Contact sheet: The Tulsa State Fair

Photographs by Western Doughty

Sensory assault is the single best reason to go to the fair. Everyone who walks through the gate is actually seeking those ADHD-triggering lights, intimidating piles of moving steel, and smells so pungent they can navigate the grounds by their nostrils.

The wide swath of humanity at the fair is made up of sometimes thousands of individuals. While they represent diverse backgrounds and walks of life, it’s almost as if they have forged an alliance. Everyone seems to agree that once they climb aboard a ride, they will put aside their differences for two-and-a-half minutes of groupthink. Even on the midway, everyone is there to take in the sights—or each other—in much the same way.

Pretty much everyone will eat too much fried food, dirty their shoes, and leave with a sense of exhausted satisfaction. For me, though, it’s easy to enter a sort of foggy, sensory overload state of mind, washing all of that input into a single “fair experience.”

With this project, I wanted to slow it down, use framing to focus on one story, one person, one exchange at a time. I not only cut out some of what was around me to focus on the singular, but I also removed any visual sense of unity. What you are left with are contrasts, textures, and individual expressions. Ultimately, that is what fascinates me—individual people and their stories, contrasted with what is around them.

Contact Sheet is a place for local photographers to share their projects. If you’re interested in submitting, write to voices@langdonpublishing.com.