Over the past year, a local publisher, Painted Gate Publishing in Spearfish, SD, approached me several times about creating a book of my photography. They really like my work and are eager for me to share it with you!
The first draft has been approved and we are currently working on minor tweaks to perfect the final copy.
At this time, I am asking for your help! In order to send the first printing off, I need to have a certain number of copies purchased. I'm almost there but need several more orders before I can have the books printed. If you are interested in a copy, please order now!
If I'm able to acquire the needed number for printing, I can have the books into your hands by the end of October, otherwise it will be by the beginning of December.
This 8x8 Coffee Table Art Book features over 50 striking images of South Dakota's rich landscape and the cowboy lifestyle.
Books are priced at $43 each (+ tax and shipping-if applicable).
For additional information or to watch a video featuring many of the photographs in the book, please click on this link to be redirected to my website.
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Here is an excerpt from the book:
I've heard it said that an artist’s work reflects that artist.
It reflects their personality, it reflects what they think.
It reflects who they are.
Cristen Joy Photography is a reflection of me.
What you see is what I’m passionate about.
I’m passionate about what God has created - this world. I’m drawn to the beauty because of the intricacy of the
One who created it - Yahweh God who made everything.
He used creativity. He used beauty. He used color and lines. Points and reference. Depth of field. Speed and music.
And quite.
Peace and gentleness.
I love that about Him. He’s a creative God!
I love the beauty of His work and I want to share it. I want to be there for those beautiful masterpieces that He creates in the evening.
In the lines and the geometric shapes of shadows. The black and white forms of mountains and rocks.
The beauty that the eye sees, I want to be there to see it.
I know God has given me this gift, and I want to live it out fully.
My photography shows what I am passionate about.
I’m passionate about the lines of the prairie.
When you look out across the prairie in the evening, during the Golden Magic Hour, you can see the lines of the hills.
It’s not just a flat substance. It’s lines. And there’s depth and there’s art and a masterful design.
I love that!
I want to share that with you because you might not have seen it.
You might have missed it and I don’t want you to miss it.
So I share these amazing pieces of art in creation that I saw as I try to capture what God has created.
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I am not a native of South Dakota, though now I call it home. When I was 13, my father’s job moved my family
to the small town of Murdo, right in the heart of SoDak. I graduated high school with a class of 27 and moved back
to the Chicago area to pursue my photography education.
South Dakota stayed with me.
Every glorious sunset, every glimpse of the stars would take me back to the wide open spaces of prairie.
South Dakota became like a sweet melody I just couldn’t get out of my head.
I ended up marrying a cattle man with his own ranch, right back in my high school stomping grounds.
Though I’d acquired a love for the prairie, it didn’t officially feel like home until several years into my marriage.
Now, I can’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else.
True, there are much sacrifices involved, but they are worth it to fall asleep among the stars,
to gaze for miles into the landscape, to hear the gentle and sometimes violent rush of the wind,
to watch a storm from beginning to end, to stand on top of a hill surrounded by more hills, lowing cattle,
waving prairie grasses and wildflowers.
Since it's right outside my front door, I have made South Dakota's prairie the main subject of my art, especially that surround my ranch home, where also at my disposal is our horses and the cowboy lifestyle.
So whether you live here, have moved away or, have admired this state from afar I leave you with the words of my husband and echoed by so many others: "This is God's Country!"
This is home.
This is South Dakota.
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