Albrecht captures life through photography
By Brenda L. Shelkey
Looking at the world through the lens of a camera tends to inspire awe in some people. Others experience a passion for photography that grows into more. For Crystal Albrecht, Coleharbor, photographing the wildlife around her home at Wolf Creek, located on the south shores of Lake Sakakawea, whe re wildlife abounds, started her on a whole new career path. She began by taking pictures of the pheasants, ducks, and fox that wandered through the yard where she and husband Randal Albrecht live. She combined her interest in photography with Photoshop skills on the computer and began sharing her pictures with those around her. Friends and family urged her to do more and seven years ago she began taking her prints to businesses on a consignment basis. She said, "That first year, I only worked on the photography part-time, starting with North Dakota wildlife, scenery, and wild prairie flowers." She had to get a bigger camera and then began studying books, tutorials, and manuals, first on photography, then on the Photoshop aspect of the photography. Albrecht joined the National Association of Photoshop Professionals to help her expand her knowledge. She began Crystal’s Concepts and her business began to expand also. She has pictures consigned with Western Edge Books, Artwork, and Music in Medora and at Fezziwig’s in Garrison. Recently she began consigning her artwork at the Missouri River Trading Post in Riverdale, a new business there. She has had a booth at Garrison‘s Dickens Festival and both the fall and spring Big One at Minot. Besides the photography, she has also learned to mat and even frame her photos, although she gets the framing done through businesses in Minot and now Underwood. She likes the old barn wood frames around the nature photos the best. Some of the consignment shops preferred the matted pictures, other customers like the matted and framed pictures better.
