Each year, the North Carolina State Fair hosts competitions for paintings, drawings, photography and coloring book pages. Durham-based landscape photographer Kate Kennedy won third place in the 2024 professional photography competition for her piece depicting the Milky Way over a dimly lit barn. 

 

The process to get the shot was a tedious one. Kennedy trekked from her home in Durham to a friend’s field in Roxboro on a warm September night. She had been watching star charts and the weather for the past two years, waiting for the stars to align so she could capture the Milky Way illuminating a dark sky as it arched over the barn and tree-studded skyline. 

 

“I was always searching for those perfect conditions,” she said. “So many things had to come together, and finally there was a night where I thought, ‘This is going to be a really good night.’” 

 

Once at the site of the barn, she lay in the tall, itchy grass, testing different angles and compositions for her photo. Nothing seemed to be working — she couldn’t get an image she liked. Then a car drove by, casting just enough light onto the barn to make it look the way Kennedy wanted. She took the picture.  

 

“I thought, ‘Okay, that’s it, that’s the shot,” she said.  

 

Kennedy entered her piece in the N.C. State Fair photography competition’s professional division just a few weeks later. The third-place win was unexpected, Kennedy said. She only learned of her placement when she visited the fair on Thursday, Oct. 12, the first day it opened, and saw the ribbon attached to her image. She was ecstatic. 

 

“You cannot possibly predict what the judges are going to like, so you just have to go with what you love,” Kennedy said. “To have the piece that I really love validated by winning a ribbon was just a really cool feeling.” 

 

Entries shown in the fair’s exhibit hall are seen by thousands of people that pass through each year. In 2024 alone, fair attendance totaled nearly 999,000 in 11 days. Entrants who have their work shown in the exhibit hall reach a larger audience while learning how to navigate a competitive artistic atmosphere. 

 

According to an email newsletter released by the N.C. State Fair, there were 24,514 total entries in the general competitions. This includes not only those for the photography and art competitions, but those across all divisions, including crafts, baking, canning and more. 

 

“It helps to build your character as a photographer and to put out your best work,” 2024 N.C. State Fair first-place professional photography winner, JaMarcus Bullock, said. “It helps you get a feel of how the competitions work and what to look for when you submit photos.” 

 

Originally from California, Kennedy has become a fixture in the Durham photography community in the five years since she moved to the city. She regularly attends artist markets around the area and sells prints of her landscape photos in two local galleries: The Artisan Market at 305 and Cecy’s Gallery.

  

Once a stay-at-home mom, landscape photography became Kennedy’s full-time pursuit after her children moved out of her home. She spends hours each week processing photos, working on her website and printing her pieces. She also travels to scenic locations around the country and takes commission pieces when she can.  

 

“Artwork is really personal and it’s a hard thing to sell, but if you find something that attracts you and something that speaks to you, you have no problem buying it,” Cecy’s Gallery owner, Cecilia Henaine de Davis, said. “I think that’s one of the things that she does well, especially the pieces about Durham.”  

 

Although the photograph that placed third in the competition was taken in Roxboro, much of Kennedy’s work is focused on the Durham community. She takes photos of the cityscape at night and of notable landmarks like the Old Bull billboard over the American Tobacco Campus.  

 

Kennedy said her work photographing Durham helps her feel closer to a community that she didn’t grow up in. Other Durham newcomers have found solace in learning about the city through Kennedy’s photography, too. 

 

“Her work sparks questions about Durham,” said Karen Casey, owner of The Artisan Market at 305. We have a lot of visitors, so they’re going, ‘where is that, and what does that mean?’ ‘What’s the bull all about?’ The Durham ones spark a lot of questions and interest.” 

 

Durham is a tricky place to photograph, Kennedy said, because the people who live there have a love for the city that is unparalleled in other locations. She takes care to ensure her pictures of the city are imbued with a sense of emotion and a feeling of reverence. 

 

“Being a newcomer to Durham, it does feel a bit audacious to take pictures of the city and sell them to people who’ve lived there a long time,” Kennedy said. “I try to be really respectful of photographing Durham in a way that shows a love for the city and is respectful of the connections that people who live here have with the place.” 

 

Through her photography of Durham and her connections with local art galleries, Kennedy has found a thriving artistic community that inspires her work. Competing at the N.C. State Fair, Kennedy said, helped her reach beyond her usual Durham audience to share her vision of Earth’s beauty with thousands of fairgoers from across the state. She hopes that her award-winning piece, like her photos of Durham, will resonate with viewers and ignite their own appreciation for the world around them. 

 

“Durham is just so vibrant with so many different types of artists,” Kennedy said. “I love that aspect of being here. It’s really enriched my life so much and given me a gift in being able to share my art.”