The Great Dickens Christmas Fair: Part 2

 

The Great Dickens Christmas Fair took part on 5 weekends between November 23rd and December 22nd at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. It was a magical Christmas affair filled with spiritful and friendly entertainers, good food, and lots of vendors to see. I went back a second weekend and took pictures of all of these amazing entertainers. Mark your calendars for next year, running on weekends from November 22nd to December 21st. Be sure to not miss out on this delightful gathering!

Plenty of yummy hot toddies, irish coffees, and hot buttered rums to go around.

Hand drawn portraits by the artist in residence, Louis Nuyens. Need a new corset? Dark Garden Unique Corsetry has many options. These models posed as mannequins to show off the beautiful corsetry.

Try fencing at the Corinthian Rose Sporting Club. Around tea time, we headed over to Cuthbert’s Tea Shop for some sandwiches and tea. Make a reservation weekends in advance to secure a spot.

Have tea with the Red Queen and the white rabbit.

Musician // The Great Christmas Dickens Fair // Ashley Petersen Photo

Listen to some great music by The Conventry Carolers.

The Great Dickens Christmas Fair: Part 1

 

It's that time of the year again. A time to wander the Dickensian streets of old London and immerse yourself in a Victorian wonderland. The amount of fun here is endless. Discover handmade crafts from vendors all over, watch a play at one of the many theaters, listen to carolers on one of the many stages, eat, drink and be merry. There are over 700 costumed players to entertain you at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair. It's fantastic. And they NEVER break character. Quite entertaining.

As we slowly made our way through the Dickens Christmas Fair, I found a few vendors that I absolutely fell in love with their work.

Broom Magic, based out of Eugene, OR has been making brooms for over 30 years. The handmade quality is impeccable, not only is my new broom extremely functional as an everyday broom, I can't wait to use it as a prop in a photo shoot. Check out the variety of brooms on their website.

I also came across an antique key jewelry maker, called Storyteller Keys, based out of Atascadero, CA. She has various necklaces with keys, that she has been collecting for over 20 years. I found a treasure at this booth. My husband bought me a pocket watch necklace, but the really interesting part is that it is an old Russian watch and all the mechanical parts are exposed. Check out JoAnne's website at Storyteller Keys.

Next we headed over to Dancing Flame Candle, a magical place you can dip your own candles and customize the color. I made a really cute Christmas tree that can be used as a candle or as an ornament.

Don't miss....The absinthe tasting at The Bohemian Pub. The cinnamon crunch almonds from a trolley cart. English tea with cakes and sandwiches at Cuthbert's Tea Shop. Send a telegram to anyone at the Fair at the Central London Telegraph Co.

The Great Dickens Christmas Fair is running on the weekends from November 23rd to December 22nd at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, CA. Be sure to visit this magical place. For more information check out the Great Dickens Website.

I'll be heading back to the fair mid December to photograph more portraits. Stay tuned to a future blog post dedicated to the characters I meet there.

Tuesday Thesis: Little Red Riding Hood and the White Wolf

 

This was one of my first shoots on the project Rescue Tales. It is inspired by Little Red Riding Hood and white wolf. In the fairytale, the wolf always wants to attack Red Riding Hood. In this story, I wanted to show that they could be friends. Red holds a loose leash, which symbolizes trust between the two. Red is not leading the wolf, but they are going on an adventure in the forest side by side. The leash is from an amazing company called Found My Animal, based out of New York. Their goal is to help raise awareness of the urgent need for animal adoption. They are fabulous leashes, do yourself a favor and get one, you won't regret it!