For those of you who know me (and my camera), you know that the decision to head to the State Fair of Texas without my camera was not made lightly. Blackjack, my Sony A7rIII, comes with me almost everywhere.

If I’m not carrying him around my neck, he’s probably tucked safely away in my car just in case… You just never know when the next photographic moment is going to pop up, right?

Always my favorite pictures! And on this day, because of the rain, we got to take several pictures in front of Big Tex! There wasn’t even a crowd there like in years past…
(Taken using Portrait Mode)

This year, I decided to head to the fair with a very small purse, my husband and kiddos, and my iPhone 11 Pro. That’s right….I was leaving Blackjack at home this year.

There were a few reasons I decided to do this, one of them being that I did not want to lug my camera bag with me, and since it was rainy, I didn’t think that carrying it out around my neck was a good option.

You haven’t really experienced the State Fair of Texas until you’ve enjoyed a giant Turkey leg, right?

Also…I didn’t want to our trip to the fair to be about taking pictures. I wanted to go play some games! And eat some yummy, not good for you, State Fair of Texas food! How can I do that when I’m lugging around my camera?

So…what do you think of the pictures I got? Was my iPhone 11 Pro enough of a camera? I don’t ever print out and frame pictures from the fair, but I do like to post them to social media. I think the iPhone 11 was perfect for this adventure.

This little phone not only comes with a regular lens for general pictures, but it also has a wide angle lens AND portrait mode. Between those 3 lenses, I think I had all my bases covered – I could take wide shots to show all the excitement at the fair, and I could use portrait mode when I wanted to blur out the background. And it takes pretty great selfies too!

And yes…there was one moment when I wished I had brought Blackjack with me. But just one. At the bird show. Oh my goodness….they had some spectacular birds performing. Sadly, the iPhone 11 Pro just wasn’t enough for this task. At least not for me and the types of wildlife pictures I’ve come to expect…

But the rest of the day, I was happy to have such a powerful and effective little camera that fit in my pocket! Easy to carry and easy to operate!

One for me and one for Morgan!
Such a good big brother!
More stuffed animals. Just what we needed!
So many great choices! Who should we bring home with us?
Our new friends Zach won for us barely fit in the seat with us on the Ferris wheel!

I’d say our trip to the State Fair of Texas without Blackjack was a success. I have several pictures that are perfect for social media and so many good ones that I’m sure I’ll make a small photo memory book. Who knows…I might even frame a picture this year! Wouldn’t that be crazy?

If you haven’t been to the fair yet this year, you better hurry! And I hope you’ll eat a Fletcher’s Corny Dog for me. Or a funnel cake. Or a candied apple. Or maybe something fried…

Have fun, and be sure to take a picture with Big Tex! Until next time…

P.S. All pictures used in this post were taken with my iPhone 11 Pro and edited on my iPhone as well!