The sight of a tractor driving into the mist at Maxwell Farm in Cape Elizabeth was the inspiration for a 10-month documentary project by a Peaks Island photographer.
“I used to shop at the market all the time,” said Susan Porter. “The fields behind are just so incredibly beautiful.”
After her visit on that misty day, it took a little while for Porter to muster up the courage to ask the Maxwells for permission to photograph their farm. However, the family was more than willing to let her roam the fields.
“The life they live is a beautiful life,” she said. “It was really a privilege.”
Porter followed the 2005 growing season from the snow-covered fields in March to the straw-covered fields in December. She amassed more than 2,500 negatives that yielded a 35-photograph project entitled “A Season Under the Sun.”
Porter’s work is on display through Nov. 25 on the lower level gallery on the University of New England’s Westbrook College Campus in Portland. A reception will take place on Oct. 4 from 5-7 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
Porter, 57, is originally from Washington, D.C. She commutes between homes in Buffalo, N.Y., and Peaks Island.
Porter said her time in the field coincided with a lot of bad news coming out of the war in Iraq. Feeling the breeze, smelling the vegetables and bonding with the workers were all ways in which her experience on the farm “reaffirmed life” for Porter.
“That was very special for me,” she said.
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