WENDY HURST PORTRAIT

Orem, Utah | Visiting the Colonial Heritage Festival is my favorite way to celebrate the Fourth of July. The festival is entirely run by volunteers -- which means when you meet somebody who's part of the festival, you know they want to be there. What they do is not easy. Some of them are on their feet in colonial-style shoes for hours at a time. Some wear full colonial garb like coats, petticoats, stockings, the works. July in Utah is sweltering hot. This year, we're even in the middle of a heat wave. And yet, there they all were with smiles on their faces and willing to let me take their picture. I have a lot of photographs from this festival at this point. Many of them are similar (still awesome, but similar). So this year I wanted to do something different: my portable studio on site. Bringing a portable flash is on location one thing. Bringing a backdrop that has to traverse a full size public park in the sun and wind is entirely another.  The Portable Studio Off-Camera Fl

Salt Lake City, Utah |  FanX is a space of raw reality. Cosplayers emerge from their everyday self to an elevated version of self--or, someone/something else entirely. Artists become shapeshifters, inhabiting a character through what they're wearing, or what they hold, or what they say. Craftspeople from all walks of life swarm the halls with colorful excitement. It doesn't matter who you are, or where you came from, or where you're going. FanX is for everyone, like a moving, shifting, swirling, ever-changing exhibit of living art. I just bring my camera. :)  All the portraits I captured during the event can be found at my website, wendyhurstportrait.com .

Photographers like me love canvas material. We love painted backdrops made of canvas, canvas photo prints, painter’s canvas to paint the canvas backdrops on… Also, canvas tents.  Vintage canvas has a velvety texture and often tends to smell like a mixture of rain, dirt, and sun-baked cotton baked.  And I only know that because of events like this, hosted for free on the Fourth of July purely for the education and enjoyment of people like me who weren’t around during the first two world wars and are ever curious to learn about it. The full gallery is linked at my website, here: wendyhurstportrait.com !

 “Photography?” reenactor George Washington exclaimed. “What’s that??” After five minutes of me stumbling through some sort of explanation about lighting in a box later, a portrait emerged. The Colonial Heritage Festival in Utah is my favorite annual Fourth of July tradition for all the reasons. The reenactors are exceptionally knowledgeable about the lives they portray and the fashion they’re wearing.  Blue coats, red coats, petticoats, brass buttons, leather boots, wigs, and tricorn hats flounce everywhere.  I met a John Adams and Betsy Ross—whom sewed her own gown, especially those complex, curving pleats! You can learn more about colonial history and this group who hosts this annual event at  festival.colonialheritage.org/ You can find the whole gallery at wendyhurstportrait.com .

There's a magical place where hairbrushes are tucked into every back pocket, where pipes and cigars are more common than cigarettes, where grown men purchase stacks of soaps and oils out of necessity, and everyday people wearing old western style clothing is totally normal.  It's called a beard competition, and it’s all for charity !  The whole gallery can be found at my website, here: wendyhurstportrait.com