A diptych of portraits created on the fairgrounds in Anoka County (Minnesota), were featured as a Editor’s Pick by Life Framer in their most recent online them, Youthhood. View editor’s list here >>
My work straddles multiple genres, not specific to portraiture or landscape, and I love the freedom it gives me as a photographic artist. When it comes to entering contests, I don’t want to be put into a box. I like the Life Framer themes are focused on storytelling with themes open to boundary pushing, not compartmentalization.
While not selected for the big prize, my work was chosen as an “Editors’ Pick” with thoughtful comments, published on their website. Editor’s comment:
Some of us – for many reasons – have to grow up faster than others, and few more so than those working on family farms. Farmland is a wonderful place to explore as a child, but it is also full or responsibility and care, where you can at times witness birth, life and death in quicker succession than normally experienced in an urban setting. There is so much joy and pride in this image, underpinned by a strong selection of tones and shades. I truly feel the confidence of the subject, enjoying their childhood and the duties that accompany it, seemingly unaffected by the past years obstacles.
What makes this pairing unique in the project is it is the only location that remained the same in both 2016 portrait and 2020 portraits. Special permission and access was required to create the 2020 portrait.
Kol and Annabell, Anoka County Fair, Minnesota, 2016 (left) paired with Kol and Annabell, Anoka County, Minnesota, 2020 (right).