By Sarah Spinner, Phase I Fellow
As I was preparing to come to the Farm, all the way back in June, I made sure to buy film just for this project. At that point, I had only met everyone through some very awkward Zoom meetings. Though I was a little unsure of how we would all live and work communally, I knew I would soon be gaining many new friends. And even back then, I had a vision of how I would ~sneak~ photos of each person, in order to showcase their personality – at least how it presented on the farm anyways!
I’m glad to see this project come to fruition… well, mostly. Taking pictures of everyone in their natural habitat wasn’t as easy as I thought it might be, so some of these photos may have been a little forced late in the game.
So, here it is… the 2020 Phase I Cohort, as they are.
Here is Justin, playing his mandolin on the sauna stoop. With pretty good certainty, I can guess that he’s playing “Sittin’ on Top of The World.” As much as he played it, we all learned the lyrics quite quickly! I’m sad to say those days passed fairly early, and we haven’t heard this song in months.
Of course, I have to showcase our embroidery phase, which is evident from the moment you step foot in the Timberframe. There you will see our glorious gallery, displaying works by the four of us who became happily consumed by this hobby. This one is the creation of Clyde, the bear cub who made the Village his home for a day, as created by the lovely Sophie May.
This may have been the only day that Hannah took out her camera, but it still highlights some of my favorite memories with her, taking property walks together while most likely impersonating any of the many contestants on Love Island UK Season 5. Yes, we did watch all 50 episodes, and yes, we are thoroughly ashamed of it.
“Don’t look at me!” exclaims Dylan, anytime no one is looking at him anyway, but oh, now we are.
Ren is ALWAYS first to volunteer to harvest chard every Friday for the Farmer’s Market. I was so excited about how beautifully the rainbow colors of the chard would come out until I realized - right before I got it developed - that I was using black and white film. Oops!
Here’s Melanie, featuring Silvio the cat. This is one of those last-minute, forced into-a-picture photos. I actually begged for a picture of her in her bee suit, but this partway-on picture is as far as we got and I love it.
Jamie has the most last-minute picture, but this is less forced. We unsuccessfully attempted to get a picture of her with Walter, the cat, on many different occasions. (Apparently, he only consents to solo photoshoots. Reference his model shot below.) This photo may be staged, but she does read a lot, usually in the comforts of her cabin where she’s “goes to bed” at 7:30.
Last and certainly probably least… is me and my rather successful attempt at a film camera selfie. Shout out to Jamie for indulging me enough to help focus this shot.
I will miss the family that we’ve created living up here, but I will always have some great memories, some interesting new sayings, and these photos to help remind me of how great our shared time on the mountain really was.
I can’t wait to see what personality pictures present themselves in the following year together!