F-Stop and breathe: FEATURE: Child's Play

Long overdue for my blog, but finally found the time to post an edit from the Dubois County 4-H Fair in Jasper, Ind. It's a huge undertaking for this newspaper, and the community is very involved in this fair. All three photographers, including myself, were on fair duty all week. Two features from the fair every day, plus the five-page Saturday Feature you see at the bottom of this post. It was in the 100-degree heat index most of the week. So, of course, I continuously found myself sweating through every shirt and shorts I wore. Totally worth it. This was in my first month at The Herald, and looking back, I am proud of how I shot this essay. Very moment-driven, a lot of cute kids, but all in all, I learned a lot about community photojournalism in this week (if not about staying hydrated).

Story Summary: The Dubois County 4-H Fair is a big deal for every kid the age of 12 and under. It's a week filled with lives dedicated to farm animals in the barn, preparing animals for show, sweating out the heat, keeping cool and just having some old-fashioned fun. The fair is the place every child finds themselves for one week in July — a bountiful playground of non-stop chaos. Between the running around barns, throwing shaving cream all over one another, carnival rides and pig wrestling, these kids don't tire easily. It's a place known for child's play.

Camren Giesler of Ferdinand, 6, pulled his aunt's calf, which fights him from moving, outside of the cattle barn to tie him up after being weighed July 16 in preparation for the Dubois County 4-H Fair.

Abby Hochgesang of Birdseye, 16, squirted water out of a glove like an utter into the mouth of Ella Mattingly of Holland, 9, as Morgan Hume of Huntingburg, 9, watched smiling Thursday at the horse barn during the Dubois County 4-H Fair.

Cole Oeding of Ferdinand, 11, left, laid his hands on the top of a drawing of a cow on the table while Luke Jacob of Schnellville, 12, played an Ace atop Oeding's Jack in the card game "War," winning the hand in the cattle barn July 20 at the Dubois County 4-H Fair.

Zach Hoffman, 11, left, and Dayne Burger, 11, both of Ferdinand, positioned the stance of their goat during intermediate class junior division for showmanship July 18 at the Dubois County 4-H Fair. Hoffman, a first-time 4-H competitor, was named the junior division grand champion and the overall grand champion for pygmy goats. "I never expected to win," he said. "It feels really awesome."

Katie Stenftenagel of Jasper, 8, left, snuggled her head into the chest of Riley Merder of Jasper, 9, her cousin in the cattle barn Wednesday at the Dubois County 4-H Fair.

Sarah Obermeier, left, 9 dove into the mud chasing down a pig with teammates of the Mud Monsters who are her cousins Lauren Obermeier, 13, second from left, Emma Messmer, 11, back center, and Abby Fischer, 9, all of Jasper, during the annual pig wrestling contest July 22 at the Dubois County 4-H Fair.

Ally Schipp of Fulda, 5, threw her arms out to feel like she was flying on the swing carnival ride at the midway July 19 during the Dubois County 4-H Fair.

Levi Schaeffer of Huntingburg, 8, showed some love for his calf Buddy by petting his ear laying next to him in the cattle barn July 20 at the Dubois County 4-H Fair.

From left: Shaydon Voelkel of Dubois, 14, Lauren Roos of Ferdinand, 12, Garrett Betz of Schnellville, 10, and Sophia Bolte of Ferdinand, 15, helped each other rinse off shaving cream while Katelyn Roos of Ferdinand, 14, and Curtis Gress of Celestine, 12, tried to cool off by spraying a hose into the air and catch water in their mouths during the shaving cream fight July 21 at the Dubois County 4-H Fair.

Kendra Steckler of Ferdinand, 11, aired out her feet by taking her boots off while doing her nails at the cattle barn in preparation for the Beef Show on July 20 at the Dubois County 4-H Fair.

Chanler Balsmeyer of Huntingburg, 9, put his weight into pulling as hard as possible along with other members of team "Udder Tuggers" July 21 during the annual Tug of War at the Dubois County 4-H Fair. "My arms are just tired now, like jello," he said letting go of the rope.