Knights, Lights, and Utah Renaissance Faire Portraits

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2025 - Mona, Utah  |  Bringing a photo studio to the Utah Renaissance Festival felt a little like smuggling a spaceship into the Middle Ages. My backdrop went up between fairy wings and falconers, and my lights hummed next to a booth selling turkey legs the size of a toddler. No one seemed confused.

The studio worked like a magnet. People in velvet gowns, plastic armor, and fairy wings wandered over, curious why a fashion shoot was happening in the middle of jousts and kettle corn. One by one, they stepped in.

It was fast, chaotic, and a little theatrical — corsets and capes catching the light like it was a red-carpet event, except the carpet was hay and the soundtrack was bagpipes.

Some came for dramatic portraits. Others just wanted to see what fairy wings looked like under studio lighting (spoiler: excellent). Everyone left with the same surprise: they looked like they’d been photographed for a magazine, even if their prop of choice was a foam sword.

It's fun dragging a portable studio into places it "doesn’t belong". It makes me feel like a time traveler. But more sweaty. (You can find all the photos at my website, wendyhurstportrait.com.)












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