Aging Farmers in Ohio
Matt Eich
In the heart of America where agriculture once helped drive the economy, farming has become a fading way of life. Along the foothills of Appalachia in Southeastern Ohio, aging farmers struggle to keep their farms afloat in order to provide for their families and communities. The recent economic downturn has made life more difficult for a dying breed of farmers to survive, but has increased the importance of self-sustainability in the communities that rely on this resource.
The images from this project are available for licensing through Matt’s archive at Aurora Photos.
Matt Eich (b. 1986) is a Midwest based freelance photographer with a passion for social documentary storytelling. He recently graduated with a degree in photojournalism from Ohio University and is a founding member of the Aevum and Luceo photo collectives. During his time in college he was named 61st College Photographer of the Year, SportsShooter.com Student Photographer of the Year, one of American Photo Magazine’s Emerging Photographers of 2007 and one of The Magenta Foundation’s Emerging Photographers. His work on rural Ohio won the 66th POYi Community Awareness Award and received funding through the Alexia Foundation for World Peace. Matt’s clients and publications include Newsweek, The FADER, Mother Jones, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME.com, MediaStorm.org, Smithsonian, GEO, and others. He has worked with The Orange County-Register, The Virginian-Pilot, The Oregonian, and National Geographic Magazine.
There’s the beginning of a book here. And more. It’s excellent.
Check out Richard Avedon’s book “Jump” where he challenged world figures all to do the same action for his camera. Your common pose for unknown farmers is the classic Grant Wood pose. There’s commercial as well as artistic potential in this theme. If I were you, I’d photograph as many farm couples as I could in this pose. Then, in a few paragraphs, tell their special story. Seek out “deviants from the norm” – African American or Asian farmers, Hispanic farmers (plenty of the latter two in San Fernando, black couples in Mississippi). Single women struggling to keep a farm going.
Tie the story to the fact that the economy is the bullet to the brain of these farmers, who depend on credit they can’t get to finance their spring planting to fall harvest path. Chances are, you could sell the story to Vanity Fair or Parade, and use that publication to get a publisher. Some time ago, National Geographic did a photojournalistic article about the abandoned homes of northern North Dakota – photos of abandoned houses from 50+ years ago where families just walked away from a prior era’s disaster. You’ve captured people facing similar times.
Result: Dorthea Lange, updated to the Depression of YOUR age. Your story and photography are just that good. Too few photojournalists get out of cities to tell these kinds of imaginative, impactful stories.
Congratulations. And good Luck!