AS A KID, Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli had one goal at the New Mexico State Fair: to win a goldfish. “They never lasted that long,” he recalls with a laugh. 

The fair was just part of Paolinelli’s life growing up in Albuquerque. Until it wasn’t. “I just stopped going,” he says. “I don’t know the reason.” Years passed, things changed, and the fair evolved, just as it has since 1938. 

When a friend invited the former advertising art director turned documentary photographer to tag along, Paolinelli brought his camera to take some pictures. Those images turned into a gig as the official state fair photographer for the past eight years. “Now, it’s one of my favorite things to do,” he says. “It’s New Mexico, and I love it here.”

Known for his street photography and images of lowrider culture (he has a book, Seventh and Central, due out in March), Paolinelli can often be found in the middle of the fair’s action during its 11 days at Expo New Mexico. “It’s the perfect venue for street photography,” he says. “People and moments are happening all day. It’s nonstop. I feel like I’m going to miss something if I’m not there.”  

The state fair midway lights up Expo New Mexico’s 236 acres. Photograph courtesy of Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli/New Mexico State Fair.

During his time documenting the fair, Paolinelli has taken roughly 30,000 images of whirling rides lighting up the night, kids playing water gun games, cowboys riding bucking broncs, Native dancers in full regalia, vendors selling aguas frescas, unicyclists juggling knives and torches, and bulls chasing rodeo clowns. 

➤ Meet one of the pros up close—Matt Tarr, the rodeo clown who keeps riders safe.

“I’m not a cowboy, but I’m fascinated by these guys,” he says of the rodeo athletes. “They’re tough, they’re rugged, they’re riding these huge animals.” 

While the rodeo, the midway, and the Indian Village are some of his favorite places to photograph, he also enjoys lingering in the quieter spaces—the animal barns, the flower gardens off of Main Street, the pie-baking contests, and the art displays—and encourages visitors to do the same. 

“It’s so neat to see the passion that people have for their cookies, their crafts, their artwork,” says Paolinelli, whose images lend that same sense of childlike wonder and prize-winning thrill to this month’s cover and “Fairest of Them All” feature story. 

While the fair’s future in Albuquerque may be uncertain, its purpose and allure will remain. “The fair brings out everybody from all around the state, all walks of life,” Paolinelli says. “That’s special.”