Faire Game


    Freelance graphic designer and fine art photographer Gwen Harlow, 39, lived in Alameda for only a week before she snapped this photo at the Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire in August 2006. With this image, she created a visual treasure from the rows of knickknacks around her. Previously a longtime Oakland resident, Harlow, daughter D’arby and boyfriend Chad Winston were lured to the Island by the city’s stellar public schools and the proximity to Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach—and its annual sandcastle competition. “Chad wanted to practice for the sandcastle contest; now we live within walking distance of the beach,” she says.
    The trip to the massive antiques fair at the former Naval air station came after a group of local photographers from flickr.com, a photo-sharing Web site, invited Harlow on a group shoot. “A bunch of us from the Oakland flickr group met up at the base; we found some cool stuff and got a nice sunburn.”
    Check out Gwen Harlow’s work online at www.gwenharlow.com.                                                 

—By Shari Sollars
—Photography by Gwen Harlow