somewhere between a handshake and two kisses

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about

Paige Green is a documentary and portrait photographer, whose storytelling approach to photography frequently addresses issues involving agriculture, land use, and food. Her work is featured in nine books and has been published in Glamour, National Geographic Traveler, New York Times Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, GQ, Country Living, House Beautiful, and Culture. Paige lives in Petaluma, CA with a house full of boys.

  • 65 Years (part I): Photos For My Blob

    Happy 65 years of marriage to my grandparents, Bob and Sally Harper. For their celebration, they took 14 of us to Washington State. The first four days we spent hiking around Mount Rainer, and the last three days we explored Lopez Island, in the San Juan Islands.

    The whole journey was amazing. Besides being in love with all the wildflowers on Rainer and all the wildlife around the Islands, I was also intrigued by the small town communities we invaded. We went from small mountain town to small island town… both very fascinating communities. I wish I could have stayed a little longer to get under the skin a little more, but even from the outside it was interesting to observe. It just may be a project for another day.

    In the meantime, here is a more personal documentary… this is what 65 years of marriage and a strong commitment to family can give you…

    While I was taking a photo of my grandparents playing cards, my grandmother asked me, “Are you going to put this on your blob?” She wasn’t excited about me taking the photo at the time, but she reluctantly allowed me to anyway, because she figured her friends probably don’t read blobs anyway.

  • Playing with clouds and shutter speeds, in Window Rock, Arizona…

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  • The Last You’ll Hear From Me… for a little while…

    I am taking a break….

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    Packing my belongings…..

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    Saying goodbye to Lou…

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    And heading to the airport…

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    I will be hiking up Mt Rainier and then kayaking around Lopez Island, in Washington State, for the next week, with all my relatives, as we celebrate my grandparents’ (not pictured above) 65th wedding anniversary. I can’t wait.

  • Natural Light and Fiber Arts…

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    Peggy Osterkamp needed photos of her latest woven art pieces for a competition… so back to the barn we went, my favorite studio, especially now that it has the skylights. I just hung up a black cloth and away we went. I don’t know that I will ever use real lights, as long as I have my favorite barn. Thanks again to Mimi, at Windrush Farm, for letting us play.

    I told Peggy, this kind of photography is not my specialty, but her pieces are so interesting that I had lots of fun experimenting with the light and fiber. I especially love the first one, because it reminds me of the jelly fish exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

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    This is what our set-up looked like… can’t get much more simple than that.

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    And here is the amazing artist, who created all these beautiful pieces, trying to make the puffiness just perfect.

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  • Top 5 Reasons to Do Engagement Photos…

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    1… You get to snuggle and kiss the person you love most.

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    2… You can visit amazing places you have never been before… like Samuel P. Taylor, home to endangered salmon and giant redwood trees.

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    3…. You get to practice being photographed during intimate moments, which you will soon have to do many many times as people hit their wine glasses with their utensils, signaling for you to kiss, over and over again at your reception.

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    4… You get to know your photographer, who will be following you around and documenting those intimate moments, on the biggest day of your lives.

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    5… You get to have lots and lots of cute photos of just the two of you, right before your lives change forever.

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    It was fun getting to know Jennifer and Ramsey during our photo shoot and I can’t wait for their wedding in August. Thank you to the Green Girls, who recommended me as a photographer.

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  • Baby Therapy…

    This morning, I kind of was feeling like this…

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    But then, a little of this…

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    ….and I suddenly felt better. I am a strong believer in baby therapy, especially if you get to borrow someone else’s baby, and then sneak away right before the smiles wear off and the nap time blues start to take over. But we got two solid hours worth of toothy grins out of 9 month old Hudson before his modeling session was declared over.

    It was a good way to start a Sunday.

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  • That’s What It’s All About…

    Congratulations to Andy and Molly… another Walker Creek Ranch dating success story.

    Walker Creek Ranch is an outdoor science school in Marin County where fifth and sixth graders come for a week as their big school trip of the year. At the Ranch there are 10 Naturalists who are in charge of teaching the students science through experiential education, which means learning by digging in the mud for insects at the pond, identifying native plants while hiking, singing about the food chain at campfire and tasting biodiversity at the garden.

    These 10 Naturalists, usually young, smart, attractive, and ecologically minded people all live in a communal space called the Naturalist Lodge. When I was first introduced to the Walker Creek and the Naturalist Lodge, I could not understand how there could be so many attractive people with similar interests, yet there were no good gossipy love stories… well… it didn’t take long before I learned that I was wrong.

    Since my year at Walker Creek in 2002, there have been 5 Walker Creek couples to get married, including Arann and me. In fact, Susie and Walter’s wedding was the very first wedding of my photography career. I’ll have to dig those photos out, it was back in the days before digital photography and blogging, well for me anyway.

    But Andy and Molly are the first Walker Creek couple, that I know of, who actually got married at Walker Creek Ranch. And, wow, was it fun.

    It was a huge reunion of multiple generations of Walker Creekers, which means a whole lot of people who just want to be outside in the sun and dancing, dancing, dancing. Their wedding was a good reminder of what weddings are supposed to be about, including but not limited to the Hokey Pokey, especially if it is a barn shaking version by the Green String Farm Band.

    To read how the economic crisis in California is affecting outdoor education and the amazing community of Walker Creek please click here.

  • Taking a day for me…

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    I had my first ever weekend of weddings… three… Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

    Today, I am taking the day off.

    NPR, cleaning house, visiting with a friend who lives too far away and just recharging my brain.

    I will be back again with lots to share very soon.

    Once again, here is Lou, my not so little kitten, who I have just bought adult cat food because he doesn’t look like the kittens on the kitten food bags anymore.

  • A Day I Would Like to Live Again…

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    My man really knows how to throw a good birthday party, especially for himself. My only regret is that I didn’t take more photos… but I was too busy rollerskating.  We’ll just have to do it again soon.

    ps: I love my rolleiflex… film wins again!

  • Comfort food at Town Hall…

    In my interview for a book proposal with the guys responsible for Town Hall, a restaurant in San Francisco, one of them asked me, “So, are you a food photographer, is that what you do?’

    I said, “No, I photograph people.”

    Maybe that isn’t the best response when you are interviewing to take photos for a cookbook… but I am a horrible liar.

    I explained that I photograph people, but because I lived on a farm for a year and a half, I have taken photos of food, but usually, that food is still on the farm and being held by the farmer. I showed them what food photos I have and they agreed to give me a chance, because they like “messy.”

    I was not offended. I would say my photos are pretty messy. I don’t do much fussing or arranging; I just take the photos.

    That being said, on the day of the shoot, I suddenly got nervous when Mitch asked, “So what do you want to do?” I didn’t have any preconceived ideas. All I knew was, I was supposed to show comfort food in a comfortable and urban setting… which was the restaurant. I started thinking that I needed a stylist, I couldn’t do this alone… and I needed lights…  but I didn’t have either of those.

    So, I took a deep breath and gave myself a pep talk and started looking for good spots of light throughout the restaurant. All we needed for the proposal were eight photos… I could do eight photos.

    After I relaxed, and the food started coming, and the fog started burning… it all came together. I had lots of fun and I felt really good about what we accomplished. But the best part of it all was I got to eat that bowl of yumminess at the bottom. Toffee, chocolate and butterscotch equals pure comfort in my book.

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