Midway Wasatch Back: A Weekend at the Booth
Introduction
Most of my work lives online, where collectors browse quietly, compare sizes, and reach out when something stops them. That is how many relationships begin, and I am grateful for it.
But once a year, the Wasatch Back Art Festival brings the work back to the lawn, literally. Over Memorial Day weekend at the Midway Community Center, I set up the booth the same way I would a small gallery: dark panels, track lighting, large metal and acrylic pieces on the walls, and bins of matted prints for collectors who want to hold the work before they decide. 
This post is not about a single photograph. It is about what happens when the images leave the screen and meet people in person, and why that matters if you are considering a print from gwfine.art but have never seen the work at scale.
A Booth Built Like a Gallery, Not a Tent
Fine art photography asks for a certain kind of presentation. Glossy metal and acrylic catch light differently than paper on a wall at home, and outdoor festivals are unforgiving: sun, wind, grass underfoot. I treat the booth as a controlled viewing room; black display walls, directed light, and enough space for someone to step back from a 48-inch piece and actually feel its presence.
Inside, the walls carry a cross-section of the collections: autumn aspens, desert sandstone, coastal light, night skies, wildlife. The matted print bins are for collectors who want to flip through, compare sizes, and talk through what might work in a specific room.
If you have only seen the work on a phone or laptop, the fair is the closest thing to standing in front of the print itself.
Limited edition fine art prints are produced with archival materials and fixed editions. For technical details on metal, acrylic, and matted options, see About the Prints.
What Collectors Respond to in Person
Online, color is the first door, the same thing I notice at the booth. People walk in drawn to the bold autumn golds, the depth in a night sky, the warmth in desert sandstone. Then the conversation shifts: Where was this? What size would work over our sofa? Metal or acrylic for this room?
That second question is why I still show up in person. Scale is difficult to judge on a screen. A 24×36 matted print feels substantial in your hands. A 48×32 metal piece on the wall can quiet a whole room. Collectors often tell me they did not expect the texture — the fine grit in sandstone, the luminosity in aspen gold; until they were standing a few feet away.
At Midway, several visitors left with matted prints under their arms. Some had followed the work online for a while and used the festival as the moment to commit. Others discovered the booth by accident — the same happy surprise art fairs are built for.
There is no substitute for watching someone choose a piece they will live with — and leave smiling.
Explore the Fine Art Gallery or read about Limited Editions.
What Sold at Midway
Sales at a festival are never the whole point of showing up, but they do tell you something about what resonates when people can see the work at scale.
At Midway, I sold several pieces from the African Icons collection. The standout was The Dawn Sentinel, which was the best seller of the weekend; an elephant on the open plains at first light in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Collectors responded to its presence on the wall: the scale of the subject, the quiet authority of the image, and the way it holds a room without needing to shout.
Other wildlife pieces from the collection found homes as well, a reminder that while much of my work is rooted in the American West, the booth is a cross-section of what I photograph, and African wildlife consistently stops people mid-step.
If The Dawn Sentinel stayed in your mind after the fair, view the limited edition print or explore the full African Icons series. Every piece ships with the same materials and edition standards described on About the Prints.
Choosing Work Together
Not every conversation ends in a sale, and that is fine. Some of the best fair moments are simply looking, holding two matted prints side by side, talking about light and memory, deciding which portrait or landscape feels like theirs.
Matted prints let collectors see scale, border treatment, and image presence before ordering a larger finished piece.
If you are browsing online and unsure about size or medium, Contact or use the inquiry form on any piece. I am happy to talk through room dimensions, lighting, and whether metal or acrylic suits the space; the same conversation we have at the booth.
Friends, Familiar Faces, and the Wasatch Back Community
Art festivals are also social. Friends stop by. Neighbors wander over. Someone brings a dog. For a few days the booth feels less like a transaction and more like a porch, a place to stand in the shade, look at beautiful country, and catch up.
The Wasatch Back Art Festival is in its third year and growing; painters, photographers, sculptors, and makers on the lawn at the Midway Community Center, free admission, families wandering through. It is exactly the kind of community event where art is not distant or intimidating. You can talk to the person who made the work. That matters for trust, and it matters for how the work is understood once it hangs in your home.
Learn more at Wasatch Back Art Festival.
If You Missed Midway — Come See the Work in Heber City
The Memorial Day weekend show in Midway is the first of two Wasatch Back festivals each year. If you could not make it, you have another chance to see the work in person.
Showing @ Wasatch Back Art Festival — Heber City, July 24–26, 2026
Same booth, same presentation standards, different evening light on the valley. Everything on the walls — including The Dawn Sentinel and the African Icons collection — is also available at gwfine.art if you cannot wait until July.
Limited editions, certificate of authenticity, and the same materials described on About the Prints. New collectors may also find the Collector Guide helpful before reaching out.
Closing
Thank you to everyone who stopped by in Midway — collectors who trusted the work enough to take it home, friends who made the weekend brighter, and the festival organizers who keep original art visible in the Heber Valley.
If a photograph from the booth stayed in your mind, explore the gallery or get in touch. And if you are nearby for Heber in July, come say hello. The work looks even better in person.
Limited edition fine art prints are available at gwfine.art.
View The Dawn Sentinel limited edition prints →
Explore the African Icons collection.