It had been a very long time since I'd last passed through the gates of the Arizona Renaissance Festival. I think it was 2010. Is that possible?
I worked for the fest in 2008. After that, I'd shot for fun with a specific goal or two, that, besides securing a turkey leg or a glimpse of Ded Bob antics, or catching a strain of Tartanic playing Black Sabbath on bagpipes.But, I think my eye was worn out. Lots coming at me, much that I'd seen, it was starting to be difficult to see things new and fresh. The Fest for me had always been a trip. It's a far away place, a culture, just the thing I needed, especially when I hadn't traveled far away for a while. But over time, the differentness became common, I was just not inspired anymore
And so I returned this year with friends, who hadn't been to a fest in many years and never to the Az fest. Just to explore, to laugh, have fun, no pictures required. No assignments. Yet I made a handful of images anyway, not when I felt a professional requirement, only when I happily felt it.
Photography is a job and a passion. Usually they go hand in glove, but sometimes you get burned out on something and it becomes just a job. The little break of something like eight years, let me see a few moments with a clarity and a humanity that moved me, without sense of obligation, to make a few images that make all of us happy.
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