Sometimes it is good to give a helping hand. I volunteer as a filmmaker for a local online community TV station. I make about 2-3 films per year for them. This may not seem a lot, but depending on the subject that can be quiet a lot of work. And when there's a good story to tell, its very enjoyable to do these types of films.

I have a friend who is a photographer, Christophe. His daughter is in the same class as mine at school and that is how we met. And like most photographers you tend to hit it off quiet quickly. Christophe's story is an interesting one. He's a fully trained and qualified photographer (unlike yours truly who is self taught) and was working in a "real world" photo development laboratory until it went bankrupt. Despite the world of photography being highly competitive Christophe did not give up his profession for an easier option. This past year he embarked on a personal project which he hopes will be a springboard to other things. He struck up a relationship with 4 regional farms and farming families and embarked on a project to document sustainable small farming. His motivation was very clear from the start…he had seen how economic factors had hit the agricultural industry in Belgium (as well as other EU countries) and how the life of farmers had suddenly become very tough in a short space of time. Christophe found this a striking subject, one where the basic necessity of producing food is slowly being eroded by larger scale food production at the expense of sustainable, long term farming efforts. 

I'd seen Christophe's work previously at local photo exhibitions and had always been impressed by it. Certainly his main strength is portraits…at which he excels! And when I see his portraits I am quiet envious (in a good way) and wish I could get somewhere close…I think it has something to do with the fact he rarely deviates from the "nifty fifty" (50mm f1.8 lens). I knew he was working on the farm project but I was unsure about the ultimate goal. A few weeks ago we were chatting and he mentioned that he wanted to publish a photography book on the project. This was a serious deal and I'd asked him how he was going to do it and with which publisher. As he is unemployed and the project is a way for him to eventually get a return, but also build his name as a credible photographer/photojournalist, he was looking at sponsorship. After a few tries nothing was doing. He then told me he had turned to crowd funding. 

It was at this point I offered to make a video for him. Crowd funding has revolutionised the ability for creatives to get products into the market. But like all things it is a competitive field. I though that making a video to help put a story behind the crowd funding page would help build awareness but also convince potential backers to click on that button. I was also very aware of Christophe's situation. Having been unemployed recently for some time, I know that everyone needs a helping hand.

So off we went to one of the farms on a summer Sunday afternoon in Belgium….which meant grey cloudy skies, that horrible reflective light that gives you blown out clouds and nasty contrast. Far from ideal conditions for filming. We spent about 3 hours at the farm. Given the film was going to be only 2 minutes 30 seconds long, 3 hours may sound excessive. But this is a film which is about Christophe's story and as such I needed to get enough B-Roll to compliment his motivation and the story of sustainable farming. In the edit Christophe provided me with some of the images that will go into the book. They are amazing. He wanted to capture everyday situations at the farm, the process from working the fields all the way through to the final product (dairy, cheese and goats cheese) working principally with only natural light. By adding these images into the film, I can give viewers a sneak peak. And as Christophe says himself, the book is a combination of artistic photographic work with the underlying story of the impact farming has on our everyday lives and that sustainable farming methods are a real alternative that everyone should consider in their daily shopping habits. 

You can view the video below. Unfortunately it is only in French at the moment and I have not yet had time to make a subtitled version. I hope to do that soon. Christophe's book is called "Une ferme pas comme les autres" (No ordinary farm), and his crowd funding project can be found at:

http://www.kisskissbankbank.com/fr/projects/une-ferme-pas-comme-les-autres

To date the project has 13 days to run and has been backed to 87%. 

You can see more of Christophe's work at his website: http://www.christophegillot.be or follow him on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/christophegillot.photographe