Photobook Interviews: The Farmers

The Farmers3

The Farmers3

Justin and Christine Farmer are two of our Instagram celebrities whom we’ve collaborated with before, and we just have to say – we love the raw and rustic autumn atmosphere of their work! They have two beautiful children and they see their growing family as an extension of their lifelong adventure. They took some time to converse with us on what they’re all about.

 

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1. Hey there Justin and Christine! Would you say hi to our readers and tell them a little bit about yourselves please.

Hey! Well, we are married photographers currently living in a small town in South Carolina, US. We’ve been married now for almost four years and are parents to two little boys, Elijah and Judah. Photography for us started out as just a passion to document our boys’ childhoods and our days together as a family, but since then it has grown and stretched into a desire to help preserve both monumental and ordinary moments through images for other families too. We are also travel enthusiasts and enjoy experiencing new landscapes and cultures together as a family.

 

2. So what other types of photography do you guys do?

Truthfully, all sorts of types! From weddings to branding to even recently residential housing listings. I (Christine) think children would certainly be at the top of our niche. We are very passionate about capturing the ordinary magic of childhood, and preserving the beauty held within it. I also regularly work to photograph products for a variety of brands. And Justin is very talented when it comes to photographing architecture too. One of our favorite things to photograph as a hobby together would be wildlife, because we love how unpredictable nature can be.

 

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3. Your Instagram feed has a very earthy and melancholy feel about it. How/why did you decide to go for that mood?

Christine would definitely love that you feel that when looking at our photos. I (Justin) would say one particular reason we go for that mood is because we believe it captures emotion well, and more than anything we want our work to evoke that. We firmly believe photography is much more than a learned skill, but rather an art form, similar to poetry. It should be deep and moving.

 

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4. You guys spend a lot of time hiking, and Elijah and Judah (The kids!) seem to be very comfortable being around a lot of flora. Any interesting tales to share with us?

Oh, they definitely are comfortable like you said! It’s been so fun to watch them in their wonder whenever we visit new places and adventure outdoors. Our favorite place to be is in the mountains. The first time our firstborn, Elijah, ever spoke the phrase, “Woah!” was when we were driving alongside a series of overlooks within the mountains just after his first birthday. I think another one of our most favorite/interesting tales would be the time we saw a bear cub run out right alongside us while in the mountains. It was truly majestic. Justin is obsessed with bears, so you can imagine how in heaven he was!

 

5. How do you think you two have grown since starting your family? What’s changed since back then?

Gosh. Where do we start. For one, we weren’t professional photographers until they came along, so they’ve helped us grow so much as artists just in the last two and a half years. Priorities and time management have changed a lot too. In a good way! And then there’s our character… we’re both much more patient, and humble now. Life definitely does look different since having kids, but we just like to think of it as a whole new adventure- unpredictable, fun, and full of beauty. A friend of ours has a saying that we’ve taken for our own too, it goes something like: “They (children) aren’t coming into the world to be your world, they’re just coming into your world, to join in on the family mission.” We love that. It holds so much weight for us, in that rather than our lives being put on hold, or our lives purely revolving around our boys now, our boys are just here for the adventure along with us. We’re all in this together. To us, ‘The Good Life’ didn’t end after kids, and in a lot of ways, it’s really just beginning. It’s not all easy or simple by any means. But it’s really beautiful. And fun! And… we wouldn’t be who we are as artists today without our boys.

 

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6. So we found out that Christine is a wicked poet and storyteller! Share something with us! We’d love to hear a Farmer original.

Well, there is a short excerpt of one I (Justin) have always loved from a long while ago Christine wrote in a letter for me.

It’s hard not to fall in love with someone when they’ve seen all the mixed up parts of your heart and still chosen to pursue you despite them.

When they’ve seen the darkest corners of your mind and felt its nature toward distortion yet still have found you to be the most desirable.

It’s hard not to become ridiculously captivated by someone when they long to help you shovel all the dirt away rather than leave you buried deep beneath it.

It was easy to choose him.

 

7. What future plans are in store for the family?

Well, we’re heading out west in a few days to California and Oregon for a while, and then there’s Iceland next year. We really hope to settle down some place different and beautiful within the next few years. And adoption is also heavy on our hearts and high on our radars.

 

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8. What/who are your biggest influences?

Hmm. Creation for one, because we really believe landscapes help shape the mood of an image and work to help reflect and magnify what’s being portrayed within it. And then there’s our faith, with love as the essence of it. We’re able to humbly love and serve our clients well because of what we believe to be true about our faith. We can meet folks where they are at in life with a clear and confident transparency because of it, and that makes for the most raw, intimate images. As far as other artists, we’re always admiring the work of older film photographers. The writings of deep thinkers + feelers, like CS Lewis, Tolkien, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce (to name a few) are always working to mold our creative minds too. Elijah and Judah are big influences of course. And we’re both pretty weighty influences to each other as well, with what we feel for each other as the heart behind all that we do and are as artists.

 

Check out The Farmers on Instagram (thefarmers_)
and follow their journey!

 

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