Philadelphia-area photographer, Lisa Godfrey had been documenting the small farms in the Adirondacks for the past few years. Adirondack Life Magazine Art Director, Kelly Hofschneider was aware of Lisa’s ongoing project and, having worked with the photographer in the past, Kelly wanted her to contribute photos for the publication’s larger story on the revival of farms in the area. Since Lisa was excited at this chance to contribute to the magazine (with the added bonus of being able to continue her personal project), she was happy to accept the assignment.
Lisa already had a nice selection of images from farms in the Adirondacks. Therefore, she knew the areas she needed to focus on to close the gaps and fill out the storyline. The main goal of the magazine feature was to spotlight how young farmers are becoming more resourceful and affecting the economy and tourism in the Adirondack area.
With the help of Kelly and Adirondack Life Staff Writer, Lisa Bramen, planning for the shoot was pretty straightforward. The only part of the whole process that proved a little difficult for Lisa was that she needed to balance her time between her home in the Philadelphia area and New York State’s Adirondack Mountains. Other than that, Lisa’s shoots went pretty smoothly, in no small part because of her familiarity with and understanding of the area and its farms.
Lisa liked the fact that this project gave her room for improvisation. There were times when she was talking with the farmers and they provided such intriguing content and visuals that Lisa and Adirondack Life decided to add it to the story. Lisa also notes that the farmers she encountered were all very friendly and eager to help out with anything she needed.
The shoots themselves included a mix of local events and farm visits. Lisa was careful to incorporate a mixture of lifestyle, portraiture, animal, and agriculture images to create a concise story and representation of each farm. She especially enjoyed her experiences photographing the dairy animals because they weren’t shy about her getting close to them.
If you sit quietly in their pasture, they get curious about you. They will usually get up close and personal if you let them.
Lisa enjoyed the whole experience immensely. She enjoyed it so much that she found it difficult to choose her favorite part!
Please don’t make me choose between animals, great local food, good people and amazing local beer!
The work was featured in Adirondack Life Magazine and on their site. Lisa received a lot of positive feedback on her pictures, from both the publication and others. She has even been asked to do additional shoots in other locations focusing on the same sorts of topics. She’s currently working on projects like that for two upcoming articles. As she puts it:
These kinds of stories have become a more of a hot topic as people begin to care more and more about where their food comes from.
As you can see, Lisa is very committed to her personal work in this field (no pun intended). Especially because it continues to result in interest from clients. Several commercial assignments have grown out of her personal work and she hopes to continue this success.
See more of Lisa’s work on her website.
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