Savannah Steele has been making hay as of late. Steele, a farmer who works for Sunnyfield, documents her daily life on the farm with photos. Now, she’s got a show at Aesop’s Tables. We caught up with Steele and asked her a little about her craft.
How did you get into farming and how did you get into photography? Is part of the appeal of farming that you get to be in beautiful settings every day?
I got into farming my junior year of high school (2011). I drove by Sunnyfield Farm every day to get home, and thought I would ask to intern. I worked there off and on since then, and work there full-time now.
As for photography, that’s always been a hobby. I like to take pictures. I never shared my photos until recently and have been receiving a lot of positive feedback. I started gifting my photos, and then I started getting requests to buy my prints.
What are some of your favorite moments you’ve captured (if any of them are the photos you share for me to print, that might make sense? And what’s a moment that you wished you could have captured but couldn’t, because you were in the thick of things or didn’t have a camera ?
One of my favorite pictures is the two calves eating in the snow from this past winter. I like the black and white effect with the snowflakes. There have been plenty of moments which would have been “picture perfect.” The farm is a great place to take pictures — animals doing silly or cute things, beautiful landscapes. It’s hard to capture the animals doing these things, since they never sit still, or stop what they are doing as soon as you take your camera out. But I’ve been lucky to snap a few pictures.
If you weren’t farming, what would you be doing? And if you could choose between a career in farming and a career in photography, what would it be?
If I could choose between a career in farming, or a career in photography, I would have to stick with farming. The demand for farmers is much higher than photographers. I really enjoy taking photos, but for fun.
Steele’s photo show is up at Aesop’s through the end of June. For more information, contact her at vann.steele@gmail.com.