Greater Exposure

Stephen Ironside took his first photo workshop after he was already working full time as a photographer. Workshops remain the only formal education he's ever received in photography.

But Ironside has parlayed knowledge gleaned from the occasional workshop and his own experimentations behind the lens into a full-time career. This week offers two occasions for him -- the April 10 opening of a downtown Fayetteville studio and a photo salon this evening on the grounds at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

Ironside first picked up photography while still a student at Fayetteville High School. An uncle of his who collected cameras sent him a film camera and a bag of lenses. He also played around with a digital point-and-shoot camera.

Many of his first photos explored nature, a topic that still frequently finds its way into his work. Ironside maintains a presence at the monthly First Thursday celebration on the Fayetteville square, selling photographs of scenes he's captured locally, such as the flowing Buffalo River, fall foliage and the night sky, but also his travels abroad. He admits the foreign work may mean more to him than others.

"They like it, but they don't buy it, because they don't have a connection to it," Ironside says.

His studio, a narrow room on the second floor of a downtown building, will serve as a meeting space, a hub for his commercial work and eventually a space for photography courses.

Tonight at Crystal Bridges, he will lead interested parties in a discussion of his work and then a more practical exercise -- touring the grounds. Crystal Bridges is among Ironside's many commercial clients, and he has explored the grounds on several occasions. He plans to focus on the museum's natural surroundings during the photo session.

Ironside says he wants to continue shooting travel and commercial ventures in the future.