Featured Artist Trent Foltz

Photographer Trent Foltz beautifully captures rural America. See more of his portfolio by visiting his website.

 

 

I graduated college with a BS in forestry and a BA in photography. Before becoming a full-time commercial fine art photographer, I worked for the National Forest Service and the National Park Service at the Harpers Ferry Interpretative Design Center.

 

 

I have been a commercial advertising photographer for 24 years. I started my studio in St Louis and shot there for almost eleven years. I moved back to my home town of 6000 people in 2004. Genes is located in northwest Illinois. I was still shooting commercial jobs.

 

 

A few years after I moved back, my grandfather passed. He was a farmer his whole life. I decided to photograph his farms knowing that eventually they would be sold. The farm was sold, and the buildings torn down. That was the spark I needed to start shooting the rural landscape. I have also found I really enjoy documenting the heirloom livestock found on a few farms.

 

 

A lot of the barns and landscapes I have shot are not gone. I am very fortunate to be self-employed and when not shooting commercial advertising jobs I am able to get out and travel the back roads.

 

 

I have done numerous gallery shows locally and nationally. I print all the images in my studio. I was never a big fan of standing in the darkroom and printing, but the digital world and large format printing has changed that. Now I look forward to it. All the images are printed with pigment inks on archival paper, giving them a 200 year life span.

 

 

I’ve been featured in numerous shows and magazine articles. Last year I signed with a national publisher, Bruce McGaw Graphics, which was always a long time goal. I have produced one book with a second much larger one on the way. For 2015, I also produced a calendar available at Lulu.

 

 

As 2015 approaches my plans are the same; keep photographing the landscape, livestock and farm structures.

 

 

I will be working with a local food bank and farmers market to help spread the word. I will be traveling the farms and photographing the processes, lifestyle and hard work these people put into delivering great food.

 

Trent Foltz invites you to follow him on Facebook and Pinterest and visit his Etsy shop.

 

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