s fast RF 24-105mm f/2.8L IS USM Z lens. For the lighting, Gonzalez opted for the Flashpoint eVOLV 200 Pro, the Adorama-branded version of the Godox AD200 Pro pocket flash.

A young boy smiles joyfully while playing with bubbles at an outdoor fair, with rides, people, and dramatic sun rays through clouds in the background. — Juan Antonio, 4, of Cumberland, Wis. photographed with a bubble gun at The Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minn., on Monday, August 25, 2025. | CARLOS GONZALEZ

“I knew that I wanted to strobe these portraits to make them stand out from just available light photos in the middle of a summer day,” Gonzalez explains. “My go to would usually be a soft box with a 600 or 1200Ws battery-powered strobe to overpower the daylight.”

Three young women take a selfie together at night, each holding a large pink stuffed animal that resembles a giraffe. They make playful faces as they pose for the photo. — Nevaeh Blackburn, 15, Tramaine Braziel, 14, and Imani Wright, 15, all of Minneapolis photographed with stuffed animal prizes at The Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minn., on Monday, August 25, 2025. | CARLOS GONZALEZ

However, the photographer thought this larger lighting setup would be too difficult to carry around at the fair, since he knew he’d be working the assignment alone. So he settled on the smaller strobe with 200Ws of power.

“I used the grid and barn doors for individual portraits to get a focused beam of light,” the photographer says. “For groups of people, I would just remove grid to get a wider spread of light. I also only used one camera and lens to keep my gear to a minimum.”

A smiling woman at a fair holds a large stuffed elephant prize and a bucket, standing in front of a colorful carnival game booth under a dramatic sky. — Maddie Hostetler, 20, of Andover photographed with a stuffed animal prize at The Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minn., on Monday, August 25, 2025. | CARLOS GONZALEZ

While it would always be nice to have all the lenses and lights a photographer could want, that’s rarely a viable choice for pros on assignment.

The grid helped Gonzalez capture shots with direct, focused light, which enabled him to make the busy fair backgrounds a little less distracting alongside his RF 24-105mm f/2.8’s fast, wide aperture.

Two people stand together holding a large stuffed panda at a fair, with an illuminated swing ride spinning in the background and people airborne. Both wear matching "Nothing Separates Us" shirts. The sky is clear and blue. — Mario East, 43, of Mandeville, Jamaica, and Paula Thomas, 35, of Falcon Heights, photographed with a stuffed animal prize at The Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minn., on Monday, August 25, 2025. | CARLOS GONZALEZ

Since the Minnesota State Fair is such a big, crowded event, Gonzalez had lots of potential portrait subjects to choose from, walking around eating fair foods and carrying their hard-fought prizes.

“I just went out looking for people with stuffed animals,” the photographer says. “The larger stuffed animals always grab my attention.”

A young girl stands outdoors in a pink dress, holding a large stuffed tiger and blowing on a shiny party horn. The background is dark and shadowy, with sunlight highlighting the girl. — Evangeline Carbajal, 5, of Minneapolis photographed with a stuffed animal prize at The Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minn., on Monday, August 25, 2025. | CARLOS GONZALEZ

“The State Fair brings together people from all walks of life and ages so finding a variety of folks to photographs was not difficult. When I saw someone that I wanted to photograph I just walked up to them, introduced myself, told them what I was doing and asked if I could make a portrait of them with their prize,” Gonzalez remarks.

The photographer says it was an enjoyable assignment, and he had complete creative freedom to determine how he wanted to capture his photos that embodied the theme of “Prizes.”

A young child wearing sunglasses sits in a stroller holding a large plush pickle at an outdoor fair, with people walking in the background and the sun casting long shadows on the pavement. — Mila Ostlund, 2, of Minneapolis photographed with a stuffed animal prize at The Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minn., on Monday, August 25, 2025. | CARLOS GONZALEZ

The Minnesota State Fair is a massive deal in the state, so The Minnesota Star Tribune always covers it in a big way.

“I have covered the fair for many years so I knew it would not be hard to find people with prizes to photograph,” Gonzalez says. “This would rank very high in terms of fun factor because it’s lighthearted and who doesn’t want to see a person win.”

Image credits: Carlos Gonzalez, The Minnesota Star Tribune