Steven July 23rd, 2010
This beautiful lady is Sarah Marie Mullen. She can currently be found at the Bristol Renaissance Faire making wonderful music on her harp.
It seems that everyone who has a camera at the faire takes Sarah’s picture, I’ve seen hundreds of them. In most of the pictures she’s looking right at the camera and smiling, and even though her smile is very pretty, I like that I caught her right after she smiled at me. What can I say, my timing was off and I missed the smile. Luckily for me, I ended up with what I feel is a more personal portrait of her playing her harp.
I wanted to make this image even more unique than most, so I did it in sepia, softened it up and added the white vignette to frame it all.
If you like harp music, head over to Sarah’s website, SarahMarieMullen.com and check her out.
View More of My Photos From the Faire
Steven July 21st, 2010
One of the things I most enjoyed at the Bristol Renaissance Faire was the beautiful clothing that some of the women wore. I have to admit, I have a thing for women in this type of clothing. I feel the renaissance gowns and hats really bring out a beauty in women that’s hard to find in modern times.
I don’t know who this lovely lady is, she was walking about all by herself when I asked if I could have a picture and she posed for me. If she happens to read this, thank you for the great picture.
Though the gown she is wearing was very colorful and the original photo is great, I knew right away that I wanted to work with this image in a brownish or sepia tone.
By tweaking one of the presets in Adobe Lightroom, I was able to begin the process of getting the color I wanted. I then exported the JPG and loaded it into Photoshop. Once in Photoshop I used Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro to soften the image and add some dramatic glow. It was when I added the glow that I knew I had what I was looking for. The only problem was that the filter softened her face a little more than I wanted, so I used a vector mask on that layer and painted back some of the sharpness from the layer underneath. I finish the image off by lightening her face a little.
One of the greatest things about modern digital photography is the ability to create images that look anything but modern. By using the different tools available, we’re able to create artistic images that are not only beautiful to look at, but also create a sense of an older time.
View More of My Photos From the Faire
Steven July 14th, 2010
The Fantastikals can be found at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Bristol, WI. As I talked about in the last post, they are a group of magical folks that hang out in the Shakespeare’s Meadow area of the faire.
We came upon the Fire Sprite on our second trip by the meadow. She was very busy entertaining many
children that had gathered around her. That made getting good photos of her kind of difficult. I had to move around quite a bit in order to get a good angle to shoot. After a bit, all of the kids cleared away except for this little girl. I was able to get these two shots before more kids moved in.
I love the shot on the right. To me this shot shows the magic that’s felt as the Fanstastikals interact with the children. Though you can’t see the child’s face, I can just imagine how precious it looks as she glances at this mystical being and hands her a gift of a leaf that she found on the ground.
In the last post I mentioned the feeling of peace that I felt after watching these interactions. That feeling has stayed with me these three days since and as I’ve worked on these images, it continues to grow.
View More of My Photos From the Faire
Steven July 13th, 2010
This last weekend we went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire. It was not only my first time at the Bristol Faire, it was my first time at any renaissance faire. The photography opportunities were endless. There were so many folks walking around in the the most beautiful costumes that you really had to keep your head on a swivel so you didn’t miss anything. 
My favorite part of the faire was the Shakespeare’s Meadow area. That’s where the wonderful Fantastikals hang out. The Fantastikals are an assorted group of fairies, sprites and other magical beings that interact non-verbally with the audience. They are especially attracted to children and watching them interact with a child is truly magical. After spending time with the Fantastikals, you find that your inner child begins to emerge and a wonderful feeling of peace flows through you. Photographing them was wonderful.
Featured in these images is The Brownie. I was able to get some great photos of her as she played with some kids to her right, and then her attention would drift to the rocks in front of her and then back to the kids. She had some of the most amazing facial expressions. You never knew what she’d do next. I’ll say it again, truly magical!
I’ll be featuring more of the Fantastikals in the coming days.
View More of My Photos From The Faire
