See the State Fair Through Her Lens

Surrounded by nattily attired, four-legged animals, Debra Fisher Goldstein is in her element.

The St. Louis Park resident is at a llama and alpaca costume contest at the , and she is working the room, or rather, the barn, chatting with participants and looking for unique moments.

A half-hour earlier, Fisher Goldstein is in perhaps her favorite place in the world—the fair’s cattle barn. There, she’s looking for interesting shapes and patterns, and studying how the light coming in from the rafters reflects off the cows.

This is a snapshot of the life of a dedicated state fair photographer who has been fine-tuning her craft for more than 20 years.

“I’d like to say I focus on those shared moments that bring us all together,” Fisher Goldstein said.

Fisher Goldstein is not doing the work for the fair itself, or for another media organization. Rather, she has taken a passion for the state fair and turned it into an independent business, as she runs a fair photo website and also regularly sells prints.

The passion started in 1989, when Fisher Goldstein first moved to St. Louis Park. Growing up in Canton, Ohio, Fisher Goldstein had been to a few county fairs, but she had never seen something of the magnitude of the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

“It wasn’t until I was here that it really got me,” Fisher Goldstein said.

As she went to the fair year after year, Fisher Goldstein began noticing unique, spontaneous moments, like a young 4-Her using her backside to hold back an impatient cow. So, she started bringing a camera to the fair. Soon, she was taking photography lessons.

“It was the fair that got me started,” Fisher Goldstein said.

More than two decades later, Fisher Goldstein now totes around two cameras—one with a long-angle lens, the other with a short-angle lens—and shoots at the fair basically all day, every day. She said her Website—named Beyond The Stick—sums up her mentality while shooting, as she tries to get past what everyone else is photographing.

“I look for the iconic and the ironic, and the peculiarities and the poignant,” she said.

That means that while walking around the barn before the llama and alpaca costume contest, she isn’t too concerned with the contest itself. Sure, she’ll snap a few pictures then, but she’s more interested in the 4-H kids getting ready in their stables. What are they like? Why did they come to the fair? What makes them unique?

“I’m enamored with the stories that come with the pictures,” Fisher Goldstein said.

Capturing these photos and stories takes up a lot of Fisher Goldstein’s time, but it is only one facet of the business she owns: Goldfish Communications, which provides a variety of services, such as branding and communications strategies, and direct mail.

While Fisher Goldstein works on a number of projects throughout the year, 12 days in August and September are always her favorite.

“Life’s too long not to do what you love,” she said. “I’m very fortunate. I don’t take it for granted.”

Before she can say more, something catches her eye, and she has her camera out, ready to capture another unique state fair moment.

You can see some of Fisher Goldstein's work on St. Louis Park Patch in this .