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.

  • I’m Back… and happy about it.

    I am back from London and trying to climb out of my photo editing pile. I have lots and lots and lots of photos to work my way through… but in the meantime I am trying to balance my computer time, with some fun time. And this morning, although I promised myself I was going to work all day, I couldn’t resist an invitation to breakfast in Inverness to visit some of our friends and their new baby.

    I wasn’t intending to take photos… it was just supposed to be a visit, but as soon as Edison woke up from his nap… without a word, Arann went to the car and came back with my camera… and so… I just couldn’t help it… but come on, how could you not take photos of this kid?

    And really, I have a good excuse, he is literally the only baby boy I know. All of my friends and friends of friends are having girls…. so I needed some baby boy photos…. and these are some of my favorites.

    This is Edison having his second plum ever…. fresh summer plums make for very happy and messy babies.

  • We interrupt this program…

    …to say that I am in London this week to photograph a wonderful friend’s wedding. So I am taking a bit of a break from my usual blogging. But I promise, no re-runs next week. I will be back in Petaluma mid-week and hopefully full of all kinds of wonderfully inspiring photos. Say please stay tuned.

  • If That’s What You’re In To….

    My bestest friend and avid blogger, Nici, aka: Dig This Chick, from Montana, challenged me, and some other bloggers, to share our favorite music: past and present.

    Here’s the challenge:

    THE ORIGINAL RULES:
    List seven songs you are into right now. Tag seven other people to see what they are listening to.

    Nici’s TWIST:
    List seven albums you were into ten years ago.

    And because I love music, I decided to play along. So here’s what I said, with a couple of changes because it means I get to add more….

    Current Obsessions:


    The Bluebellies     have to be on my list, because the lead singer is super hot (see photo above) and I love songs about chickens. But because I am engaged to the lead singer, they don’t count, so this is just a shameless plug.

    Bon Iver, love love his whole album. His voice fills my soul with love and I get all emotional. Favorite songs: skinny love and flume.

    Thao Nguyen. She is amazing rocking little woman, especially when you see her live. Favorite songs: Bag of Hammers (click to see a cute video) and Beat.

    Modest Mouse jumped on my list 4 years ago with album ‘Good News for People Who Love Bad News.’ And my current old favorite song of theirs is Baby Blue Sedan.

    Flight of the Conchords: If that’s what you’re into tied with Business Time (click to see cute videos.)

    The Knife sung originally by Heartbeats and then remade by Jose Gonzales, I like both versions equally but for different mood swings.

    M Ward’s Chinese Translation… (click to see a cute video.)

    And for the last one… this is so hard because I have a million others… but here goes:

    The Bright Eyes song: First Day of my Life makes me well up every time (cute video.)

    And as for my favorites 7 years ago… it was more about albums and less about songs… maybe that is evidence as to how the music industry has changed with the ipod shuffle phenomenon.

    Counting Crows: August and Everything After. Still love it, but it is a little embarrassing to admit now, because everything after their ‘everything after’ album is not so good.

    Indigo Girls: Swamp Ophelia. I was singing at the top of my lungs in the car with Nici.

    Outcast: Aquemini. I went to UGA (go dawgs) and saw them in concert, way before Hey-Ya, although they are a good example of a group that actually improves with time.

    Sublime: Sublime (all-purpose cd just like flour.)

    Dave Matthews Band: Under the Table and Dreaming (it was unavoidable.)

    Smashing Pumpkins: Adore.

    Ani diFranco: Living in Clip

    Feel free to post your lists in the comments below, or post on your own blog and link, either way, it’s fun to discover new music.

    Ready. Set. Go!

  • Yay for Wednesday night Farmer’s Market in Petaluma

    I got a last minute call from The Argus Courier to do a photo shoot at the Wednesday night Farmer’s Market, which I didn’t even know existed. So it was great to go down and see the scene. And now I know that there is another good option for fresh produce and homemade goods in Petaluma.

  • A different kind of Head Shot…

    This is Tim. He works for Petaluma Home Loans and he decided he needed a new head shot. Tim didn’t want a traditional head shot, he wanted something to show the environment as well, which is good for me because I am not very traditional.

    We’ve all seen the bad head shots on the real estate billboards on the side of the road. I am amazed at the photos some professionals use to sell themselves… most times it seems like choosing not to use a photo would be better than the photos some people select. So it was fun to work with Tim, who understands the value of a good photo, and to try and create a natural, yet professional head shot.

  • Just fun to look at…

    These photos were taken with my Rolleiflex during our photographer’s photo shoot the other week.

    Black and white medium format wins again on most of the shots… except this one. I think I prefer the color.


  • Fun Idea for a Bachelorette Party (pass it on)

    This is Gina. She was one of my first friends when I moved to SF and she is getting married in August. She currently lives in NY, but for her bachelorette party she decided to come Sonoma for a wine country weekend. Gina is one of the most positive and full of life people I have ever met. Life is always fun for Gina, so we wanted to plan a fun, Gina appropriate, weekend.

    We did the whole wine tasting thing on Saturday and Gina wore her veil with plastic male body parts all day.

    (holga photos: click photo to enlarge)

    But we wanted something more…. something more memorable…. so as a surprise, we hired a burlesque dancer to come and teach us some moves (we thought it was a little more realistic than the pole dancing trend, seeing as not many of us have access to poles on a regular basis.) To help create the mood, the teacher wanted us in “appropriate clothing,” so we needed an excuse to tell Gina, why we had to dress up in boas, fishnets and slips.

    Leave it to me, the photo obsessed, I decided the perfect solution would be to have a boudoir photo shoot beforehand, because Gina loves taking photos, and I thought she would enjoy getting to play. So we all bought her something fun to wear and we dressed her up. She pretended to protest a little, but eventually she gave in and had the Gina fun we were hoping for

    The hardest part was getting everyone else to change into their sultry side. I would say this is a pretty conservative and modest group, so it took a little pushing and encouraging, but eventually everyone played along, got over their insecurities and we laughed a lot. And now everyone has a portrait as a souvenir of the weekend, which is an added bonus.

    So if you are trying to think of something fun for your friend’s next bachelorette party, let me know, paige green the boudoir photo shoot photographer extraordinaire, is willing to travel.

    (click photo to enlarge)

    As a study in portraits… I love the comparison between these two. They are both so powerful and so different, even though the information in the photos is minimal… it is all about body language and eye contact. I am having fun with formal portraiture and I am slowly getting more comfortable at giving directions and slowing down…. yay for my Rolleiflex.

  • A match.com success story and why I love weddings…

    Jennifer and Steve met 5 months ago on match.com and last weekend I got to photograph their wedding story. I was a little nervous, because it had been over a year since I photographed a complete wedding, do to my year-off for grad school, but this wedding was the perfect reintroduction. Everyone was so happy, the location they picked had gorgeous light and wonderful shade from incredible oak trees and so I just got to play. And weddings are so good because they have everything…. stories, happy people who actually want to be photographed, emotions, products and lots of action, so photo possibilities are endless.


    product photography….


  • Happy Hula Hooping Birthday

    These are just some of my favorite photos from Suzi’s Birthday Party at Oak Hill Farm last weekend. Funny how I have reoccurring themes in my life… right now they seem to be grasslands, bathtubs, and Oak Hill Farm. And hopefully from now on, hula hoops will be a on the list. They make for great photos, they’re fun and I found out I wasn’t as bad at hula hooping as I thought.

  • Which would make you want to pick it up?

    So, it is cover time for Jonah’s book. They want color, veggies, something different, something to show the bounty of the farms and something to compliment the title, which is: Field Days.

    This was my first attempt… any thoughts?

    The one above would probably have some cropping. I don’t know if it is cover potential, but I am proud of it.

    Then there is this field photo, or the one that I posted long ago…. click here.

    Thanks for voting!!