Always on the Hunt for an Assignment

My brothers, Dameon and Jacob, myself and boyfriend, Kyle, riding the "Big Slide" at the Florida State Fair. 

The life of a student reporter never really seems to end.

This weekend, I got the opportunity to go home and visit my family in Tampa, Florida. Although I was off from school and work, I found myself having a natural urge to always be on the lookout for a new story or a story idea that I can later follow up with. 

I'm not sure if this "skill" so-to-say is a gift or a curse. Like I said, I was technically off of work and had no school, so I should've been resting and taking downtime for myself but ended up actually working on my time off. 

So, I decided since my family and I were planning on going to the Florida State Fair on Saturday I would do a photojournalism assignment on my two younger brothers' perspective on the fair. My brothers are 5 and 9 years old and view life in such an amazing and pure way. 

Growing up, going to the fair was always a blast for me. Heck, we even got a day off of school and a free ticket to go to the fair. But as I grew older, my interest in the fair has slowly decreased and my natural draw to fair rides and the fun of it all has changed to that of the food sold at the fair (a college student interested in fried, greasy food... what a shocker). 

So my mission this weekend was to capture my brothers and their time at the fair, including their raw, natural and candid expressions throughout the day. I love seeing how excited they get over riding the fair rides and the pure joy of simply winning prizes at the games you can find lined up in the alleyways of the fair. 

Below are a few of the pictures I captured. First is the embedded Instagram post and beneath that are the individual pictures I posted to Instagram. I hope you enjoy them and are able to channel your inner child through my brothers' expressions during their day at the fair.

Live through the Florida State Fair through the genuine reactions of a 5- and 9-year-old boy. 🎡🎢🎠 •Picture 1: Dameon just got his ticket scanned and is ready to start his day. •Picture 2: Jacob and Dameon fed the llamas at the fair's petting zoo. •Picture 3: Dameon enjoying his ride in the hamster ball on a pool of water. •Picture 4: Jacob confusingly looks at one of the rides that goes over 50 feet high. •Picture 5: Both boys tired but smiling before one of their last rides for the day. #FloridaStateFair #Discoverthefun #familyfun

A post shared by A. Pastore (@a.pastoreufim) on Feb 18, 2018 at 6:20pm PST

Our first stop of the day was at the front gates to get our tickets scanned for entry.

Here is my 9-year-old brother Dameon. He just got his ticket scanned and is ready to start his day at the fair. 

Our next stop was the petting zoo. Jacob, my 5-year-old brother, is feeding one of the llamas in the fair's petting zoo. Dameon also decided to get in on the action.

After the petting zoo, we went to Kiddie Alley. One of the attractions my brothers decided to go on was the inflatable hamster ball. Dameon got five minutes to roll around in the ball in a pool of water. 

After the inflatable hamster ball, we decided to walk around a little bit more. We stumbled upon a ride that goes above 50 feet in the air. As you can see, Jacob's reaction was quite fitting for someone his size and age for a ride that big.

To end the day, the boys went on the spinning swings. They were tired but still smiling and having fun.