earth walking

shaenamallett.com

2012-01-30T13:34:00.000-05:00

Alright, I did it. After a few years of hiding away, and as part of my no-more-fear-hell-yes-life-is-awesome campaign (there will probably come a night soon that i'll have a few drinks and explain this awesome campaign on the blog), I have finally redone my personal photography website and am ready to share it.

You can take a look at it here; www.shaenamallett.com

thanks all, happy monday.
s

a face

2012-01-30T13:14:00.000-05:00

from a portrait shoot with the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation in Winston-Salem, NC, a couple of weeks ago.

Peter Earl McCollough

2012-01-13T16:26:00.000-05:00

Read an awesome interview with good friend (and rad photographer) Peter McCollough, here!

Video; Handmade

2012-01-10T17:03:00.000-05:00

I made a video of an awesome guy named Ben that makes awesome guitars by hand.

untitled

2012-01-09T12:56:00.000-05:00

Two Thousand and Elevan

2012-01-05T21:27:00.000-05:00

January 1, 2011

December 31, 2011

I am so thankful for this last year. It's been full of some major transitions, including finishing a degree, moving south and learning to make decisions for love. Photographically speaking, the first six months were crazy with shooting a thesis, and the second six months were quiet with my camera mostly sitting on a desk while I farmed, hid away from most of the world and thought about all of the reasons why I have been terrified for so long to photograph from my core, why I have hid away for the last few years and have been so afraid to share. There are thousands of reasons, moments of personal history to explain away my fears, but maybe it can boil down to this; when we photograph to hold onto the past, we are holding onto some past truth of ourselves in that moment, and to put that out there to the world is vulnerable. It's amazing, our ability as human beings to be so afraid of ourselves. I'm ready, maybe for the first time I can remember, to let go of this year and move onto another. I sat for awhile on the solstice, and again on new years, and remembered something that I have forgotten since birth; only in letting go can we make space for lightness to shine in. So. There's my new years ramble. Here's to you folks.

thank you.

A year long exposure

2012-01-02T16:10:00.000-05:00

photographer Michael Chrismas makes a year-long exposure with a pinhole camera pointed toward the Toronto skyline. So cool!

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1109339

untitled

2012-01-02T10:11:00.003-05:00

happy holidays y'all

2011-12-31T00:39:00.003-05:00

from the archives

2011-12-19T17:57:00.000-05:00

dolly sods, wv

august 2010

high as clouds.

Yuri Kozyrev

2011-12-18T11:05:00.001-05:00

Yuri Kozyrev

this man's work truly blows my mind. why is it so visually different than most photographers taking similar types of photographs in the same places? perhaps a better cultural understand of the people in the photographs?

late summer

2011-12-10T12:27:00.000-05:00

chickens at celebrity dairy in siler city, nc.

it seems i haven't really taken many pictures of people the last six months.

vegetables

2011-12-10T12:23:00.000-05:00

a food series i shot in the spring

sometimes the sky doesn't seem as far away.

2011-12-09T19:09:00.001-05:00

hot springs, nc. october 2011

Photography Auction for a Good Cause - ENDS SUNDAY NIGHT!

2011-12-08T19:38:00.001-05:00

Not sure what to buy your photo-loving loved ones for christmas (and this can include yourself)? Want to help fund something meaningful but don't know what? Well look no further!

Chad A. Stevens, talented photographer, videographer and teacher (and man of my heart) is currently putting on an online photography auction to help fund the making of his documentary film, A Thousand Little Cuts. Chad has been dedicated to telling the story of a grandmother caught between worlds, fighting to save her beloved mountains and her family in a place where coal rules king. This is an independent documentary, which means it needs your support to finish!

Along with the auction is another page called "Jumpstart,"where you can buy any one of a handful of prints instantly, as well as pre-order a DVD of the documentary.

There are some world class photographers with photographs in the auction, including Bob Sacha, Barbara Davidson, Ed Kashi, Scott Strazzante, Jack Corn, and David LaBelle, just to name a few. There is even a photograph (well actually two if you look at the Jumpstart page) of yours truly in the auction. I am seriously honored to be on the same website page with any of the previously listed photographers, and I am urging you to check out all of the great stuff to bid on.

THIS ALL ENDS SUNDAY NIGHT!

Click here to check it out.

headless snake in the flower patch

2011-12-07T14:09:00.001-05:00

self portrait with a headless snake that i found in the flower patch on the farm. early october 2011

pumpkin patch

2011-10-31T19:40:00.002-04:00

going home.

2011-10-31T18:26:00.005-04:00

quiet things.

A day that felt like spring

2011-10-01T00:03:00.001-04:00

a long time ago.

Marianne and Ben

2011-10-01T00:02:00.002-04:00

two artists starting a life and farm together in siler city, nc.

and another.

2011-09-18T00:12:00.001-04:00

another from tangled roots

2011-09-18T00:10:00.002-04:00

blustery

2011-09-17T01:27:00.003-04:00

Valerie's daughter hiding from the rain on an early summer afternoon.

better late than never II

2011-09-17T01:09:00.005-04:00

oh and how things have changed since my last real post. i live in the south now! when i'm not working the farm, trying to make the perfect biscuits or get to know southern fruit, i've been slowly catching up on editing and redoing my website (that yes, has been down for a few.... years.).

just came across this one that i don't think i've shared yet; it's from my thesis project, tangled roots, and i think may be my favorite from the whole thing, and also the last photo I took of Valerie, just a couple of days before the show.

better late than never.

2011-09-17T01:04:00.003-04:00

the project website for my honors thesis crashed in the summer heat, and my ability to figure out how to figure seems to have crashed as well. maybe someday.

i don't think i ever shared photos from the exhibit on here. it was a humble space and set up but had a lot of love and good people floating around throughout it. i'm still very thankful.

into the great beyond

2011-07-14T18:52:00.003-04:00

As per usual, time has gotten away from me. Big life updates; I finally graduated with a degree in participatory visual ethnography. It's a degree I designed condensing studies in photojournalism, participatory documentary work, photography/arts-based community development, and social justice. woot woot! Also, I'm moving to Chapel Hill, North Carolina next week! (another woot woot!) And, I just got a job on a goat farm.

Life is full of love and my heart is full of gratitude. Let the farming and art continue harmoniously into the great beyond!

early morning studies of spider webs

2011-07-14T18:50:00.002-04:00

woke up the other morning, wide awake, as the sun rose. i think the spiders were calling my name.

untitled

2011-04-28T16:30:00.000-04:00

Robin.

2011-04-28T16:28:00.000-04:00

nothing says spring like death.

Ramps

2011-04-28T16:21:00.001-04:00

nothing says spring like ramps.

Valerie at Haulin' Hoof Farm

2011-04-28T16:14:00.003-04:00

Ma Parker III

2011-04-28T16:07:00.002-04:00

weeding the herb garden and watching thunderstorms roll in.

Easter with the Nolans

2011-04-28T12:19:00.007-04:00

a random smattering of photos from a very thunderstormy, flooded easter day with the nolans - celeste and i devoted the day to making the most wonderful raw milk cheddar.

Ma parker II

2011-04-13T19:08:00.000-04:00

"Here I am in Meig's County, it's Meig's County. Meig's County is Appalachia. Where do they put all the power plants that pollute? In the poor Appalachia. You know? You don't see them in Hollywood. You don't see them in Upper Arlington in Columbus. You don't see them in rich neighborhoods. There's a reason for that. You see them in Appalachia and on the Indian reservations because those people don't count."

ma parker

2011-04-13T16:55:00.006-04:00

cindy parker, grandmother & herbalist extraordinaire.

cindy's photo of thistle

an old photo of cindy and one of her plant totem's: mullein

an old photograph of cindy, one of her daughters and her herb teacher, rosemary gladstar

cindy and her grandson, milo

"I think the experiences that you have with the land are made much more potent by sharing them with people."

some random photos of / from ma parker for the women and land project i'm working on.

one day i'll be my own leadbelly.

2011-04-07T21:59:00.003-04:00

from the archives.

bones and bluebells

2011-04-07T18:45:00.003-04:00

from the archives.

Gifted Heritage. Borrowed Land.

2011-04-04T22:41:00.007-04:00

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." - Native American Proverb.

Cindy Parker reminded me of this proverb this weekend while we were driving back from a women farmers meeting, here. i was so thankful.

the photo is from haulin' hoof farm , where i've been spending time with valerie fox for the women and land project.

februaries.

2011-02-27T23:07:00.002-05:00

Tangled Roots

2011-02-24T19:49:00.001-05:00

My Great Grandmother (we think), on the right.

I grew up in a family with a legacy of strong women. The men were strong too, there is no doubt in that, but I was always drawn to the stories of the women; mountain women, woodland women, green thumbs, farmers, gardeners, janes-of-all-trades.

As an adult, I find myself growing back into the roots of my family and the farmstead mentality that grew me. My photographic interests have turned toward who I am and what I understand - a desire to explore the relationships of women and land. Living in Athens, Ohio, I am surrounded by awe-inspiring women; this region (southeast ohio, west virginia, eastern kentucky) is full of so many amazing ladies.

It's been frustrating to realize that the amount of historical material celebrating women's accomplishments with land (farming, herbal health, environmental activism, etc) in northern Appalachia is severely deficient. Shocking, considering how many amazing, inspiring women I constantly meet here. And so was born the inspiration for my current project.

For my honors thesis to finish my OU degree in Visual Ethnography, I'm currently working on a new project devoted to celebrating the stories of a handful of inspiring women in the region and their unique relationships with land. The project will weave together a combination of oral history, my own photography and (this is the coolest part) the photography of the women in the stories. I think it's going to be really awesome and I can't wait to share as it develops. It's in the beginnings now, so stay tuned for many more updates over the course of the next 4 months.

Here are some photos of one of the women, Cindy Parker, while walking around her land and walking through her labyrinth on a few sunny february days. She is an herbalist, spiritualist, teacher and all around awesome human being.

family

2011-02-20T16:12:00.005-05:00

My French-Canadian great-grandfather. he was a trapper and lived in the Upper Peninsula (Michigan).

Great Grandfather with a fox.

I don't know if anyone is sure who this little girl is - probably a great aunt.

Great Grandfather on the left. I've never seen a photograph of him that he doesn't look proud and self-assured.

There are stacks of these old family photographs on glass slides. I hope someday we can turn more of them into prints.

the farm VI

2011-02-20T15:46:00.001-05:00

the farm V

2011-02-20T15:39:00.002-05:00

the farm IV

2011-02-20T15:36:00.001-05:00

the farm III

2011-02-20T15:31:00.003-05:00

the farm II

2011-02-20T15:24:00.000-05:00

the farm I

2011-02-20T15:16:00.007-05:00

The internet is a strange place - a platform for dividing the self into specific channels to compartmentalize interests, skills, knowledge. I've always struggled with the concept of self-representation, including on this blog. When I created the blog almost 4 years ago, I was attempting to channel my identity as a young photographer, perhaps trying to prove not as much to others as to myself that I indeed that above all things - a photographer.

Years have crept by and my desperate search for identity has faded. I no longer feel the need to prove myself as one thing or another (or I should say, the need has lessoned). The last couple of years, I've had a constant back and fourth relationship with my camera. My perception of myself as a human being, woman, child, lover, thinker, anthropologist, feminist, envrionmentalist and natural creature has grown and flourished, and I've learned to seek a new path - allowing photography to follow where I'm going, what I love and what I understand, as opposed to my previous path of attempting to use photography to lead and define those things.

This blog has channeled one small stream of my personal universe, leaving out countless parts and details of all the other waterways of my thoughts, passions and activities that define the way I see. One of the most important endeavors of my young life has been diving back into my country roots. Farming, gardening and creating a lifestyle defined by nature's laws and cycles has always been a natural truth inside my mind and heart, and I find myself sinking back into that truth more all the time.

By a stroke of random, serendipitous luck, I began working for a dairy farm in Rio Grande, Ohio about 10 months ago. Laurel Valley Creamery is the five generation family farm of Nick and Celeste Nolan. They've gone from selling milk from their herd of Jersey cows to making raw milk cheese (the most amazing cheese, ever.. seriously). It's always a balancing act with my other jobs, assistant-teaching a therapeutic photography class, volunteering with a middle school 4H program, working on a thesis project and finishing my degree, but it is one of the most positive relationships I've ever had. At Laurel Valley, I work the farmers market, do advertising, help create educational materials about farming and cheese-making, visual materials, and help with odd jobs like packaging and gardening. I love the Nolan family so dearly, and am constantly in awe of how much I learn from them (and laugh with them). They are wonderful human beings, and I am so thankful to be near their kindness, depth of knowledge and commitment to nourishing others with quality food and community.

So, allow this unedited plethora of photographs of the farm commence.

beautiful

2011-01-13T23:41:00.002-05:00

i just discovered and was very moved by the beautiful work of steven beckly.

two thousand and ten.

2011-01-08T00:59:00.004-05:00

it's amazing how quickly a year can slip past. in roughly chronological order, starting new years day of last year and ending on new years eve of last year, lacking cohesive editing, here are little fragments of me, for you. little bits and pieces that have fallen down to the bottom of my pockets that i am now retrieving with confused sentimentality. i've become quite shy of sharing, and am ready to start shake myself up until my pockets spill more often.

the sun is setting. my heart is full. and time is marching on, through new old days of change and growth and stillness and etc. this life is one of such love. i cannot begin to thank you enough. anyone. anything. but with every ounce of my imperfect, whole, joyful being i am bursting with true thankfulness.

love,

shaena

muddled petals.

2010-12-29T14:42:00.002-05:00

darling.

2010-12-29T14:22:00.001-05:00

Expired film. New Orleans. March 2010.

helicopters and sand.

2010-12-29T14:10:00.003-05:00

Fort Tilden, July 2009

visualbirth of the film that's been sitting in a lonely drawer for over a year.

this one's untitled too

2010-11-05T20:20:00.001-04:00

july 2009

untitled.

2010-11-05T20:19:00.000-04:00

autumn 2009

new found old things.

2010-11-05T20:12:00.002-04:00

April 2010.

i've been scanning rolls of film that have collected dust over the last year, so images will slowly trickle onto here as i go.

it looks just like the sun.

2010-09-19T18:28:00.002-04:00

archives.

A Memory 6. You Were an Ocean.

2010-09-15T20:34:00.003-04:00

what do you see? you ask. whisper. i am halfwake and halfway in the ocean. gurgled seafoams.

tell me what you see. what is keeping you awake.

i see light. the rest is dark. you are wrapped in lines.

venetian blinds make like clouds and hide us from the neighbors.

i hope by morning i can spit up the sand in my mouth and tell you you are beautiful.

photo from some time ago.

untitled.

2010-09-15T19:56:00.001-04:00

photo from the archives.

2010-09-10T17:28:00.002-04:00

"Each set of journalistic eyes is conditioned and shaped by family upbringing, church and school training; is invariably limited by time, place, and the specific condition of the writer's social development; and is inevitably stamped with the unconscious imprint of his or her class, race, and gender. Each set of eyes necessarily becomes a flawed prism, partial or subjective by its very nature, through which the writer filters and then recreates an exceedingly complex reality. The battle to record history as it happens — from a divergent, sometimes unpopular view rather than from a consensus perspective already diluted by self-censorship — is the essential challenge to journalists in a modern capitalist democracy."

Juan González, Puerto Rican journalist who covered the LA Riots

smoke monsters.

2010-08-23T17:06:00.000-04:00

A Memory 5. A Dream, Forever Ago.

2010-08-13T11:24:00.002-04:00

from the archives.

untitled.

2010-08-06T17:10:00.001-04:00

from the archives.

Arabella.

2010-08-06T16:53:00.002-04:00

from the archives.

untitled.

2010-08-06T16:11:00.000-04:00

untitled.

2010-08-06T16:09:00.001-04:00

from the archives.

a memory 4. seafoam green.

2010-07-24T16:27:00.001-04:00

from the archives.

untitled.

2010-07-06T17:50:00.000-04:00

untitled.

2010-07-06T17:44:00.000-04:00

untitled.

2010-07-06T17:43:00.000-04:00

untitled.

2010-07-06T17:41:00.000-04:00

traces.

2010-07-06T17:15:00.001-04:00

light and water and winged things.

2010-07-04T14:40:00.002-04:00

a memory 3. in the kitchen.

2010-06-30T21:58:00.001-04:00

age old blue.

2010-06-30T21:46:00.002-04:00

forsythia II.

2010-06-30T21:45:00.002-04:00

magnolias.

2010-06-28T19:40:00.002-04:00

fake flowers.

2010-06-22T14:26:00.001-04:00

yellow petals.

2010-06-22T14:22:00.000-04:00

lilacs.

2010-06-22T14:19:00.001-04:00

peony petals.

2010-06-22T14:12:00.002-04:00

early spring II

2010-06-22T13:53:00.002-04:00

untitled.

2010-06-18T15:12:00.000-04:00

sweet clover II.

2010-06-18T15:07:00.000-04:00

dogwood.

2010-06-18T14:59:00.000-04:00

sweet clover.

2010-06-18T14:57:00.000-04:00

forsythia

2010-06-18T14:55:00.001-04:00

untitled.

2010-06-18T14:53:00.000-04:00

a memory 2. untitled.

2010-06-18T14:51:00.000-04:00

untitled.

2010-06-18T14:49:00.000-04:00

early spring.

2010-06-18T14:43:00.000-04:00

fun and games

2010-04-27T15:57:00.003-04:00

I had fun picking a "you guess it" theme for the good people of Luceo Images last week. It was a timely one to celebrate spring! Thanks y'all

a memory 1. untitled

2010-04-19T11:22:00.000-04:00

flowers bloom out of sight.

2010-03-17T20:20:00.004-04:00

down where the trees grow together

2010-03-17T18:34:00.004-04:00

and the western path comes to an end.

welcome, ghosts.

2010-03-15T15:13:00.005-04:00

January 2, 2008. Chatham, Ohio.

A visit home.

It's so cold. (Beautiful things can be so wicked.)

December 24, 2007. Chatham, Ohio.

Came home on Christmas Eve. Dad was making a sign for the church.

(heavy metal.)

December 22, 2007. Akron, Ohio.

A visit to an old friend. They've moved. (The floor boards are still crooked.)

December 25, 2007. Strongsville, Ohio.

It was so good to hear their house fill with laughter. There hasn't been a lot of it since she died in October. (The dog keeps howling.)

March 12, 2008. Athens, Ohio.

It's such a blur. (It's all so clear.)

February 24, 2008. Athens, Oh.

I can still feel you.

alright. that may be enough of the black and white wintertime nostalgia from the archives for now. a group of OU grads asked to use some of my winter series for a magazine feature, which has encouraged me to dive back into the archives and memories, and begin to re-edit. It's been refreshing to rediscover the photographs. The best thing about diving back into the archives is looking at old moments that are still working their way through my consciousness.

sometimes the most important experiences in your life take a very long time to make sense. or maybe they never completely become clear as one specific meaning, but keep releasing little bits of clarity as time passes like whispers late at night. or maybe they just constantly transform and the meaning just changes every day, every time you look at them.

the world is melting.

2010-03-15T15:02:00.003-04:00

January 2010. Chatham, Ohio.

Homestead. It's bittercold outside.

When you left a year ago, the phone became static. I thought the snow hitting the windows was rain tapping. (There would be another 3 months of ice.)

February 6, 2010. Athens, Ohio.

"The trees are so heavy with snow but they're still swaying, so slightly. If that's not a metaphor for something, I don't know what is."

We hid on the roof

2010-02-28T11:43:00.003-05:00

and pretended we were kings.

from the archives.

a tired moan.

2010-02-25T01:01:00.006-05:00

more from the archives.

boston

2010-02-24T20:10:00.002-05:00

this time last year.

feels like

2010-02-24T03:10:00.002-05:00

yesterday. a long time. a lifetime.

close to this time, two years ago.