Steven Bourelle Digital Arts

The Bristol Renaissance Faire is a wonderful, magical place. When you walk through the gates, you enter a world full of wonder and fantasy unlike anyplace I’ve been in the Midwest. Once within the faire there is something even more magical, more mystical and more wonderful; The Fantasticals.

The Fantasticals are a group of fae, (Fairy, sprite, magical creatures, call them what you will) that wander around the faire interacting with the visiting folks. They move slowly and gracefully, but can also take off in a flash chasing one another. They can be shy, friendly, curious and mischievous. You often find them napping against a tree without a care in the world, then next thing you know they’ve stolen and hidden some poor fellow’s hat, (They always give it back though). They mostly see and interact with children, and that’s where the magic really happens. The look in a child’s eyes as they hand a leaf or twig to the fairy, is priceless, and the look in the fairy’s eyes as they spot a child in the distance looking at them is just as wonderful. Adults aren’t totally left out though. If you are young at heart and your inner child shines through, then they may see you too. I was lucky enough to have that happen.

Over the last month the Fantastikals have been a big part of my life. I’ve spent many hours amongst them, shooting hundreds of pictures. They’ve made me smile and laugh and wish that I was 10 years old again. Even when I’m at home, the pictures I’ve taken continue to lighten my heart and make me smile.

As my wife Lynne said, “You never get tired of looking at them.”

I can truly say, the Fantastikals have touched my inner child and brought back a part of my life that’s been gone for quite awhile.

I’ve went through my hundreds of photos and picked out my 30 favorites. I’m not sure why these are my favorites, they just speak to me and remind me of my time in Shakespeare’s Meadow, where the Fantastikals play. Hope you guys enjoy them.

View my Full Fantastikals Set on Flickr

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This beautiful covered bridge was photographed in Waupaca, WI at a place called The Red Mill. We visited the bridge in the autumn of 2009 while on our fall colors trip into Central Wisconsin.

Making a black and white image of this photo has been an interesting project for me. I’ve worked on it off and on for months, thinking all along that it would make a great mono chrome image, but never finding  that special combination of contrast, light and emotion that makes black and white so special.

I think one of the problems had to do with the color version of this image, I really like it. It’s a very nice picture with lots of fall color in it. So taking away that color was a difficult thing to do. Yet something kept telling me that this would make a great black and white.

A couple of nights ago I began playing with the picture again, and once again I couldn’t find what I wanted. I even resorted to using some Lightroom presets, but nothing worked. Then I tried something that I’ve been doing with my renaissance faire portraits but have never done with a landscape, I washed out the edges with a whitish vignette. The image jumped off the monitor at me!  There it was, this is what I had been searching for. The vignette laid the groundwork for all that was to follow and within an hour I had my mono chrome version of the covered bridge.

I guess the lesson learned is to always experiment because you never know what will work.

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As a child and then as a teenager, I loved fantasy. I watched fantasy movies, read fantasy books, played Dungeons and Dragons and often dreamed of living in those times. Times when knights would put on their suits of armor and do battle on horseback. As often happens though, I lost interest in fantasy as an adult.

Three weeks ago I found that old love for fantasy again. Since our first trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire back on July 11, I’ve been living in that world all over again. It’s pretty awesome to know that just 15 miles down the road is a place where all these childhood dreams are real and that through my photos I can relive those dreams over and over.

There aren’t many places in the world where an adult can feel like a child again. I’m sure glad I found my place.

View More of My Photos From the Faire

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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

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