As a young boy Trent Foltz loved spending time on his grandparents’ farm in rural Northwest Illinois. For hours, he played in the barn, worked by his grandma’s side in the garden and helped his grandpa sort pigs. After college his life took a different direction. With a photography degree in hand, he traded the quiet life of rural America for a fast-paced life in the city. As a commercial advertising photographer in St. Louis, Trent worked with some of the largest blue-chip companies in the country. After 15 years as a successful advertising photographer, he returned to his hometown to raise his two boys in Illinois. The landscape he found there however, was very different from the one he remembered. Gone were the days of the small farms. Wooden barns and fence lines were disappearing, making way for housing and business developments. His grandfather had passed by this time and the new owners of his property were getting ready to tear down the barns. It was at that point he decided to turn his camera to the great beauty of the Midwest landscape before it disappeared.
Trent Foltz received his Bachelors of Arts in Photography and his Bachelors of Science in Forestry from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. He has worked for the National Park Service and National Forest Service before opening a commercial advertising photography studio in St. Louis, Missouri. Clients include, Anheuser-Bush, Volvo, and Hard Rock Cafe and the Missouri Botanical Center. Trent moved back to his hometown in Geneseo, IL where he currently maintains a studio. His photography has been exhibited nationally and locally at galleries, shows and private collections.
