WENDY HURST PORTRAIT

Orem, Utah | Portraits from the Colonial Heritage Festival 2025. It’s not cosplay. It’s commitment. I brought my portrait studio to a place where no one owns a phone—but somehow they all know how to churn butter. Or at least, where the demonstration tent is located. No one broke character. Not even when I Vogue’d them. I didn’t mean to make it look like a 1776 fashion editorial.  Well, just a little. I tracked them down from camp to camp and asked for a photograph in the shade.  One reenactor offered me their “smoldering ye olde stare.” Another adjusted their bonnet like they were being interviewed for the cover of “Wool Weekly.” (I’d read it.) Their colonial confidence gave me colonial confidence. And don’t we all need more of that in our lives?  Dressed as Colonial British officer's wife. The Studio My “studio” is portable, in a wagon—yep—with a backdrop stand held up by a bag of cornmeal. (JK, it's just playground-grade sand.) I carried around one light that many calle...

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 .

WEST JORDAN, UTAH | "We take wood that would be wasted, someone's time that would be wasted, and make a little toy so a child's mind won't be wasted." Founder Alton Thacker, 85, keeps a special wooden pointer at the desk to share his favorite memories on the wall. Then he introduces me to the workshop. "And if you stand here," Alton declares with a twinkle in his eye, "you might see a car fly by." The two volunteers seated at the shuffling band sanders grin as I take a cautious step forward. It's the last leg in the factory tour of Tiny Tim's Foundation for Kids toy shop, where Alton and dedicated volunteers carefully craft scrap wood from a local cabinet shop into toy cars for children all over the world.  Scrap wood donated by a local cabinet shop keeps overhead costs down. Qualified and willing volunteers run the machines that cut, sand, and router the wood into shape. It's dusty in the workshop. Woodworking tools hum constantly ...

Model: Kade Llewelyn | Cake: Sweet Cravings | Venue: Copper Creek Event Center | Photo: Wendy Hurst My photographer bucket list is long and ambitious, but here's a peek. Host styled shoots for photographers as a way to build portfolio, skills, and professional network. (Doing it!) Build a photo set from scratch. (Did it! ( This one. It was sticky .)) Photograph an aerialist. (Done! Two, actually. It was GREAT .) Photograph a mermaid. (Someday.) Host a masquerade ball. (The post you're reading now!) The list goes on. When Ashley Gardner (colleague at Gardner House Photography ) and I set out to plan a photoshoot at Wayfinder Photographer Collective, we start big. Our Pinterest board is big enough to crash the system. Professional hair and makeup! Decked out fireplace mantle! Glamorous evening gowns with elaborate props! A heavy table with live roses and velvet cloth! Cake! (The last one makes it to every list, even if if it doesn't have a chance to make the...