Jack Thomson – Portrait Of A Farmer

When I got the call from the editor of the magazine, I knew this was a shoot I was going to enjoy.  Those of you know have come to know me, understand that environmental portraits are my favourite.  Country-Guide, a national business magazine for farmers and agriculturalists, wanted three portraits of Jack Thomson.

Before I’d met Jack, the editor sent me a small segment of the article that the images were to accompany.  The words described an energetic and engaged man who woke up at 03:00am to make sure he was free to spend breakfast with his family before going back to work.  I decided that sunrise was a fitting time for the portrait shoot.  Unbeknown to me, a nor-easter would drop about 10cm of snow on the 40km between my house and the farm, and would blot out the sunrise with thick cloud cover.  Not only that, but my lighting assistant wasn’t able to make this shoot, so outdoor lighting was going to be tricky.

We started in the calf barn, and I quickly found Jack to be a very personal fellow; a very human being.  Committed, steady, philosophical, hard working and humble are all words that I’d anchor to this farmer, without fear of contradiction.  When I pointed out how clean his barn was (it was crazy clean), he went on at length about how clean his neighbours barn was instead.  He’s that kind of a guy.

I hope you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed working with them.