“Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts will follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization.”
― Daniel Webster
Webster's quote says it all... Farming is what makes us human.
I spent months making this series of photos to celebrate just that.
I present to you my portraits of the Heroes of the Farmer's Market.
Beekeeper Larry Sigmund of Marshall's Honey in American Canyon.
Paul Tripp, Ethan Swope and Johann Smit of Hidden Star Orchards in Clement. Johann's farm is both organic and biodynamic.
Hattea Pearson and her father Ed Pearson of Woodside Farms in Novato and Healdsburg. This photo was taken shortly before Ed's death from cancer.
Andrew Brait, Logan Heyerly and her mom Dixie Bohlke from Full Belly Farms in Guinda.
“A type of humility marks a real farmer. Those of us who battle nature all year must ultimately accept the hand we're dealt.”
― David Mas Masumoto, Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm
Emanuel (Emi) Fulea of Lakshmi Lassi in Mill Valley. Eli takes the best fruit at the market and blends it with organic yogurt turning it into liquid gold.
Joel and Carleen Weirauch from Weirauch Farm & Creamery in Petaluma.
Vince Tristano, Larry Kidneigh and Paul Devaux from TTT Ranch Farm in Santa Rosa.
"My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a preacher and a policeman, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer."
― Brenda Schoepp
Organic Bariani Olive Oil from Zamora.
Packing the sauerkraut at Farmhouse Culture from Watsonville.
Today's chefs portraits... they come to the Farmer's Market 2-3 times a week to feed us the absolute freshest food. Huzzah for the chefs!
Bryan Clark and assistant from Green Gulch Zen Retreat in Mill Valley.
Tony Tutto from Tony Tutto's Pizzeria in Mill Valley. (Tony used to be the manager of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Carlos Santana before he fell in love with pizza-making.)
Elena Fabbri (and the youngest chef at the market, her son) from Osteria Divino in Sausalito.
Thanks for watching.
I have a long history of inventing tools for animators and also making films and photographs. My wife, daughter and I live at the foot of beautiful Mt. Tamalpais on the San Francisco Bay and I've been using technology to tell complex stories for a long time. My biggest claim to fame? Leading the team that created Autodesk 3ds Max... the most popular 3D animation tool of all time. When I sold the Yost Group to Autodesk at the end of the last century I jumped headfirst into pursing my original love... photography and filmmaking. Now I spend all of my time exploring the mysteries of my world with my cameras, and revealing what I find in my images and films.
You can find my verification post here.