It has never been more important to celebrate the strong females of our lives.
Last year I started a personal project to document the FIERCE females I know. This year I want to extend it beyond females I know.
Please nominate FIERCE females who you think should be documented and celebrated.
Happy FIERCE female Friday and I look forward to marching with FIERCE Bay Area Females at the Women’s Marches on Saturday.
Holy Jenga, the sun came up on a new year. (After 2016, I wasn’t so sure it would.)
But the last thing we need is another blog post about how bad things were in 2016.
I figure, since most of our history books are filled with one-sided perspectives, and those perspectives aren’t always very factual…
And since we now live in a society that prefers make-believe over reality…
Why not write my own history of 2016. So here goes…
It was amazing. 
My house was always clean.
My kids never fought. 
The IRS gave us lots of money back after our audit. 
I have perfected the work/life/love balance.
Orangutans are making a come back. Syria is rebuilding better than ever and…
Hillary Clinton won the presidency. 
OK… so maybe not. 
But instead of dwelling on the darkness…
I am going to focus on the light…
And extend an invitation to more of the awesome…
And less of the shitty for 2017 (unless it’s compost.)
But there is an extra challenge for me, because entering this new year means entering a new decade. 
I am not thrilled about my new decade starting the same year that our country offers the potential of nuclear war, or starts burning so many fossil fuels that we cook our way back into a primordial soup.
Oh man, if I didn’t have kids… I would jump off of this doomed life raft so fast…
And jump on to a booze cruise in Mexico, preferably one with lots of milkshakes and tequila.
But thanks to raging hormones that took over my good judgement in my early 30’s,
I now have two small people who I am responsible for.
And I desperately want those two people to live in a world where police don’t shoot citizens they were hired to protect, presidents don’t encourage hatred and violence, warlords don’t kill innocent children, and companies don’t destroy the planet or wipe out species for products like ivory, palm oil and shark fins.
So I have lots to do in 2017. The party is over.
It is time to get to work.
Because it is better to solve problems than cry about them (although I have little to no control over my tear ducts thanks to having kids, so crying is probably going to happen regardless.)
But through the tears you may hear our family theme song, “If there’s a problem, yo, I’ll solve it. Check out the hook, while my DJ revolves it.”
And for the real history books (and because I promised to focus on the good)…
Here are a few of my actual favorite moments, projects and memories of 2016 and a new song (from La La Land) for the soundtrack of a new decade….
A bit of madness is key to give us to color to see
Who knows where it will lead us?
So bring on the rebels
The ripples from pebbles
The painters, and poets, and plays.
Here’s to the fools who dream.
Crazy, as they may seem.
Here’s to the hearts that break.
Here’s to the mess we make.
Here’s to a work-our-asses-off new year.
Thank you for all of your love and support.
I look forward to seeing what we dreamers create together in 2017.
(Drawing by Christian Anthony)
Two years ago, I started this blog post:
Welcome to the world baby, Alistair Henry Harris…
We waited a long time for you to arrive. 
A long, long time.
And you didn’t come how we expected…
But you eventually came, all whopping 10.2lbs of you.
Everyone was excited to meet you, but no one more excited than your big brother…
And then, as it happens with the second child, I blinked (and didn’t finish this blog post) and suddenly TWO YEARS flew by…
And now you are a little boy who has become very serious about baseball…
Making people laugh…
And dance parties…
But best of all, you have a relationship with your brother…
that just keeps on getting better and better.
Happy To You, Ally Boo Boo! To show you how much we love you, we are going to get you some shirts for your birthday, so you aren’t half dressed in all the photos in your next birthday post.
(MTV video footage by: Laura Schneider.)
My reply: Yes and very much yes….
Thank you, MALT, for the work you do protecting farmland and for working with me for the past 10 years. This was my favorite MALT photo shoot yet.
And thank you to my excellent pilot, John, for the incredible early morning tour. I’m happy to fly with you again any time!
As photographers, we spend so much time working hard all by ourselves.
So I wanted to create a space where photographers can create, share, learn and play together.
And in 2013 we hosted our first Farm Photo Workshop.
After two successful years of providing space for other people to play and learn,
I realized that I wasn’t creating space for myself to play and learn as well, because I was too busy hosting.
This year I wanted to play and learn too.
So I changed it up.
Instead of hosting a workshop… I hosted a playshop.
Instead of one person teaching: we were all teaching and we were all learning. 
It was tricky hosting and photographing, there are definitely things I would do better next year. 
But it was really fun.
And I am more inspired than ever to try new things… 
To collaborate…
And to play.
I hope I always make time to play.
BIG love and HUGE thanks to:
Mimi Luebbermann for creating and generously sharing her inspiring Windrush Farm.
Laura Schneider for her endless drive and motivation (without Laura this Farm Photo (Play)shop absolutely would not have happened.)
Mike Byrne, Blake Farrington (of Samy’s,) Mike Fischer, Adrian Hallauer and Hubert Kang for sharing their lighting wisdom and resources.
Alysia Andriola, Alexis Scarborough and Eliza Mauer for sharing their enviable style and bountiful props.
Arann Harris for holding up the fort and the dough.
All of our beautiful models and their family members who drove them.
Della Fattoria, Thistle and Petaluma Coffee for donating locally made delicious sustenance.
The Opera House for donating lovely locally made props.
And all of the talented photographers who came to create, share, learn and play.
Juilliard trained opera singer and florist, Betany Coffland, often uses music as inspiration in her floral creations. Her business, Chloris Floral exclusively uses local and seasonal flowers grown with organic practices. For our photo shoot, Betany wanted to create photo stories for two special operas. Here is how that happened…
Her email:
The first bouquet will be inspired by “Ah Chloris” by Reynaldo Hahn, the piece that inspired the name Chloris Floral. Completely romantic, rich and full. Here’s me singing the song with guitar:
Our result:
Her email:
The second bouquet will be inspired by Pierrot Lunaire- it’s piece I’m performing this week. Themes are puppets, commedia dell’arte, moon inspiration. I want to be elegant here and not so literal, but still a bit off kilter. Here’s a link to the crazy music:
Our result:
It feels like magic when a group of people come together for the first time, share their talents and create art. We are so in love with the results and we’re ready to do more. Thank you to the incredibly talented team:
Floral Designer/Opera Singer: Betany Coffland of Chloris Floral
Stylist: Alysia Andriola of Grace and Gather
Chloris Model: Vero Kherian of Miss Cheesemonger
Pierrot Model: Alexa Eisner of Babachic
Assistant: Laura Schneider
And thank you to the local flower farmers who sustainably grew these gorgeous opera singing flowers.
If I had been planning a photo shoot: Ally would have been wearing clothes; Harper would have been wearing clothes that didn’t clash with the couch; I would have cleared away the dirty laundry and Harper’s hair wouldn’t have been wet.
But if I had planned a photo shoot… it wouldn’t have happened. Someone would have been grumpy and hiding, and someone else would have fallen and inevitably obtained a face injury.
Instead… we were playing; I grabbed the camera that was left out from an earlier photo shoot; I took a few photos then put the camera away and the playing continued.
So the photos aren’t perfect… but they are real. This is exactly what 4.5 and almost 2 look and feel like with my boys.
Timm Ranch sheep shearing with Fibershed.
We are The Design Guild, and we are going on Field Trips. But it’s not design we are looking for, it’s community. And we want to get to know ours better, one Field Trip at a time…
Coming soon to a business near you.
But sharks are endangered, so instead of watching sharks kill people, we ended up watching people kill sharks.
somewhere between a handshake and two kisses 
