If you live in Iowa and haven't been to the Iowa State Fair, you're just about crazy. ;) It's one of my favorite August activities--and one of my earliest memories of living in Iowa! The first time my family attended the festivities, we rode the sky glider & it made a pretty big impression on this little girl. 20 years later, and I'm still obsessed with this big country-themed annual celebration!

It's been a dream of mine to shoot senior photos at the Iowa State Fair, for years and years. This year, I put out a model call, and sweet Katelyn answered. She's going in to her junior year, but totally rocked this styled session. We only shot for about an hour before storm clouds rolled in and it got dark, so I have plenty of fair related activities to do with future Des Moines area seniors in the years to come. *hint hint* (Also would totally love to photograph an engagement or family session at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines!)

We started out in some of the gorgeous green space on the east side of campus. The first photo you see is the first one I took. DID OR DID I NOT TELL YOU THIS GIRL ROCKED IT!?

If you don't go to the state fair and get loaded up on sugar, you're doing it wrong! Sugar intake option one: fresh lemonade. 

One of the vendors let us steal some of his bubbles. He also told us that he was a "world class photobombe." Hahahahaha!

Katelyn did a quick outfit change into a fun pink summer dress. It was the perfect outfit to go with some cotton candy! You can't not get food on a stick at the Iowa State Fair, and cotton candy is one of the most classic of fair treats. With the humidity, it started melting on the stick pretty fast. So we had to eat it quick after we took photos. ;)

Is this not the most iconic diptych?! The Iowa State Fair Midway-- highlighting the gorgeous ferris wheel in front! Man on man, nothing beats walking through the music and game attendents and flashing lights at the fair.

HUGE PROPS to the gentleman who allowed us exactly "one minute!!!" on the swing ride to snap a few photos. (Fun fact: this is forever my favorite ride! Last time I rode one was in Mongolia!)

That's it for this post! I had such a fantastic evening wandering the fair during this session. Here's to hoping that next year brings many more blue ribbons, corn dogs, fried oreos, and Iowa State Fair photography sessions!