My first Ren Faire
Hey friends! I wanted to share with you my first experience at a ren faire. My boyfriend and a few of our friends went to the Sherwood Forest Faire in Austin, Texas and I knew I had to bring along my camera. This was specifically a place that was designated to my personal niche. Unfortunately I was too nervous to go up to people and ask to take their photos, but there was something just as good. We chose the weekend that they were hosting a jousting tournament performed by the New Riders of the Golden Age and let me tell you that was the right choice.
Okay, so we had planned out this whole thing to make sure that we were there the weekend where they were having a jousting tournament. You know it was my first time so I was excited to go, but I didn't know what was in store for me.
Growing up, we would go to our local fairs, but we went specifically to see the animals cause my mom wanted a bunny, and for the art pieces. We didn't have the food, very few times did we ride the rides, but I was so glad that I went with my friends.
They had been to several ren faires over the years, and they had a system on how we were going to do things. I was so glad for that because it was a little overwhelming at first.
But we went to the jousting. I knew I was only going to bring my camera the first day because the next day rained the whole time, so I had to make sure I got the photos I wanted.
We went to the joust, and each of the knights were introduced and the crowd was assigned a knight to root for (we were rooting for Sir Christopher who won the tournament). They explained the rules- a hit was one point, breaking a lance was 5, and if they were knocked off the horse it was 10 points.
So they started the tournament, and it was awesome! The crowd was so excited and the knights were so good. I couldn't imagine how much practice and training they have to go through to make sure they stay on the horse, with a long wooden lance, aiming at the shoulder of their opponent.
We ended up going to most of the tournaments. There were four, two each day. I got video of the second day with my phone, but didn't bring my camera because of the rain.
It was a challenge because I had brought a kit lens (28-70mm) with me because I wanted it to be easy to carry around. Focusing was hard because there was so much going on around us, but when it did, the photos turned out magical. I loved getting to edit them because I could see the wood flying in the photos.
The biggest challenge of editing the photos though was it was a sunny/cloudy day, so the exposures would be different going to each photo. It was very interesting to play with and design so the photos were consistent across the board.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy these photos, and I highly encourage you to make your way out to the faire next year and support the talented artists and their work.
