The photography booths at AFB Woodland Art Fair are a little bit like a time warp. Outside these booths, fair-goers are listening to music, walking dogs, making art with kids, eating funnel cakes and sipping cold beers. Their moments are moving from one to the next without pause. And then you step inside of a photography booth and time stands still.
Water stops cascading over rocks. Light from a sunrise freezes in that beautiful orange-yellow glow that must come from a place like heaven. Architecture loses its function and becomes a vision. People transcend a single moment and become immortal.
Kyle Spears, a photographer from Indiana, has traveled around the world to capture split seconds of humanity at its most honest. His images are moody, sometimes full of serenity and joy and sometimes full of anguish and turmoil, but the stillness in them is consistently beautiful.
Respect. Nashville, Indiana. By Kyle Spears.
Fragile. Tokyo, Japan. By Kyle Spears.
Kyle’s photographs, whether color or black and white, shot with film or digitally, are linked by his admiration of light.
“As a photographer, I am constantly nourished by reality,” he says in his artist statement. “Light is the transforming element that breathes life into an image, gives it power, grace, beauty, mystery, emotional force. Observing, discovering, and evolving.”
Here’s more from his bio:
Venice, Italy. By Kyle Spears.
Kyle’s work leans towards a graphic and emotional perspective, framing a visual harmony between people and their environment. His method, subject matter, and composition all provide an outlet for Kyle’s individual interpretation of a moment in time … he presses the shutter-release, capturing a world of color, shape and texture, while responding to the effects of light, interpreting his experiences and images seen through his viewfinder with insight and intention.
The idea of a photograph, the thought or experiences that inspire the print, is just the start. Kyle’s work is intentionally printed with hard contrasts, setting the mood he wishes to convey and visually inviting the viewer in. He incorporates traditional and digital printing techniques to expose a specific component, be it an understated or exemplified element within the composition. Kyle continually explores the textural and tonal elements of each image.
Nimes, France. By Kyle Spears.
Kyle and 19 other photographers will be creating shelters of serenity in just 6 days, when they and 180 other artists transform Woodland Park into a giant fine art gallery and festival. He’ll be in Booth #141, directly across from the Kid Zone near the Clay Avenue side of the skate park.
For complete details about the fair, including musical performances, art demonstrations, kids’ activities, and, of course, artist information, visit the www.lexingtonartleague.org. AFB Woodland Art Fair will be held in beautiful Woodland Park on Sat., Aug. 20, 10am-6pm, and Sun., Aug. 21, 10am-5pm.
A free shuttle will be running every 10 minutes, so to avoid traffic congestion around the park, leave your car at American Founders Bank’s downtown Lexington branch (corner of Rose St. and East Main) or in the LEXTRAN Transit Center parking garage (enter from E. High Street near the Lexington Ave. and MLK Blvd. intersections) and catch the shuttle. Or hop on your bike and head to the fair that way; a bike check will be at the racquetball court on High Street, thanks to Bluegrass Community and Technical College.
