Beekeeper

Martin Cassiano started working as a beekeeper when he was 18 years old.  Thirty five years later he has become an expert in the world of bees.
Today he manages 400 beehives,  and collects 20 tons of honey a year.  Amazingly with very little budget,  Martin and his two helpers and  nature's good will (as Martin says)  make this modest business work.

 If interested in buying prints visit www.redbirdshouse.com

Carol Ann's Chickens

On November 2011  I took a workshop in Austin with Lynn Johnson, Scott Martin and Penny de Los Santos.  My assignment was to follow and photo document Carol Ann Sayle at her beautiful urban farm, Boggy Creek Farm.
The workshop was more than I had expected to be.  Honestly I thought it was going to be shooting in group and having critiques.   Maybe be back at home for dinner.  Never  did I imagined I was going to be abandoning my four 12 year old kids and husband for a week.
On the second day of the workshop I was so stressed out about being pulled in two different directions I was ready to give up.

Fortunately I did not.   This workshop helped me more than anything I have done for my career in the last 10 years.  It gave me a chance to feel vulnerable but at the same time to realized it's a matter of will and determination and it made me feel empowered.

And as if this would not be enough I got to meet and learn from a real gardener, with real knowledge. Knowledge that is leaned by doing, by getting dirty and sleeping tired.  I got to followed Carol Ann, and her assistants Marisa and Austin while working, preparing the soil, planting and weeding.   I watched her cook and then shared lunch with them everyday. 

And then, as it always happens, while gathering at the kitchen, an interesting conversation came up.  Marissa and Austin were talking about how Butterball was acting weird.  Butterball being one of Carol Ann's chicken.
The three of them really liked these birds!    It was too cool to ignore.
The next day for almost 2 hours, instead of following Carol Ann, Marissa or Austin, I followed the chicken (Penny was not happy about it) these are some of their portraits.

Carol Ann,  Austin and Marissa this one is for you.

Elizabeth

   Watching Elizabeth cook at The Culinary Institute of America  is like watching an Orchestra play.  Everything moves and works together in a coordinated and beautiful way.   Watching her at home is like watching an Orchestra play your favorite Symphony... plus caipirinhas!
Her "White House" as she calls it, is an old house in down town New Braunfels, TX

A fixer upper in  good hands.  I would say.

Every room in the house is beautifully decorated with one of a kind furniture and Elizabeth's life favorite findings.

The kitchen, still not remodeled, is small and unpractical,  The working area is not larger than a cutting board and yet Elizabeth dwells the place.  She moves and prepare meals for friends and family as if she was at The Culinary Institute, while getting milk on a plastic cup and looking for a ban-aid for one of her two small children.

Music is always playing, today Brazilian music.  Elizabeth is mixing something in a bowl while sipping her glass of wine.  I can tell she is enjoying herself... orchestrating her space.

Calm and focus, humming her music she swings around the place, and at the end  a meal of roasted lamb-chops, fresh cut salad from her garden, couscous and grilled asparagus had been prepared.