BROOKINGS Art and the joy of adventure: thats the theme the photographs of Casey Goodwin is bringing to booth No. 119 at the 2025 Brookings Summer Arts Festival.
Id like to say that every print in there has got to have a story, the Brookings resident and photographer says of her artwork. So youre taking home a piece of an adventure that Ive had. You want to buy it, Ill tell you all about it. A story and a bit of adventure are behind all of her work.
This was Goodwins first try at getting juried into a BSAF. Ive lived here for coming up on four years. Every year Id go to the festival and Id think I want to do this next year. And then I never actually gave it a shot until this past year. I thought, Ill get a business (which she has C. Goodwin Fine Arts LL). Ill actually get started. Ill apply and see what happens. Im grateful they accepted me.
Could her being juried into a major arts festival be a catalyst to devoting more time to photography?
I go back and forth on that, she said. I dont know. Its one of those things where in my ideal world, yes, I would love to; but also, part of what makes it so special to me is that once or twice a year I get to do this really special thing to me where I get go see a new place, having my perspective changed by seeing a new part of the world. It would lose some of its luster if it was normal.
As to a feature of geography or terrain that draws her to a wish to photograph, its mountains: Im a big-mountains girl, Goodwin said. Any mountain, Ill be there. Places off the beaten path, places that make me feel small. Theres a lot of that in the U.S.
College friends on adventure
Goodwin was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. Following high school graduation she moved to Pennsylvania where she attended and graduated from Lafayette College (Easton, Pennsylvania) in 2021 with a degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in art. She came to Brookings about four years ago and works as an engineer at Solventum. Along with her vocation Goodwin brought an avocation that got her into BSAF.
I studied photography starting freshman year of high school, she explained. My focus there was more portraiture because I really liked the complexity of humans. As far as the turning point for the adventure side of me, I grew up going to summer camp so I always liked being outside.
But then I actually didnt start hiking and camping until I met my friends in college. Our sophomore year, 2019, we studied abroad together in Spain. When you get to Europe everything is pretty close. So we went on a lot of adventures and I had my mom ship my hiking boots from America. I didnt realize I would be doing so much hiking. Those were the people that I got really close to and we just became adventure pals.
The group visited Majorca, an island off the coast of Spain. Then in Grenada, they took their first big hike, looking for something to do that wasnt touristy. They took a taxi about 10 miles outside the city and walked back. She didnt make it to Pamplona for the running of the bulls. But Spain remains a favorite destination in her globe-trotting trips.
On her to-do list is the Camino de Santiago, a 486-mile trail that starts in Saint Jean-Pied-de-Port in France and ends in Spain at the city of Santiago de Compostela. (This is one of several such pilgrimages in that part of Europe and is often referred to as the Way of Saint James.) She would have to take some time off to complete the entire trek but there are ways to break it down into reasonable chunks.
We never relax on our vacations, Goodwin said, of her adventure pals. Laughing and smiling, she added, I always joke that I need a vacation when I get back.
Film or digital
I like to travel a lot and my camera comes with me wherever I go, Goodwin said of her globe-trotting adventures. My most recent was Patagonia, between Chile and Argentina and that is a trek to get down there. Its nearly to Antarctica. But that was probably one of the more rugged adventures Ive been on.
At present her two favorite places in the world are Alaska, visited twice, and Iceland, visited once but hopeful to go back.
She shows off a colored photo, since turned into a large framed piece of art, that was taken in Alaska from a teeny, tiny airplane in a mountain range. So theres snow blowing off of a mountain that I actually dont know the name of. Laughing again, she added, We couldnt find it again if we tried.
Locally, finding adventure, hiking and shooting photos closer to home, shes shot photos in the Badlands, North Carolina, the Appalachian Mountains, Utah and Arizona.
Goodwin noted that she does sometimes shoot photos with people in them. But in a fashion theyre secondary: One of my favorite things about taking pictures of these grand landscapes is it reminds us how small we are and not in a sad way. It gives you perspective. There are sometimes people on the trail or put up against the side of a mountain but its to show us how small we are in the grand scheme of things. However, theres a caveat to what lies beyond that grand scheme.
To me there is art in even the mundane, the photographer explained. So this is not to say that my pictures are inaccessible or something that you should strive to see in your lifetime; of course, theyre meant to inspire some sort of spirit of adventure. But you can find beautiful moments anywhere.
In a world of professional photography where digital cameras rule, Goodwin also works with 35mm film, which she purchases online and shoots with a Canon AE1 SLR camera. While she has the skills to develop film she does not have the necessary equipment, so she has that work done in Sioux Falls. She can do her serious work with both.
It honestly depends on the environment that Im in, she said. The higher quality pictures are going to be digital. So whenever I can bring my digital camera thats where Im going to make the most stunning work. If Im hiking 10 to 15 miles in a day, I dont want to carry my big camera with me.
Her photos made into prints and on sale this weekend will be in a variety of sizes, to include: bucket-list cards, where you can write the location on the back and add it to your collection and when you want to go there; 8 X12; 11 X 14; and 20 X 30.
Contact: John Kubal at [email protected].
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