Harvesting a Dream – Where it All Began

Before I started shooting professionally, I was learning about documentary photography in Portland, Maine at The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. During my time there, I did a project photographing a young woman, Rachel Seemar, who was transitioning from being an apprentice on an organic farm to starting her own farm. Everything I shot with black-and-white film, and I processed and developed everything in the darkroom. It was one of the most difficult and most rewarding projects I’d ever done.

Rachel’s story was subsequently published in 2007 in Rural Heritage magazine, a publication about farmers who use draft horses. Recently, a photo from that project was again published in a book by Storey Publishing, called Draft Horses and Mules: Harnessing Equine Power for Farm & Show. While it is exciting to see a photo of mine (one of my favorites in the series) in publication, it is more gratifying to know Rachel’s work continues as an independent organic farmer. Her hard work is a tribute to her and many like her who believe in learning and living sustainable agriculture.

Published in fall 2008