A Season in the Sun
A father & daughter’s exploration of community supported agriculture

In 2008 we embarked on a father-daughter photo-documentary project at our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). It was Maya’s bat mitzvah year, and she wanted to engage in a mitzvah project that was meaningful to her. Her bat mitzvah coincided with the harvest holiday of Succoth. Photographing the CSA seemed like the perfect project, especially since she also has a passion for vegetarianism, the environment and photography. The venture also offered us the opportunity to strengthen our father-daughter relationship by spending time together, and sharing a common passion for taking pictures.

We went into the project thinking it would be a study of the basics of food photography. Our initial intention was to create a single composite image of the weekly food distribution. When we got to work however, we found that the CSA was about much more than just food. In taking the pictures we discovered a deep network of human relationships. As wonderful as the food was, we were captivated by this complex human web, so deep and rich in flavor, emotion, tone and color.

The project gave us the opportunity to a visit one of the CSA farms. There we met a farmer and his family and saw the land where the food was grown. We followed the path of the food from the Lancaster County farm to the CSA in Elkins Park and documented the community that was created and enriched by the CSA process.

The photos in the exhibit aim to capture a myriad of connections and relationships; between individuals and food, between those who grow the food and those who eat it, between members of a caring community, and between people and the earth.

Photos from this project have previously been featured in local newspaper articles about the CSA, the Jew and the Carrot blog, as well as in the 2008 Hazon sponsored New York Jewish Environmental Bike Ride Booklet.

Additional images and information can be found at www.kassutto.phanfare.com/ASeasonInTheSun.
For more information about the photographs or the photo project contact Kassutto@hotmail.com
For information about the CSA contact Mark.Kaplan@crozier.org

Thanks to Mark Kaplan, Robin Rifkin and the Hazon Tuv Ha’Aretz CSA at Kol Ami congregation for helping to bring the CSA to our community. We appreciate the tolerance shown to us by the entire CSA community who were subjected to our incessant picture taking. Also, thank you to Deborah Kapnek for her artistic guidance and mentoring. Lastly, very special thanks to our loving muse Susan Kassutto who conceived of and inspired this project.

Maya & Zach Kassutto
May 2010