Deerfield Festival of Fine Arts {June 3-4}

I will be kicking off the summer art festival season back in my old stomping grounds of the northern Chicago suburbs! The Deerfield Festival of Fine Arts will be held June 3 & 4! I'm looking forward to sharing my portrayal of the prairie and the cowboy lifestyle with the Windy City!

Bring in the postcard below to enter a $100 drawing to spend at the Festival!

 

2017 Basic Photography Class Recap

Last year, I taught my first ever Basic Photography workshop. (See link to past post here.) In my small community, hands on continuing education outside of YouTube isn't plentiful. 
I've had a lot of people tell me they wished they knew how to use their camera. That was the spark to start teaching this class. 
 

I broke all the info I wanted to cover into six, one hour sessions. We covered the basics of exposure, composition and lighting. We met Tuesday nights at the Murdo Senior Center.  

These ladies are now comfortable shooing outside of Auto (and perhaps will never go there again, right? ;))! 
I also showed them a few simple tricks I've found, such as using a small piece of paper wrapped around the flash to help eliminate shadows behind a subject. 
 

This past Tuesday was our seventh session. I'd asked everyone  to email me their favorite photo taken during the course of the class, and I had them printed. We celebrated their achievements into the wonderful world of photography by displaying their photos and enjoying a little gallery fare. It was such a great night! 

I learned so much from these ladies and they challenged me as I sought to answer all their questions. For a girl who doesn't always know what to say, I was tongued tied a few times when the questions weren't ones I'd prepped for. 

Thank you to all who participated this year! It has been a pleasure!

Favorite Views on Hwy 83 + Heritage Project

In my previous post, I shared about my trip down to Norman, OK. It was a long 12 hour drive but traveling through parts of the country I never have before was entertaining and enjoyable. As I neared home, I pulled over to two of my favorite views on Hwy 83 between Murdo, SD and the Little White River. 

Sunset was coming and I wanted to see what I could find. 

I sat at this location between the White River and the Little White for a while, hoping to get some more pink in the sky as the sun faded. The clouds to the west didn't cooperate so the sky to the south east wasn't what I was hoping for.

The sky looks a bit more exciting with the use of the graduated tabacco filter. 

The evening light was not lost, however. 

This house. 

I adore it! 

I've been captivated by it's uniqueness since the very first time my husband took me on the drive south of Murdo, almost 12 years ago. Compared to other houses in the area, it is very unique. Reminds me a little of something you'd find in the south west. 

The view of the northern side of the White River breaks is just breathtaking from the road and to see it out of those windows must be even more so!

I have wanted a perfect shot of this icon along Hwy 83 for years and I was finally there at the right time. I couldn't have asked for a better sky!

Jones County is home to so much heritage and history. I've been inspired to continue a project I started a few years ago, in hopes of turning it into a book. This body of work features prairie architecture in houses, barns and out buildings. So many are long gone but what yet remains on this part of the prairie I want to preserve as best I can. 

If you live in Jones County, SD*, and would be willing to let me come to your place and capture the old buildings on your property, I would be most honored. What I have now (which you can view here) is what I've been able to capture from the road so as not to trespass and a few friends and family have allowed me access to their land. 

Please contact me: cristen@cristenjoyphotography.com

*I'm starting this project in Jones County but if you live in Mellette, Lyman, Stanley, Jackson and Haakon and your land is close to JC, please contact me, too. I haven't decided yet how wide of an area I plan for this project to extent, but for now will start in  Jones County.