Coastal Carolina Fair – JWNPhoto.com

Articles Tagged with: Coastal Carolina Fair

Happy Movember 2013

It’s that time of year again folks. The air’s a little crisper, the trees are full of color, and I’ve shaved my mustache in an effort to raise awareness about men’s health issues as well as raise money for the organizations that are fighting the good fight.

This year I’m flying solo as a “MoBro”. Can we lose the “bro” monicker though? Seriously, the term “bro” makes me think of beer coozies and fist bumps, and that’s just not me. Anyway, here’s the link to donate through my page: MoBro.co/joeL8X. I’m thinking of doing some fun stuff to raise money this year, so be sure to follow me here, on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

If you don’t know about Movember yet, you can read all about the organizations vision, values, and goals here.

Swingin' at the #coastalcarolinafair with @frostymac #fair #swing #ride #charleston #sc

While I’ve got your attention, the Coastal Carolina Fair is in effect again. All the rides, attractions, and deep fried things that probably shouldn’t be allowed near a deep frier are available for your enjoyment at the Ladson Fairgrounds.

More importantly, I’m proud to announce that my daughter Mackenzie has won 2nd place in this year’s photography contest for division 3 (Students)!!! She entered shots she made during last month’s World Wide Photo Walk, and her shot of a rusty old bicycle bell earned her a red ribbon.

Mackenzie Wins 2nd Place at the Coastal Carolina Fair Photography Contest

Next up in the information department is that Halloween was this week, and of course my family had to pose for pictures in our costumes:

Kegan’s buddies came over and were promptly stuck in front of my camera. Some kids are so cooperative in getting into character. These kids rule.

My Satyr costume was inspired by this new Halloween themed tattoo I got from Rob Junod over at Holy City Tattooing Collective:

I got my #Halloween #tattoo by @robjunod at #HolyCityTattooingCollective in #Charleston #SC Check out that #Satyr fiddling the night away! I admire his goatee...

In sadder news, we lost a New York legend last week. Lou Reed passed away after losing a battle with liver disease. When the kids and I carved our pumpkins, I decided to make mine a tribute to one of rock n’ roll’s most influential people. From the left to right, it’s Mackenzie’s “Hedgehog-O-Lantern”, my “Lou-O-Lantern”, and my son Kegan’s “Boo-O-Lantern”:

The sadness didn’t last long in our family though, because the day after Lou passed away, Karlina Josephine joined the world:

Welcome to the family, kiddo. Brian & Mira are going to be great parents to you, and you will have more professional photos of yourself than any other kid in your neighborhood, so just accept it and be prepared!

Coastal Carolina Fair Photo Contest 2012

I was super excited to walk into the photography/art building at the Ladson Fair Grounds this week to find that my photo above, taken for Eco Fitness in Mount Pleasant, won 1st prize in the division 1 photo contest at this year’s Coastal Carolina Fair! Two of my other photos received honorable mentions as well.

This is one of my favorite shots I made this year, which was at the Change For Change benefit art show:

This third entry was from the photo shoot I did last month for Stella Nova Salon & Spa. I’ll share more about that shoot in a future post.

While I was extremely flattered to receive these awards, the big win for my family was to see my daughter take 3rd place in the division 3 contest with this photo that she made during the recent Worldwide Photowalk:

Photo by Mackenzie Nienstedt

And she also received an honorable mention for this photo:

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Photo by Mackenzie Nienstedt

We had prepared my daughter as best we could for a loss since this was her first time entering an art competition like this. We did the same with my son Kegan, who had entered a 3-D art sculpture through his art class at school. So when she won, it was truly a fantastic moment as a parent to see her surprise. Not only that, but Kegan received a 1st place ribbon for his piece as well!

Photo by Amy Nienstedt

What a fantastic day for our family! We are so proud of our kids, and it made the rest of the night a blast as we were so happy about the contests. I left my DSLR at home for this trip, opting to hang with the family instead of hanging behind the lens. I did have my iPhone and couldn’t resist snapping some shots like this sunset using iOS 6’s new panoramic photo feature (be sure to click on it to open up a larger version):

My wife, who had been having one of “Those” days, turned it around completely at the fair. I love how happy she looks here:

Finally, I have never had a caricature done of myself before. I was walking by the caricature booth, and this pretty young artist was looking at me with puppy dog eyes. She enticed me! Well, not really, I walked over and asked her how much. I’m sure she was thrilled to have such an easy ~~target~~ subject. So without further ado, here I am as a cartoon:

Caricature from the Coastal Carolina Fair

I think everyone needs a little bit of kitsch in their life, it makes me smile. I’ve got a lot more to share with you all, so check back soon!

Coastal Carolina Fair 2011

Much like last year, the year before that, and for 50 something years before that, the Coastal Carolina Fair has come to Exchange Park in Ladson, SC. Actually, they’re celebrating the 55th year of the fair in the Charleston area this year – that’s over a half-century of fried Kool-Aid (or Oreos, Twinkies, sticks of butter). This year I went with the family, but I still managed to get a bunch of shots of the fun. I also wrote up a similar post last year, so feel free to check that out.

This photo of the taxi cab tourist in NYC won an honorable mention in the Division 1 photography contest! Just thought I’d share that with you in case you aren’t able to check out the art exhibits. If you do go there, please notice (and laugh at) my giant self-portrait that is keeping a half-bearded eye on the exhibit hall. Thanks.

We arrived just before sunset, and I have to say that I was disappointed by the sky this evening. The clouds were perfect for a spectacular southern light show, but just after I took this shot, they vanished and we got one of those shapeless sunsets. Oh well, there’s always next year 😉

I did try to compensate for the lack of definition with a graduated pink Cokin filter that I held in front of my lens. I also tried to get creative with this shot:

Something about this guy in front of the balloons caught my attention. I wonder how many times Old Man Jenkins here had his plans foiled at the old amusement park by some meddling kids before he took a road gig?

The big star of the show for me is always the big Ferris Wheel. I just love the patterns of light and the plethora of angles to capture them. This year I decided to go head on.

Kegan found out that he does not like heights on the skylift.

Here he is, holding on like a trooper:

The kids made good use of their “all you can ride” hand stamps.

I’m pretty sure I’ve taken this same shot of these same ducks every year I go to the fair. As fun as the fair is, it really is very consistent. And by consistent I mean it’s the same dang thing every dang year!

In the petting zoo, I thought I would get all artsy with this close-up of a cow’s head:

But then she did this, and I couldn’t resist:

The fair wouldn’t be the fair without some of that newfangled country music I didn’t grow up listening to. From where I stand, the new country folks basically took all of their cues from 80’s hair metal but got rid of the distortion pedals and added a fiddle. But, there was a huge crowd of people there to see Colt Ford, and I snuck up to the stage to grab a couple of shots and see what all the commotion was about. By the way, the security are always really cool at the fair if you ask to take some shots first!

Good old Colt must be a big deal around here, because even the people not watching the concert were singing along as they walked around the food court in earshot of the show. We started to head to the car when I got taken by surprise by the fireworks show. I really shouldn’t have been surprised, because they do it every night at the fair. It was a pretty good excuse to pull the camera back out.

And with that we hurried to the car so we could wait in traffic. Another successful family trip to the fair. I can’t wait until next year!

The Fall Is Awesome!

Day 251 - Sullivan's Island Lighthouse Sunset

This is the best time of year to capture sunsets here in the Charleston area. The weather is beautiful and the sky seems to catch on fire for a brief moment. There’s also no shortage of fun stuff coming up, such as corn mazes, haunted house attractions, hayrides, and pumpkin picking. Halloween just might be my favorite holiday ever – it brings people together. What other holiday makes you go out and ring on your neighbor’s doorbell so they can give you treats?

I have a busy month ahead of me as well. One of the highlights include a wedding shoot this weekend on Folly Beach. I’m pretty stoked about getting some sunset portraits of the happy couple. October 22nd is BarCamp! If you remember, I did a session last year on photo editing (you can check out the post about that here). This year I’ve proposed a session called “Off-Camera Flash 101”

If you’ve never been to or heard of BarCamp, it unfortunately has nothing to do with alcohol. It’s a conference where the attendees are the attraction. Basically anybody who attends can pitch a session to teach. It’s really fun and you get a kick-ass T-Shirt. It costs a mere $10 to participate – get a ticket now!

Next up, I’m doing a photo booth for the Summerville Ghost Walk/ Harvest Fest/ Harvest Moon Hayride sponsored by DREAM and Summerville JSL. That’s on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011 from 6:00PM-9:00PM. I’ll be on the side of the Prudential Southern Coast office at 112 W Doty Ave in Summerville, SC. I hear that Mistress Mira will be doing some fortune telling as well 😉

October 27th-November 5th is the return of the Coastal Carolina Fair. Check out my recap rom last year. I just ordered my prints for the Photography Contest. This year they have changed the rules slightly from last year as you can only submit 3 photos now. I guess the contest has grown a bit! You can see the official rules here.

Of course, I’ve saved the best for last. Just read my rundown of last year’s CupcakeCamp event. It was the single most amazing event ever conceived. All you can eat free cupcakes, no questions asked. If you don’t want to go to this, you’re not human. CupcakeCamp will be on November 5, 2011 3:00PM-5:00PM at Spirit Moves. Check out the Facebook event page here. Look at the sweetness:

Tooting My Own Horn

I’m honored (and flattered) to report that the photo above won 1st place in the black & white division II photo contest at the 2010 Coastal Carolina Fair! The other three photos I entered all received honorable mentions as well. This is the first photo contest I’ve ever placed in, and let me tell you, the amount of talent that was represented in this year’s contest was unbelievable. You couldn’t tell the difference between the amateur and professional photos that won awards, and in fact, the winner of the “Best In Show” award went to the 1st place color photo winner of the amateur division!

I spent four hours at the fair this evening taking it all in. I will share my experience in a post tomorrow, as I’m pooped and need to spend some quality time with the wife. I do think I got some cool shots and I tried a couple of new techniques that I believe worked out well.

2010 Coastal Carolina Fair Photowalk

***Update #2 10/28/2010***
The weather looks good and the clouds right now are awesome – I’m leaving for the fair momentarily. See you there!

**Update 10/28/2010**
If the forecast is actually correct, today is going to be a messy day, but if you look at the time we’ll be photowalking, the storm should be moving out, which usually mean spectacular cloud formations for the sunset! As of now, we are still on!

*Update*
I’ve been informed by a friend that the local photography meetup group is having a photowalk on Saturday, October 30th. The details for that walk are here.

–Who: Anybody with a camera and the will to use it
–What: A Photowalk at the 2010 Coastal Carolina Fair
–When: Thursday, October 28th 2010 at 5:30PM and if there is bad weather, the rain-date will be Friday, October 29th 2010 (check this site for confirmation)
–Where: We will meet at The Photography/Fine Arts building at Exchange Park, 9850 Highway 78, Ladson SC
–Why: Because sunsets at the fair are awesome, as well as motion capture shots of the rides, the colorful backdrop of concession booths, rodeo action shots, cute animals, flowers, musicians, etc. and whoever makes my favorite photo will win a 1 year Flickr Pro Account!

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What is a photowalk you ask? A photowalk is made up of a group of people who go to a location and take photographs. It’s mostly photography enthusiasts who like to get the chance to learn from each other or just enjoy the company of other photographers. Anybody is welcome, and there is no need to worry about your skill level, what kind of camera you have, or anything like that. Nobody has to see your pictures if you don’t want to share them!

Here are the details for the contest: Photos must be submitted to the 2010 Coastal Carolina Fair Photowalk Flickr Group to be eligible for the contest. If you don’t use Flickr already, you can sign up for a free account and then just join the group to add photos to it. You can submit up to five photos. I will pick one photo from the group that I like the most (it must be taken on the the night of the photowalk, so make sure your Exif data reflects that – film users will just have to be honest) on Monday, November 1st. You can change your submissions at any time prior to the end of the contest, but when Monday rolls around, the group will be locked. The winner will get a 1 year Flickr Pro Account courtesy of JWNPhoto.com!

You can shoot in any style you like, and you can use any technique you like as well. HDR, split-tones, and creative filters are all fine by me. It doesn’t mean that it will make the best photo though, so keep that in mind! I’m looking for my favorite shot – not the most technically correct shot, so it will be quite subjective to whatever makes me think, “Wow, that’s really cool/good/cute/amazing/different!” I won’t know ’till I see it.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments.

The Cub Sleeps Tonight

6 years ago, my son was 10 months old and would not sleep through the night. He cried. A lot. At some point I wrote this quick little lullaby for him:

Hey Kegan

We used to get to the neurotic point of insanity that could only be quelled by putting this song on repeat while driving aimlessly around Long Island in our car. I think my wife and I must have heard this song at least 100,000 times during that time of our lives, and to take a picture like the one above makes it easier to forget just how nutty raising kids can be.

I got some very cool news from Charleston Magazine yesterday, I hope that it all works out. I also should be receiving the prints I’m entering into the 2010 Coastal Carolina Fair photography contest today. Last year I printed my entries on cheap computer paper using a cheap color laser printer. I felt kind of silly when I saw how much better the professional entries looked when printed on quality photo paper, so this year I decided to take it a bit more seriously.

This was my highest scoring entry from last year’s contest:

Last but not least, don’t forget to come to the 6th Annual Kulture Klash Arts Festival this weekend, and check out the prints I am showing.