somewhere between a handshake and two kisses

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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.

  • Blue Eyes, Bottoms and Bubbles…

    After photographing Vienna, I understand the evolutionary purpose of big blue eyes…

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    There is no way you could eat your baby when it looks this cute.

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    I also understand why bubble baths and babies are not such a good mix. I imagined cute baby flapping arms and bubbles floating in the air: happy family, happy baby, happy bubbles. So I wondered why it was necessary for Vienna’s parents to read the ingredient label so carefully before selecting which bubbles to use. I thought, bubbles are bubbles are bubbles… nothing harmful with bubbles. But now I understand…

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    Once Vienna entered the bubble bath, the bubbles went straight into the mouth again and again and again. I think it will be Vienna’s first and last bubble bath for a couple more months. Even still the occasion was pretty cute… and we did get some happy family, happy baby, happy bubbles shots when she wasn’t eating the bubbles.

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  • Oysterpalooza 2009… that’s all I need to say…

    … but I am going to say more.

    What a day of happy people eating fresh local oysters, drinking beer, listening to amazingly good local music, and dancing until they could dance no more. This is one of Arann’s big annual projects that he does in collaboration with the Rocker Oysterfeller’s team. The epic event is not without a lot of work and publicity (which brought more people out this year than ever before and brought some unexpected hurdles like figuring out where to park all those cars.) In the end people were patient and remembered the point of the occasion was to chill out, eat oysters, listen to talented musicians and have a good time, and I think the photos show the mission was accomplished.

    It was a super fun day and I can’t wait for 2010. Maybe there will be t-shirts next year… just a suggestion… but who doesn’t want a t-shirt that says Oysterpalooza?

  • Some people get Porsches…

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    …and some people get skateboards during their mid-life years.

    We received a skateboard for our wedding from one of Arann’s best friends and Arann has been obsessed with his new sport ever since. So much that he wants to have a roller rink party at the junior high school for his 35th birthday.

    My mom said that is the reason we are not having children. She said some people have children so they can feel young again, but we apparently don’t help remembering how to feel young.

    Sadly this amazing outfit is not a part of his daily skateboarding sessions. He wanted a special outfit for his Birthday invitation photo… so I helped him pick out the perfect combination from my wardrobe and then we headed out in to the world.

    The funniest part was crossing the street in front of our house… he definitely got cat calls by men in big trucks. Arann, who was feeling a little embarrassed,  heard, “Freak,” but I like to think that they said, “Sweet.”

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  • Food Glorious Food…

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    Since my arrival in California in 2001… I have eaten countless amazing meals. The new culinary world I landed in opened doors for my tastebuds that I didn’t even know existed. So you would think, this being such an important new adventure for me that I would have better documentation of this new edible adventure. But I don’t.

    I just ate without stopping to document, let alone chew.

    So when asked to present the samples of my food photography, I am embarrassed to say that I don’t have too much to show for my 8 years in food bliss. I feel guilty when I think of all that potential that was just consumed without regard to my future photography needs.

    Even tonight… Arann made a beautiful dish of pasta with colorful veggies that he arranged perfectly in a bowl with complimentary colors… and as we sat on the front porch to eat, I said, “This is so pretty, I should photograph this, especially since my task is to present beautiful food photos.” But I didn’t…. I just dug right in and started shoveling that pasta until it was gone.

    And as my punishment… I spent the evening digging through all my external hard drives searching for anything that I could justify putting in a food portfolio. My selection is pretty slim. I do have lots of butchering photos, from my farm living days, but I am not quite sure that is what the editor called for.

    So from this day forth, I vow to do a better job of recording the food that is presented to me, before I quickly ingest it. In the meantime this is what I have, thanks to my gardener friends and a few: PR gigs, camping trips, Easter buffets, weddings and magazine assignments.

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  • Whatever your style… it’s just about having fun…

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    We are getting excited for Windrush Farm Camp 2009. The applications have already started coming in… so make sure you send your forms in quickly to reserve a spot for your child at the best sheep herding, veggie picking, dog grooming, wood fired pizza making, pool party in the Bay Area.

    Click here to visit the Windrush Farm blog where you can find the brochure and registration forms.

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  • Young Love…

    Jennifer and Brandon got married last weekend at Rocker Oysterfeller’s in Valley Ford…. it was my first wedding of 2009, my first wedding since my own wedding, and my first wedding at one of my favorite venues in  …. so I had lots to be excited about.

    He is 21 and she is 18. He just returned from Iraq and they actually got legally married in February so she could qualify for his military benefits, but her mom really wanted her to have a ceremony. It was a very small ceremony with just their family, which meant I had lots of time to play with the two of them in all the cool spaces around Rocker’s.

    He is from my home state, South Carolina, and she is from Nevada. So to make him feel more at home the menu included good ‘ol fried chicken, cornbread and a John Deer tractor cake. I have promised that I would include a food specific section on my website, so I took advantage of the good food and beautiful presentation that Brandon and Shona (the owners and chef of Rocker Oysterfeller’s) put together.

    Rocker Oysterfeller’s is an awesome location for a wedding. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in having a smaller wedding in Sonoma County. It comes with everything you need… beautifully  intimate setting, amazing food and places for your guests to stay… and you will want to be friends on facebook with everyone who works there by the end of it.

    Sorry for the small thumbnails, but I had so much fun taking photos that day that I couldn’t edit the photos down anymore than this.

  • Moments like this…

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    …are what I miss most while I’m away.

  • Going Corporate…

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    InsideTrack, the college coaching company I have been photographing for the past few months wanted photographs of their new office to show the community of InsideTrack. So I started the day by photographing their monthly phone conference call at 8:30 in the morning.

    Now come on, who wants to be photographed at a meeting at 8:30 in the morning? I was not expecting to get very much as I tip-toed into the room… and well… all I can say is these people make early morning conference calls look like fun and it had nothing to do with me… I was just a fly on the wall.

    And that was the case for the whole day… good light combined with pretty people who are happy with each other and with their jobs… it made my job really easy and fun.

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    I am excited that their new website is coming out into the world very soon because it showcases a lot of my photography. It will be a really nice addition to my resume! I would love to work with more companies who are doing good work in the world and who prefer to use real photos of their people instead of stock photography (to see a comparison between stock and nonstock you can look at their current website which has stock photos.) I hope this is a trend that continues.

  • Lots of Love To All My Favorite Moms…

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    And thank you to the fabulous Jude Mooney for capturing these beautiful photos of three of my most favorite mothers in the world.

  • I was only supposed to take Senior Pictures…

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    This is my neighbor, Gino. He is a third generation Petaluman… and third generation ranch kid. He got his first cow when he was 14. Now he has 4 cows. Gino will be graduating in a couple of months and his mom wanted some senior photos. But not the yearbook kind, she already had to buy those, and she wasn’t that happy with them. She wanted to have some of Gino in his own environment…. so she called me… which was convenient because I live one house away… and because I like nothing more than to photograph in fields with farm animals.

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    So we did some of the standard, look and smile photos… but then we went into the pasture and the clouds started to break-up, and the family members started joining the fun and even the cows couldn’t stay away… so senior photos turned into full family photo shoot… cows included.

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    I have been wanting to do a 3-generation photo with this family for Project Here so it turned into the perfect occasion.

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    After all the formal stuff was over, Gino changed back into his real senior attire. Dress-up photos are nice to have, but this is how Gino really spent his Senior year: dog, jeans, a baseball hat and truck… the cowboy hat above was just peer pressure… but maybe he’ll see how good it looks and trade in his baseball hat…. maybe.

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    And below is a strange phenomenon I wanted to share with you all. I am not sure why or how, but on this particular shoot, for some reason, my camera kept taking photos of people from the nose down… and sometimes just the belly button down. Seriously, I don’t even remember taking them, and when I looked at the photos during the editing process, I wondered, “Why I would take that photo.”

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    I think it was the magnetic draw of those belt buckles, even hidden under jackets my camera still gravitated towards them. But I guess it makes sense, because when Arann and I lived on his mother’s farm, the rancher neighbor across the street always accused me of taking photos of his butt… but something about tight jeans, big belt buckles, and boots is just graphically irresistible for my camera… must be the camera…. always blame the camera.