I sat down with Jennifer McCluskey of McCluskey Photography LLC in Canton, who was hired by Cornell Cooperative Extension to capture photos at area farms and food businesses as part of a Farm-to-Table initiative over the past 4 years. Since 2018, Cornell Cooperative Extension has been offering free professional photo shoots to any direct market producer who sells food in St. Lawrence County. The producers have 100% access to their images which have been used for their own education and promotion purposes. Extension spent the winter combing through the 12,000+ images and we curated an exhibit called In Season: Our Rural Food System in Photos. From pastures to deli cases to bee yards, it was a pleasure to travel the roads of St. Lawrence County documenting the farms and food businesses with Jennifer!
In this interview you can learn more about Jennifer’s background and her experience participating in this project.
Jennifer will also be leading a farm and food photography workshop on June 11th, read more here.
How long have you been photographing professionally? How did you start?
I started taking photos professionally when I moved to St. Lawrence County in 2009. When I started the business, I had a purpose in mind. I felt like far too many people miss the small moments of beauty in their lives, instead thinking too much on the negatives in the world. I wanted to capture these moments of beauty, joy, and heartfelt emotion to help remind people of all the good that is out there. I feel like I have begun to accomplish that over the last few years in business, and want to work more to meet that goal. I find the North Country to be a beautiful place with great scenery for photographing, and wonderful, kind people who have welcomed me and my camera into their homes and lives.
How did you get involved with the Farm-to-Table photoshoots?
I got involved with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), through Flip Flippi, the Local Foods Program Leader at CCE in 2018 when Flip was collecting ideas about what the project would look like. We started by just talking through the project and what it would entail. Eventually as we were planning I was asked to be the photographer for the farm-to-table professional photoshoots for food and farm businesses in the area, and it’s worked out really well. We’ve taken images of some 80 plus food and farm businesses.
What aspects of a farm or restaurant photoshoot do you enjoy the most?
I really like seeing all the different and interesting things that people are working on. I didn’t know about the variety of products or places we have here in St. Lawrence County until I started working on the farm-to-table photoshoots. Like for example, Deer River Cranberries, I had heard of it but I didn’t know the scale of the production until we went there and saw the whole process from start to finish. Plus I love trying the delicious foods from our area producers.
Can you give us an example of a memorable farm photoshoot?
At Thompson’s Tree Farm, the steam from the sugaring process made the sunlight streaming through the maple stained glass and gaps in the boards look really ethereal, which was enjoyable to photograph. The photoshoot at Our Little Grewve Farm in Hermon also stood out to me, there were lots of little details to capture and beautiful flowers to take images of. The same with Never Tire Farm, the weather was bad and sleeting outside but it was beautiful inside the greenhouse and the soft light made it nice for photos.
What images do you try and capture first when you’re in a time crunch?
The goal of the CCE Farm-to-table photoshoots is to take images that the businesses need for marketing purposes. This was done by communicating with the owner, usually directed through Flip who had an idea of what was needed. Though typically when I do events or weddings at other venues I make a plan ahead of time of what shots to get and if I haven’t been to the venue then I get there early to check out lighting and areas to take photos.
What is the most difficult thing to capture through the lens with food photography?
It can be difficult to capture chefs in action due to the often dark nature of kitchens. People are moving around a lot too, and things go quickly. But when I take pictures of food, I like to see how the shapes and textures relate to each other. I like to capture food and other products from different angles and adjust the lighting, and I like to play with the background to change it up.
How do you capture animals and other livestock on a farm?
Chickens are hard to take images of, they are low to the ground and quick. The best way to capture livestock images is to get down to their level. Animals like cows can be tough because they are afraid of the camera, and dark cows often require a lot of editing due to the sharp contrast on light fields. With a lot of the farm photography it’s all about the editing to make sure the contrast is just right. Noon is a difficult time to capture photos on the farm because of the high sun. I really like morning photos because the light can be really pretty and fresh and the dew on things can be beautiful.
Can you talk about techniques or ways to keep things interesting when you’re taking multiple images of the same things over and over?
Having a foreground, midground and background can keep a photograph interesting to the viewer when taking similar photos of the same products. Showing the product in use, or with complementary products can also help tell the story of the product. I like to take a lot of images with hands holding the products, or having leading lines to focus on the main product. Taking a photo with the raw ingredients and then showing the final product is a great way to show how it is created. Also, farmers and food producers need to be a part of their products’ story so it was great to be able to photograph them working with their products too.
Do you have any reflections on being a part of the farm-to-table photoshoots?
I wanted to say thank you to the farmers and business owners I have had the opportunity to photograph. I have really enjoyed capturing these images, and am thankful people were willing to take time away from their businesses. It has been great getting to know more people and to see all the variety that St. Lawrence County has to offer.
Jennifer McCluskey owner and photographer for McCluskey LLC, seeks to highlight the beauty, joy, and heartfelt emotion in photos to help remind people of all the good that is out there. Jenn has been working with CCE on the farm-to-table photoshoots since 2018. You can read more about her photography experience and services on her website.