After exploring Europe, South Africa and the Orient, Patrice Beam shares her vivid memories and her love of travel through photography.

“Over the years, I have taken a lot of photographs of the places where I’ve traveled,” Beam, executive director of the Octagon Center for the Arts, said.

“There were always certain moments and memories from every location that I wanted to keep forever. I’ve had a great time in every country I’ve been to.”

Wanting to share her love of travel with everyone, Beam gave her pictures to family and friends as unique gifts.

However, she always thought the general public would find her photographs interesting.

“I thought they would be interesting to other people because the photos are from far-away places,” Beam said.

“I try to take pictures of things that people think of when they think of those far away places. I thought those photos would be of interest to other people for that reason.”

Beam said it seemed like a natural idea for an exhibit.

“It takes a lot of photographs before you find one that grabs you or might be of interest to other people,” Beam explained.

“I take landscapes for the most part. A lot of times, I pick pictures because of uniqueness of costumes, balance of photograph, comparisons of buildings to people or the quality of the photo.”

Travel photographers oftentimes do not realize until they are finished taking a picture that the item is something important, Beam said.

Environmental conditions like water, snow and mist often interfere with her process of taking photos.

Often these conditions prohibit her camera from functioning correctly.

Other times, physical objects attempt to prevent her from taking a picture.

This occurred in South Africa when Beam was trying to take a picture of a misty mountain.

There was a wall in the way, so she held her camera over her head and the photo turned out “pretty interesting.”

“You hope you see something, and you snap away and hope it turns out all right,” she said.

“It is really difficult to take good photos, ones that convey a sense of time, place and emotion. Sometimes I shoot two rolls of film and hope that one of them will turn out.”

Beam’s ethnic photographs will be on display at the Roland-Story State Bank (606 Broad St.) in Story City for the remainder of September.

The exhibit is free to the public during regular banking hours.

“I rarely exhibit my work, but I do enter competitions,” Beam said.

“This is the first exhibit solely of my work,” she said.

“There weren’t enough photographs to fill a large hall, but the bank offered a smaller setting that worked pretty well.”