multimedia photographer Susan Seubert shoots baby goats for Culture Magazine

Culture Magazine is one of my new favorite niche publications.  It’s all about cheese, one of my favorite things to eat.  It’s a beautifully printed quarterly journal about all things cheese – travel, cheese-making, wine pairings… It’s obvious to me now that a magazine about cheese is just as, if not more so, useful as one about wine or other specialty periodicals.  I was assigned last year to photograph at Pholia Farm, a beautiful organic farm in southern Oregon, near Rogue River.  The back story is heartwarming – a young girl (Amelia) decided to raise Nigerian Dwarf Goats for her 4H project which ended up blossoming into a family cheese-making business.  My husband and I spend a day and a half with the Caldwell family – Gianaclis (mom and head cheese-maker), Vern and Amelia – along with their 60 or so herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats.  The mothers were kidding while we were there and despite the warning from my art director to not take too many photos of the babies, I found it difficult to restrain myself.  You can see more photos from the story by clicking here to be taken to the outtakes.  Below is a video we took of two-day-old goats, just learning how to walk and stand.  I was literally lying on the ground, holding my 5D Mark II on my elbows and trying to follow focus on these adorable little critters who bounce around as though they’ve had too much coffee. They play classical music in the barn, which you can hear in the audio, as it’s been discovered that the music helps the gals produce more milk.

Vern, giving me a "lift" so I can get the shot of the farm

I’ve also posted a couple of behind the scenes photos, because we spent so much time trying to shoot the centerfold.  Unfortunately, the cheese we shot was the wrong age (groan) so they ended up sending the cheese to another photographer to shoot, so I didn’t get the whole story in photos in the issue.  Nonetheless, it was a marvelous assignment, and I look forward to my next story about cheese.

 

the challenges of working out of a studio environment - you use what you can get your hands on. Say cheese!

goats will, and do, eat anything... cameras included