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TAPESTRY Photographers find a merry-go-round of colors at the Fredericksburg Fair

Free Lance-Star photographers find different shades in the Fredericksburg Agricultural Fair

From the red of a rooster's comb to the yellow of a mustard covered corn dog, the Fredericksburg Fair is a kaleidoscope of color.

BY SHAYNA JACOBS

Date published: 8/2/2008

BY SHAYNA JACOBS

The Free Lance-Star photography staff went on a hunt for colors at the Fredericksburg Agricultural Fair: vivid, bold hues that are in vast abundance.

It sounds easy, but their assignment was a challenge, said photographer Ben Fredman, who found brilliant reds in tinted light bulbs and on the headdress of a caged rooster.

To capture their assigned colors, they went back to basics.

"You need to forget about the normal telling of stories," Fredman said.

It was an artistic opportunity for the talented crew, and Fredman said there was kind of a friendly competition among the eight photo staffers at work.

Director of Photography David Ellis enjoyed the rare chance to get back to shooting in the field.

He found pinks from pale to popping "mostly in what people were wearing," Ellis said.

Ellis zoomed in on a pig's snout and shot a portrait of a 3-year-old girl with an eye-catching hot-pink hair bow.

Philip Andrews had to look to the shadows to find the dark side of the Fredericksburg Fair.

"Black isn't a color you think about when thinking about fairs," he said.

Andrews is no stranger to the fair. He followed a family as their pint-size daughters ride-hopped, and he caught fairgoers gorging on traditional fair grub.

Bright lights and fanfare were big in his family and food photos, but Andrews found the black elements he needed one night.

One portrait is a group of silhouettes against a candy- apple stand, and his favorite is of a claw-shaped ride swinging against the pitch-dark sky.

This project was the perfect way to present the fair, a perennial area pastime where the fun is always as effortless as the sights are compellingly colorful. This year's fair ends tomorrow.

Shayna Jacobs is a news intern. Contact her at 540/374-5000, ext. 5617, or sjacobs@freelance star.com.

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Date published: 8/2/2008