'I try to tell a story': Eric Craft's photos awarded in statewide contest

Eric Craft didn't think he had a talent for photography until people kept complimenting him. Then, further heartened by an honorable mention in last year's Focus on Missouri Agriculture Photo Contest, Craft took two awards in this year's competition.

Sponsored by the Missouri Department of Agriculture, which showed the winning works at the state fair in August, the contest drew 750 entries in four categories -- The Farmer's Life, Beauty of the Farm, Faces of the Farm and Pride of the Farm.

Craft was first runner-up in the first category for "Making a Few Adjustments," a photograph of his dad, Dwight, who farms northeast of Jackson, shooting sparks from a grinder in the twilight; and honorable mention for "Whispers of Evening," a purple and yellow-tinged sunset with barbed wire in the foreground.

The winning entries will be displayed Dec. 18 through 20 at the Missouri Governor's Conference on Agriculture at the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, Missouri.

"While dad was working on his tractor, I was trying to capture the hard-working man that he is," Craft said. "His weathered, tough hands, a man like his own dad, a measure of a man I hope to live up to."

Craft said photography can only be a partial representation of nature. "No medium can truly reproduce the beauty of God's sunset, but I try to capture a bit of that beauty," he said.

Craft began his hobby like most do, casually shooting whatever caught his fancy, and it was not until two years ago, when he upgraded from a $500 Canon XSi to a $1,000 Canon 7D, that he became more serious.

"I look for things you wouldn't think would make a good picture and try to find something interesting," he said. "Like old trucks and barns with a closeup of old nails or wood that's real weathered.

"I take a few shots and try to figure out what angle the light might be playing on it. I have a more discerning eye."

Eric Craft poses with his camera in a soybean field in Perryville, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014. (Laura Simon)

Craft was drawn to photography by his mother, Cathy, who had pursued it for as long as he could remember with her Canon.

Whispers of Evening by Eric Craft garnered an honorable mention in Focus on Missouri Agriculture photo contest.

Asked if he always uses natural light with the sun behind him, he said he prefers the outdoors but is unconcerned with where the sun is. "If the sun is in front of me and there's something that can block it, I still have the light playing on whatever I'm shooting," he said.

Craft is a 43-year-old native of Casper, Wyo., who graduated from Woodland High School at Marble Hill, Missouri, in 1989. He and his wife Amy have three children, and he has a brother, Josh, of Jackson. He works at Semco Stone in Perryville, Missouri.

Hoping eventually to have a $2,000 Canon 5D, Craft does not much crop, or trim the edges of, his photos. "I try to get it right when I'm shooting," he said.

Whispers of Evening by Eric Craft garnered an honorable mention in Focus on Missouri Agriculture photo contest.

"I try to tell a story or capture something that evokes some emotion. If I had any advice, it would be to take photos of everything but not necessarily go for the nice sunset or landscape. Shoot other things that might not make a good photo, but work at it and try to make it interesting.

"It's all about capturing light. If you're shooting flowers, you can get better colors on a cloudy day because the sun won't wash out the colors. Sometimes it's a waiting game as you wait for the right conditions," he said.

The 750-plus entries in the Focus on Missouri Agriculture photo contest may be seen at flickr.com/photos/moagriculture.