Creative Guts

Becky Field

Episode Summary

In this episode of Creative Guts hosts Laura Harper Lake and Becky Barsi interview award-winning photographer Becky Field. They discuss Becky's transition from a career in wildlife ecology to photography, her project "Different Roots, Common Dreams" documenting New Hampshire's immigrant communities, and her latest work "Finding Home: Portraits and Memories of Immigrants." Becky shares insights on her creative process, collaborations with immigrant families, and how her scientific background influences her artistic approach. Learn more about Becky and her work at https://differentrootsnh.com. Listen to this episode wherever you listen to podcasts or on our website www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Be friends with us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/CreativeGutsPodcast and Instagram at www.Instagram.com/CreativeGutsPodcast. If you love listening, consider making a donation to Creative Guts! Our budget is tiny, so donations of any size make a big difference. Learn more about us and make a tax deductible donation at www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Thank you to our friends at Art Up Front Street Studios and Gallery in Exeter, NH and the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts in Rochester, NH for their support of the show!

Episode Notes

Learn more about Becky and her work at https://differentrootsnh.com.

Listen to this episode wherever you listen to podcasts or on our website www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Be friends with us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/CreativeGutsPodcast and Instagram at www.Instagram.com/CreativeGutsPodcast.

If you love listening, consider making a donation to Creative Guts! Our budget is tiny, so donations of any size make a big difference. Learn more about us and make a tax deductible donation at www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com.

Thank you to our friends at Art Up Front Street Studios and Gallery in Exeter, NH and the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts in Rochester, NH for their support of the show!

Episode Transcription

[00:00:00] LH: I'm Laura Harper Lake.

[00:00:01] BB: And I'm Becky Barsi.

[00:00:02] LHL & BB: You’re listening to Creative Guts.

[INTRO]

[00:00:18] BB: Hey there all you artsy folks out in podcast land. Thanks for tuning in to Creative Guts.

[00:00:23] LHL: Today, I am co-hosting with our executive board vice chair, Becky Barsi, who's also a former guest. As we announced earlier this season, we are expanding our hosts to include more hosts. So this is one of the earlier ones where we have someone other than Sarah or myself also joining us as a co-host. Welcome, Becky, to being in the host role.

[00:00:46] BB: Thank you. It's really an honor to be here.

[00:00:50] LHL: Yes. You're a super fan, and you even have us tattooed on your body.

[00:00:54] BB: Yes. I am the super fan. I know Sarah Duclos, and we’re kind of contentious at one point. But, yes, I've got the Creative Guts lady on my arm.

[00:01:03] LHL: I think that brings you into the top spot.

[00:01:05] BB: Yes, I'm all in. I am all in on Creative Guts.

[00:01:09] LHL: We are so excited to be here chatting with Becky Field, an award -winning photographer who has been capturing the hearts and stories of New Hampshire's immigrant communities.

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[00:01:20] BB: Inspired by a desire to counter hate with love, Becky's project, Finding Home: Images and Memories of New Hampshire's Immigrants, is now on display at the Derryfield School Lyceum Gallery and celebrates the resilience and diversity of these families.

[00:01:35] LHL: Let's celebrate the power of photography to connect us all and jump into this episode of Creative Guts with Becky Field.

[INTERVIEW]

[00:01:46] BB: Welcome, Becky Field, to Creative Guts. We're so glad to have you on the show today.

[00:01:50] BF: Oh, I'm glad to be here. This is fun.

[00:01:53] LHL: We've known each other for a very long time. The two Beckys here, this is kind of exciting. I've got a room full of Beckys.

[00:01:59] BB: Yes. We're Becky squared.

[00:02:00] LHL: Very fun. But for the folks that maybe are not familiar with you, do you want to share a bit about yourself as a creative?

[00:02:08] BF: Well, that's interesting because I'm not really sure I consider myself a creative because I have a background in science. I guess science can be creative, too, but I have a very literal mind because of my science background. But in the last 10 or 15 years, I shifted a little bit in what I'm doing and have gotten quite involved in my photography. There's a little bit of a story to this.

[00:02:36] BB: Oh, please indulge us.

[00:02:38] BF: In that I come from a quite artistic family. My father was a very good watercolor painter. My mother was also a good painter. My brother is excellent. My sister was good at cartoons. I couldn't draw a stick figure to save myself.

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[00:02:53] BB: Oh. Well, you need to come to our Art ‘Round the Room event on November 9th.

[00:02:58] BF: I really should. I always felt like I was on the outs with the family when we went camping. Everybody would take their paint sets, and I didn't even know what to do. So then it took all this time waiting for me to retire from my major job in order to realize that I had this artistic gene in me. It was just photography and not drawing and painting.

[00:03:25] BB: Wow, that's great. Before we get into talking a little bit more about your photography and how that really emerged and how you found that creative inspiration, what kind of sciences were you in?

[00:03:36] BF: For many years, I was a wildlife research ecologist with the federal government, and this was a longtime dream of mine. I loved being outdoors. I loved animals. It just came together over the course of both undergraduate and my graduate work and then eventually working for the government. I was with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for many years. During that time, I was studying bird habitat relationships on the northern coast of Alaska and living in tents and dodging bears and all sorts of cool things. I had a wonderful time in that work.

Then I eventually came to Massachusetts and joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. I was Director of the Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit there. I was an embedded federal employee in the university, so that kept me very busy.

[00:04:29] LHL: I’m sure.

[00:04:29] BF: I had multiple bosses, and so that kept me busy. But then after a while, I decided I wanted to do something completely different. I retired early from the government and moved up to New Hampshire and started this project.

[00:04:44] BB: Wow, so quite a leap from science. But, clearly, you have this passion for observation and being able to record content and information perhaps in writing. Now, you're

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doing it through your photography, so tell us a little bit about that early development of your photography and why photography versus any other medium.

[00:05:05] BF: Well, it's actually interesting. There are some threads that connect the two parts of my career. For example, when I was a biologist, when I was an ecologist, I was looking at biological diversity and seeing how it was so important for the diversity, structure, resilience of a community, an ecological community. Now, I'm looking at cultural diversity and seeing ways in which it strengthens our human communities. There's that wonderful connection.

Then, also, a lot of my early training was in animal behavior. When I'm in the middle of a photo shoot and I'm entering a room full of people that maybe I don't know more than maybe one or two, I step back a little bit and watch what's going on in the room with these tens of people, maybe hundreds of people, and get a feeling for who's interacting with whom and in an animal behavior kind of way. That gives me an idea of where the important connections are in that group.

[00:06:14] BB: Kind of a focus on maybe who to photograph and where. Yes. [00:06:16] BF: Yes, yes. What's important in that social context?

[00:06:20] LHL: That's amazing. I'd love to learn more about Different Roots, Common Dreams project. That is how I've had my first interaction with you, I don't know, six, seven years ago through RADC when we found your work that way. I'd love to know how that project came to be and maybe even about the name.

[00:06:40] BF: Well, the project came to be because in 2011 and 2012, there was hateful graffiti written on the sides of four refugee homes in Concord, and it made me very mad. I could see that this was not a way to treat people that were fleeing violence and then to threaten them with violence in our own sweet communities. I decided then partly because I was just starting my certificate in photography at what was then the New Hampshire Institute of Art. I decided to use my camera as a way to say there are better ways to treat people. Let's welcome them, let's acknowledge the contributions they make to our communities, and let's make them feel safe.

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Then the title of the book and the title of my first book and the title of my project, Different Roots, Common Dreams: New Hampshire's Cultural Diversity, that makes the point that even though we may be very different in our backgrounds, we may have different skin color, different religions, different family structure, and yet we all have the same dreams to have a safe family, to have education for our kids, to have good jobs to support our families, and the freedom to practice our faith and other traditions.

[00:08:00] LHL: That's beautiful. Yes. So wonderful to be able to use really one of your first photo projects as you are learning this tool and developing your skills and how it's really evolved into something that's really rich.

[00:08:15] BF: It certainly has evolved. In fact, I don't show anybody the first photograph I took in this project. I take that back. I actually – when I was at Derryfield School and was talking to a photography class, I think I did show them. But they're the only ones that saw that, and it was an opportunity to say, “Don't take a picture like this.”

[00:08:37] BB: Well, it's good to be able to see where you started and where your work has evolved over time. I think that's an important learning experience.

[00:08:44] BF: No question.

[00:08:44] LHL: Yes. That's such a common thread through all creative disciplines. From a woodworker to a painter to a photographer, we're all growing, evolving beings. My work from college definitely doesn't stand up to where I think I am now. I think that’s very common.

[00:09:02] BB: I think that's very important. If you haven't really changed all that much from where you started, then –

[00:09:06] LHL: Maybe you need to.

[00:09:07] BB: Yes. Time to freshen things up, experiment.

[00:09:09] LHL: Take a class. Yes.

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[00:09:10] BB: Yes, exactly.

[00:09:11] BF: Well, that was a very important part of doing my certificate at the Institute of Art. I learned a lot from that. Even though I had plenty of other degrees, that one focused on the photography. It really, really helped me develop that. Then, of course, as I start to work on my photographs on the computer, that technology has changed, leaps and bounds over the last 12 years, the 12 years that I've been doing this project. It’s a little frustrating in that I feel like I have to go back now and redo all the processing of those early photographs because the tools on the computer and Photoshop and Lightroom are so much better than they used to be.

[00:09:50] LHL: Yes, quite amazing.

[00:09:52] BF: Yes.

[00:09:53] BB: Tell us a little bit about how the Different Roots, Common Dreams, that project evolved into your current project or your most recent work that we're going to be displaying at the Lyceum Gallery at the Derryfield School, Finding Home: Portraits and Memories of Immigrants.

[00:10:08] BF: Well, it's actually part of the same project. The overall project is Different Roots, Common Dreams. I thought I was going to do this for a year and then go back to photographing butterflies and dragonflies. But, in fact, I ended up meeting such wonderful people and people doing interesting things that it’s just continued. But I've also found that there have been these little spin-off projects that have happened over time, and I've had the opportunity to take different little side trips in other kinds of projects that's related to the documenting the lives of immigrants and refugees in New Hampshire.

The Finding Home was a separate project but under the same umbrella of Different Roots, Common Dreams. The way that happened was when I published my first book in 2015 under the name of the project, Different Roots, Common Dreams, I added a few stories at the end in the words of immigrants about their journey of coming here. Other than that, it was mostly photographs. But people loved those stories. They used them for discussion groups and for

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book clubs and for church groups. So I realized then that I really needed to do a book that was specifically portraits of immigrants and their stories in their own words. That's how Finding Home ended up happening. That book, which came out in 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, that book has 40 stories and 40 immigrants' portraits in it.

[00:11:45] LHL: This weaves nicely into the next question, which is about collaboration. I imagine there's a lot of collaboration with the folks that you're photographing as far as what you're deciding to capture and how you're doing that. Can you talk about the relationships that you've built working with people and how that all kind of works?

[00:12:04] BF: That's actually been one of the great joys of this project is that I've not only met wonderful people. I feel like I've expanded my family base incredibly with all these international folks. Of course, a lot of them came here as refugees with little more than a grocery bag with a few clothes in it. I do give them at least digital copies of my photographs. If it's a major event like

a wedding or ceremony of some kind, then I give them prints of the photographs.

There was a time when I couldn't go into an immigrant home in Southern New Hampshire without seeing some of my photographs on the walls. That made me very happy because that gave them something to decorate their apartments with when they really had very little.

[00:12:51] BB: Yes. It’s a way of documenting part of their journey.

[00:12:54] BF: Many of the people were just really eager to have their photographs taken. You think that some people might be hesitant or, “I don't want my picture taken,” or for whatever reason. I did not find that within the immigrant community. People were really excited about being photographed and almost tripping all over each other to get in front of my camera.

There's been a few other instances, though, where I actually had someone who could be a true partner in the project. This is another little spin-off project. Not so little but it's been quite a major project that I've done over the last few years of following one person, an asylum seeker for the last few years. This is a man who comes from an African country. For his protection, we don't say what country it is. But he's an artist and a poet. When I said, “I would like to document what your life is like as an asylum seeker who was shackled with a ankle monitor 24/7 for five years.”

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I wanted to document that and show the emotional and the physical pain that this person had to go through, just for asking for asylum in 2018, which is a legal right under US immigration law. Because this man was such an artist in his own right, he became a true partner in the project. He would help me set up the kinds of photograph shoots that he thought would be interesting. We definitely have worked as partners in that project, and that's been really rewarding. He's a friend, and many of these people will be friends for life.

[00:14:38] LHL: That's great.

[00:14:39] BB: How did you make these initial connections with such a variety of different communities in New Hampshire?

[00:14:45] BF: That's a good question. I think this was one of the reasons this project worked in that I went to the leader of an immigrant support group, and he himself was an immigrant. He was actually a refugee. I explained my project to him, and he had been in the American community enough that he understood what I was trying to do and how I was doing it. So then he introduced me to the families, to the communities. He made it possible for me to walk into an ESL class and say, “Introduce me to them.” With them knowing him and trusting him, then they didn't think I was quite so strange.

Here was this white woman walking into class with this great big camera. A lot of people would have been intimidated by that. But because he introduced me and they trusted him, it worked. Then after that, I just sat back, and my phone rang, and the emails poured in from people in the community that wanted to be a part of this.

[00:15:51] BB: We have a mutual connection because you photographed Jozimar. [00:15:55] BF: That's right.

[00:15:55] BB: Yes. Jozimar is one of our board members as well. Can you tell us a little bit about just so we know a little behind-the-scenes information about your connection and perhaps that photo shoot?

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[00:16:06] BF: Jozimar Matimano is one of my favorite people. He's an amazing young man. I met him in 2017. He had been here less than a year, and he was at an immigrant event. It was a fundraising event. He had a table, and he was sketching on a piece of lined paper. I looked at that sketch and I said, "You're pretty good at this." We exchanged contact information. He invited me down to his apartment in Manchester so that I could photograph these scenes that he would set up. He had a backdrop and different ideas of what he wanted to draw and paint.

He would take then my digital photographs and use them because he would be in the scene that he was setting up, so he couldn't photograph himself. It was too elaborate a scene for a selfie. I would then provide him with the digital photographs, and he would draw from those and paint from them. He’s just done remarkable work, given that he tells me that he didn't even know how to paint in 2017. He did draw as best he could in his African community where he was living, but he didn't have the tools, and he didn't have the resources to really explore that. Now, he's just taken off.

[00:17:28] LHL: He's a rising star.

[00:17:30] BF: He's a rising star, and he's been invited to the Harlem Fine Arts Show. [00:17:37] BB: Oh, that's right. I remember mentioning that.

[00:17:39] BF: I think I got that name right. But, anyway, it was in Harlem, and it's a very prestigious thing. Jozimar and I have done two joint exhibits together. In fact, just yesterday, we took down our joint exhibit at the Seacoast African American Cultural Center in Portsmouth, and that was very successful. We took his large paintings. Then out of the hundreds of thousands of photographs that I've done, we took one of my photographs that had a similar theme to it. We paired these together in this exhibit. There were about 15 pairs, and it was very well received.

[00:18:17] LHL: You just said a word, successful. How do you define success as an artist or as a creative?

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[00:18:24] BF: I think success, first of all, has to be your own choice of what feels right to you. I'm in a position because I'm a retired government employee. I don't really have to worry too much about my photography supporting me, although I do get grants, and people do pay for my exhibits and my talks, and I occasionally sell my photographs. But I think it's more important for a person to feel that what they're doing is right and good and fills their heart with something that feels correct.

Now, after that, it is important for most of us to be able to support ourselves to our photography. I know that there are people like Jozimar and other fine art painters and fine art photographers that are able to sell their work in the art markets that can keep them going. But that's – you got to be pretty good to support yourself in that. I can't really say that I've been a creative artist for that long in my life. It's only been in the last 12 or 15 years. I think it really is more a matter of doing something that feels right to you. I think if you love what you do, it tends to attract other people.

[00:19:46] BB: That's all what this podcast is about. It's like nurturing and finding that creativity within yourself. Even if it takes decades to get there, it can happen. You shouldn't be afraid of it. Embrace it. I would love to learn a little bit more about the scholarship fund, the Different Root, Common Dream Scholarship Fund, and how you're maybe using some of this, the proceeds or from your materials and from your photos, to help support others in the community.

[00:20:14] BF: Yes. That's a very exciting topic for me. As I worked on this project over about the first five years, I was really struck by the amount of emphasis on education amongst immigrant families, especially amongst refugees that were coming here from situations where they either couldn't or had no resources to really get a good education. I saw that the families, the parents in particular, were very focused on their kids, making sure that they got a good education. This was one of the primary reasons why they came to this country.

Then I also noticed that the young people were so dedicated to their studies and focusing on the work. It's really quite remarkable to watch these young people study not only in the undergraduate level or the high school level, but also in the college and undergraduate level. They are so focused, and they study so hard. I see my college student friends that are taking so

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many credits and working so hard and studying continuously that it really makes you recognize that maybe some American students could take a few lessons from that.

I have seen young people come to this country with no English, enter high school as a freshman not knowing any English, and graduating in four years on time and getting scholarships, in one case to Harvard. Yes. This is really exciting to see how passionate and dedicated they are to their education and to moving on because they know, and their families know that education is what's going to make it possible for them to succeed in this country.

[00:22:07] LHL: How long has the scholarship fund been in process? Can you tell us any of the logistics as far as what's the range of scholarships, how people apply? If someone happens to be listening, what should they do?

[00:22:19] BF: Well, yes. I got so excited about the education. I forgot to tell you more about the scholarship. As a result of this recognition of the focus on education, I decided in 2017, five years into the project, that I wanted to help support that dream for a good education. I started talking to the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and they are an organization that works with people who have an idea for a fund and maybe a little bit of money. Then they pull together other people that might be interested in a similar type of project.

I started the Different Roots, Common Dream Scholarship Fund. They wanted, at one point, for me to call it the Becky Field Scholarship Fund, and I resisted furiously. That didn't feel right. I really like this title for the fund. It is through the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. As such, I don't do really anything about it, other than to help jump up and down and cheer about it and talk –

[00:23:24] LHL: Promotion.

[00:23:25] BF: Promotion. I'm the promoter. They're the ones that do all the details. They handle the money. They invest the money properly. They're a very good organization for that. They also point other people interested in helping immigrants with education to that fund so that we don't have a lot of small funds that are all on the same topic. Instead, we can pull the money.

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There's been a lot of money donated to this project since it started. It's more than doubled. As a result, we've been able to help two or three and sometimes even more students each year.

It's not a fancy Bill and Melinda Gates-type scholarship fund, but it makes a difference. There's a few thousand dollars here and there. There was one year where a New Hampshire woman made a major contribution to the fund. That was really quite exciting because that next year, we were able to help 11 students.

[00:24:23] BB: Wow, that's great.

[00:24:24] BF: Yes. It means so much to me.

[00:24:26] LHL: Becky, that's amazing.

[00:24:27] BF: This feels like legacy for me. I don't have children. Well, actually, I do. Every immigrant family has contributed children to me. I feel like the scholarship fund is a legacy.

[00:24:42] BB: If somebody wanted to help support and be able to donate, what are some ways that they could do that?

[00:24:48] BF: If you want to donate, you can send a contribution to the New Hampshire Charitable Fund in Concord and just make sure you indicate that it's for the Different Roots, Common Dreams Scholarship Fund. It’s just wonderful. It's going to do good work. Then if people want to apply for it, it doesn't have to be a student or a high school student coming fresh out of high school. I made it very clear in the contract on this that it could be anybody that wants a college education. It could be a 60-year-old woman from Afghanistan that ever had the chance to go to school and was ready to go to college.

[00:25:28] LHL: That is such a welcoming community resource. That is so wonderful to have. You were talking earlier about a lot of your work's mission is to combat the hate or the ignorance as to what refugees and new Americans are like in our country. I know we're not going to talk about politics on this episode, but I think there's a lot of rhetoric in the country about what

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immigrants, who they are, what that means. There's a lot of misinformation. A lot of what you're doing is to show that.

Have you felt any impact from folks who maybe aren't as welcoming or don't understand the life of a new American or a refugee? Have you had any interactions with people? Has this work transcended some thoughts, some old beliefs maybe?

[00:26:17] BF: I like the saying that you can't hate someone when you know their story. I think that's one reason why I've found that not only the photographs which, of course, are very important to me, but also their stories. Their stories are very important because that really shares what they've gone through to come here. I think that really does help people to recognize the journeys that people take and the risks they take and, in many cases, the heartache because they've left family. They've left friends. They've left everything behind them that is familiar and good and supportive for them that they've known all their life. All of a sudden, here they are in a strange land with not knowing the language and the monetary system and the buses and the school system and everything.

[00:27:07] LHL: I mean even to having a credit score, to be able to apply for a loan for a small business. There are so many things woven –

[00:27:14] BB: Applying for health insurance. Yes.

[00:27:16] LHL: Right, yes. There are so many things. It feels we take a lot for granted. So I think illustrating that transition, the rough stuff, and the joy of future horizons. I think it feels like that's a really important piece of it.

[00:27:34] BF: I think this project has pushed some of the boundaries of misinformation and people that don't understand and feel like they hate immigrants. I think this has changed some – I'd like to think, I guess, that it has changed some minds.

[00:27:49] LHL: It's probably hard to measure that. But, ideally, I'm sure that it's opened up some eyes.

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[00:27:57] BF: Yes. Generally, when I give talks, I'm often not talking to a group that is more of the side of not appreciating immigration. Usually, I am talking to people that already think immigrations and immigrants and refugees and asylum seekers are wonderful people. But I did have one instance where I was giving a talk. A man stood up in the back of the room and started saying the familiar things about how refugees take away all the jobs and all the housing, and they were bad people, et cetera, et cetera.

I just said back to him that's not my experience. I have met wonderful people. I have made fabulous lifelong friends. I have young people in my life now that I consider close to being my own children. I just think it's a wonderful thing to see this diversity and to recognize how it does strengthen our communities, and it strengthens our economy. These people are paying taxes. They're working whenever they can. They want to work. They want to support their families. It's very important for them.

There's all sorts of good things about having immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in our communities. I really, really hope this country comes around to fixing which is a broken immigration system and comes around to a better way of welcoming people here in a way that also makes them feel safe, makes our communities feel safe so that everybody can feel welcomed and be welcoming.

[00:29:32] LHL: It’s not only small businesses. I recently saw you at the Concord Multicultural Festival, where we were witness to so many different artists, performers, culinary arts of all these different backgrounds. It was just so amazing to see. I think the cultural vibrancy of New Hampshire is better for having way more folks from different places here.

[00:29:55] BF: When I started this project 12 years ago, there was a lot less diversity. I think it was 93% non-Hispanic white by official census, and it’s now down to 89%. I think people are starting to recognize the importance of diversity. I think these organizations like the Multicultural Festival in Concord, there's also one in Nashua. There's diversity groups in Manchester. There's an excellent international festival in Keene. These are all popping up around the state as people, I think, recognize the importance of welcoming and honoring people that have come from other cultures.

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[00:30:38] BB: Well, we're sitting in front of two of your books, and I'm excited. I'm just going to peek at one of them really quickly because I haven't – I've looked at the first one. I haven't had a chance to look at this one. But I know as part of the exhibit that we're going to be showing at the

Lyceum Gallery, you also have QR codes as part of the gallery card, so we can actually hear some of the voices from the subjects themselves.

[00:31:02] BF: Yes. I think that comes, first of all, because I recorded the journey stories. I recorded it because this is an important point. It's very important to me that it's in their words, not in my words. I wanted to make sure that I was transcribing these stories in the first person. Then after I transcribed the recording, I sent it back to the person and said, “Did I do this right?” So then I had these recordings. When I started making the exhibit that's based on the book, Finding Home, that has all the stories in it and the recordings, I then thought, well, let's have a little QR code so that people can listen to the accents.

Now, these are not long recordings. They're a minute or less. But the point is to show people that you can understand thick accents, that you can hear the lovely lilt of other languages in people's voices. A lot of times, people have said, "Oh, I never could do what you're doing because I wouldn't be able to understand the people." This gives the public the opportunity to listen to just a snippet of the voice, so they can see, "Yes, I can't understand this person."

[00:32:12] LHL: A lot of times, people make up their mind about something. "Oh, I can't understand accents," or, "I couldn't draw a stick figure." But there are these little things that are ingrained in, "Oh, I've got this assumption, so that's the way it is," and so that's a great education to broadening perspectives.

[00:32:32] BF: Yes. But I do want a correct record. I really can't draw a stick figure. But I can take a great –

[00:32:38] LHL: You know what? I'll teach you.

[00:32:39] BF: I'll take a great picture. I’d do photograph any day.

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[00:32:42] BB: You understand composition and the “rules of photography,” and that's very important.

[00:32:48] BF: You know what's interesting in getting to this creative guts theme is that I have no idea where my eye for photography came from. It surprised me, especially the beginning. I'm pretty used to it now, but I was so surprised at my ability to do this and to photograph and to think about color and composition and background and then to go on to the computer because, of course, everything's digital these days — to go on to the computer and to do the post processing, which in itself becomes an art form. I think there's a lot about art that can be genetic, too.

[00:33:28] LHL: Yes. Oh, yes. Nature and –

[00:33:29] BB: For sure. That creative bug, yes.

[00:33:31] LHL: Wicked. The nature and nurture.

[00:33:32] BF: Absolutely.

[00:33:34] BB: If somebody wanted to take a look at any of your books or purchase them, where could they find them?

[00:33:38] BF: They could go to my website, which is Different Roots. That's R-O-O-T-S, differentrootsnh.com. I also have them at most independent bookstores around here. I certainly know they're at Gibson's. Gibson's keeps them on hand in Concord. I think The Bookery has them here in Manchester. That's probably the best way to get them, or they can contact me. My email address is field, F-I-E-L-D, work, W-O-R-K, photos, P-H-O-T-O-S, @gmail.com. I'm glad to mail them out.

[00:34:16] BB: Fabulous.

[00:34:17] BF: What I didn't mention earlier is that this project is being archived at the University of New Hampshire.

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[00:34:24] BB: Oh, wonderful.

[00:34:25] BF: That means that my digital files, my digital photographs, at least the cream of the crop, not all of them, will be available to anybody through the scholarly repository at the university's Diamond Library. This means that anyone from anywhere all over the world can get access to them, use them for free for education or research. But if they use them for a commercial purpose, they need to pay a small fee to the university and me. There's probably close to 650 photographs in it so far, and I've only scratched the surface. I have over 500,000 photographs.

[00:35:06] LHL: Wow.

[00:35:07] BF: But again, again –

[00:35:08] BB: Hard drive after hard drive.

[00:35:10] BF: Yes. Lots of hard drives. But importantly, I'm only going to give them the cream of the crop. But this is a long process because I want to add enough metadata to the photographs that when people look at them a 100 years from now, they will know when it was taken, what was the context it was taken. Even though I don't use names, I can say what the person's cultural background is and what kind of things were happening. Then I add a small note of how did I interact with that person.

[00:35:43] BB: Oh, that's wonderful.

[00:35:44] BF: How did I know that person?

[00:35:45] BB: Oh, it's wonderful that you're able to add that into the file and just have that little snippet for the future.

[00:35:51] BF: Even though this project, this archive, is far from being done, I've only done the first two years out of the 12-year project. Even though there's much more to be done, there

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have already been calls for those files. I got eight requests from all places, Singapore. I have no idea, and there's no way for me to know why somebody from Singapore wants photographs of immigrants in New Hampshire. But, hey, go for it.

[00:36:23] BB: Very curious.

[00:36:25] LHL: That's amazing. That's so powerful.

[00:36:28] BF: Yes.

[00:36:29] BB: Is it time to jump into some rapid-fire questions?

[00:36:31] LHL: I think it is, Becky.

[00:36:32] BB: All right. This is like the next stage.

[00:36:34] LHL: Buckle up.

[00:36:34] BB: Yes. The first question that we tend to ask is what other artist has influenced you the most.

[00:36:41] BF: I'll say, first of all, it's my father. My father influenced me the most because of his paintings, his watercolor paintings. Sadly, he died when I was quite young. But I still have some of his paintings hanging on the walls in my house. He was also, not surprisingly, a very good photographer. My uncle was also a professional photographer. I think that's where some of the genetics are involved.

But also then more recently, I think that I've been really influenced by some of the really major photographers. One of my favorite courses at the Institute of Art in New Hampshire was the history of photography. I loved the work of Ansel Adams. I saw one of the original prints of his work, his famous photograph, Moonrise over Hernandez. I saw an original print of that, and I stood in front of that, and I cried. It was so beautiful.

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But then there was another photographer who also came to Manchester probably around the 30s, maybe the 40s, and that was Lewis Hine, H-I-N-E. Lewis Hine did a lot of photography of children working under very difficult conditions, working in the mills here in Manchester. As a result of his photography, he was able to promote the passage of the Fair Labor Act. I think that was in the thirties, but somebody can check that.

[00:38:16] BB: Yes. That's amazing. The name was familiar, and I just looked it up to confirm, and I'm like, "Oh, yes. I know Lewis Hine." It just continues to just really blow my mind of just the power of photography and how much it has truly transformed our world, but how messages and communications and the way that we connect with one another can completely transform the human experience and the way that we interact with one another.

I'm glad that you're kind of picking up in those, not only the trail that your father set and some of your other family members, but also amazing influential photographers like Ansel Adams, who also was very influential in support of our national parks program. Ansel Adams and Lewis Hine, that's really amazing.

[00:39:02] BF: Then there was one more who ended up being truly my mentor, somebody I took classes from. That was John Isaac, I-S-A-A-C. That doesn't sound like an immigrant name, but he's actually from India. He was from India. Sadly, he died in the last year. But let me back up. In 2012, I started Googling documentary photographers, and John's name came up, and I was really excited to see his work. But then a few years passed, and I finally decided I wanted to take a course at Main Media Workshops up in Maine. When I looked at the catalog, there was John Isaac teaching a class called People, Places and Things. I was so excited. I couldn't sign up fast enough.

John and I became very good friends over the years, and I actually went back to India with him and six other international professional photographers on a trip that was giving us the opportunity to photograph with major Hindu celebrations there called the Kumbh Mela. John's photography, again, is the kind of photography that I can look at, and tears come into my eyes because it's so stunningly beautiful. His Vale of Kashmir, that book is just amazing.

[00:40:27] LHL: I'll have to look it up. Yes. This is great.

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[00:40:29] BF: It's absolutely mind-blowing.

[00:40:31] LHL: That was not rapid-fire.

[00:40:33] BB: No. You know what? I think that always happens.

[00:40:35] LHL: But that’s okay.

[00:40:36] BB: I feel like every episode, the artists that influence you most tends to kind of go on, but it's so fascinating.

[00:40:41] LHL: Maybe you should be moved off the list and just moved into the regular. [00:40:43] BB: It should just be a regular question, I think. Let’s move into real rapid-fire. [00:40:47] LHL: This is true rapid-fire. Becky Field, what's your favorite color? [00:40:51] BF: Blue.

[00:40:52] BB: And you're dressed in all blue. That's perfect. Your favorite scent? [00:40:57] BF: Fresh air.

[00:41:00] LHL: Favorite sound?

[00:41:04] BF: Oh, dear. I guess a coo of a baby.

[00:41:07] LHL: Oh, that is nice.

[00:41:09] BB: Coming from two people who don't have children either. But we also – that is a very adorable thing.

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[00:41:14] BF: I have a neighbor with a new baby, and she comes down every once in a while, so I get my baby face.

[00:41:19] BB: Nice. What is your favorite texture to touch? I do want to note, for those of you who can't see us, that I am mimicking the Sarah Wrightsman –

[00:41:28] LHL: Claw.

[00:41:29] BB: The clawing of the texture to touch. I've always loved this texture to touch. Yes.

[00:41:33] BF: I think I like warm flannel sheets, especially this time of year when it's starting to get cold.

[00:41:40] BB: Although it is 80 degrees today, so I don't think you'll need them tonight. [00:41:43] BF: No.

[00:41:45] LHL: What's the most inspiring location you've traveled to that we may have just heard it? I don't know. Was it India?

[00:41:50] BF: I think it's India, especially from a photographic standpoint because the background of much of India is very tan, and the people dress in these brilliant colors. The saris are just spectacular. I think that was a very moving trip for me. The photography that I did on that trip, I think, is probably the best I've ever done. Yet I haven't really done a serious exhibit of it. One of these days.

[00:42:20] LHL: Oh, wow.

[00:42:22] BB: What is the last new thing that you've learned?

[00:42:25] BF: It's probably some of the new bells and whistles on Lightroom. Some of that, I've been told, is directed by AI.

CGUTS 199 Transcript [00:42:34] BB: It is, yes.

[00:42:35] BF: Yes.

[00:42:36] BB: It's amazing, though. I did a photo shoot recently, and there were porta potties in the background. I just selected those and clicked a button, and they were gone. It can be very handy.

[00:42:45] BF: Yes, it can be. Yes.

[00:42:48] LHL: Okay. Here's a question that's not on the list. What is the most unique photography subject set up that you've captured?

[00:42:57] BF: Well, first of all, I don't set up my photographs.

[00:43:00] LHL: Oh, okay.

[00:43:01] BF: Mine's more like documentary, and I don't have backdrops.

[00:43:06] LHL: But is there like a, “Okay, we're going to take a picture in the kitchen.”? Do you do anything at all or it's just –

[00:43:12] BF: Very little. I might tell somebody, “Go stand by that window because there's more light.” That's the extent of it.

[00:43:19] LHL: Okay. Here's a new question. What's a lovely accidental surprise of something in a photo shoot? Can you recall anything that maybe was just a happenstance thing like the light shone in right at the right moment or –

[00:43:33] BF: Okay, here it is. In fact, can I –

[00:43:37] LHL: Oh, pulling out a book.

CGUTS 199 Transcript [00:43:38] BB: Oh, we're going to see a reference image here.

[00:43:40] BF: Can I pull out the photo from the book? This was a situation of four Bhutanese men, older men, sitting on a couch altogether during a wedding, a wedding reception essentially. They are talking to each other in Nepali, and the young man sitting on the couch across from them next to me told me that they were talking about their childhood in Bhutan. Remember, these Bhutanese people were pushed out of Bhutan and ended up in Nepali refugee camps for sometimes 25 or 30 years. These men remembered their days in Bhutan, and they were reminiscing about them.

Now, what was surprising about this is that one of the men is wearing a lime green scarf. What I didn't realize until I got home and looked on the computer was that there's an Afghan over the back of the couch that has a piece of it in lime green. There's even in some of the prints, not in this particular one, there's a map overhead that had a piece of the map that was in lime green. It was like I didn't set that up. I didn't tell him to go get a lime green scarf. That's the kind of thing I don't do. I just take the pictures.

I also love in this picture that two of the four men, two on the ends, are turned in to talking to the other men. You get the feeling they're not looking outside the photograph. They're looking towards their partners.

[00:45:14] BB: Yes. How wonderful that there was a younger person sitting across from them, hearing these stories. Hopefully, they'll be able to pass those on to their families in the future, too.

[00:45:23] BF: Yes, yes.

[00:45:25] BB: Well, I think we've got our clincher question. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your younger self?

[00:45:32] BF: I would say don't worry about where it's going to go. Just roll with it. I think I've had the opportunity to be surprised by how my life is unfolded. I've really just taken it one step at a time. Every step I took, I tried to do the very best I could. But I took one step at a time and

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then just watched to see what opened up. This photography project was definitely not something that was on my agenda when I was a teenager, thinking what my life was going to be about.

Now, being a biologist, studying animals and being outdoors, that was top of the list. It had been from the very beginning, from when I was a very young kid. But then after that phase of my life, just to suddenly be presented with this and being open to it, being open to the surprises. I think if I hadn't been, I would have missed this opportunity to have this project that has brought me such joy and so many friends and given me the feeling that I am really leaving a legacy that is going to have an impact on people.

[00:46:44] BB: Well, Becky, we want to thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today, share more about the Different Roots, Common Dreams and the Finding Home projects that you're working with. I'm so excited to be able to have your work at the Lyceum Gallery this coming winter and to be able to collaborate with you in the future on future projects.

[00:47:02] BF: Well, thank you. It’s been great fun working with both of you. As you can tell, I'm always happy to talk about this project.

[00:47:09] LHL: We're happy to listen.

[00:47:12] BB: With that —

[00:47:13] All Together: Show us your creative guts!

[END OF INTERVIEW]

[00:47:20] LHL: Another huge thank you to Becky Field for joining us on Creative Guts.

[00:47:24] BB: I'm really excited to hear some more of the background of just Becky's work and how she went from the science field into the creative arts and really dove into her creativity.

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[00:47:34] LHL: I love hearing about someone transitioning into diving into arts at a different stage in their life than when people automatically assume it's automatic. You're born with it. It's when you're a child. Having it be after retirement is when she really harnessed this passion and I don't want to say brought to light because the community is already there.

[00:47:55] BB: She's able to help capture these stories, and that was her introductory project in one of her very first photography courses at what was an HIA. That's really, really exciting.

[00:48:07] LHL: Yes. Especially because a lot of folks' intro projects are like granite rocks in rock walls out in New Hampshire or just something that's a little bit more like –

[00:48:18] BB: Benign. Yes.

[00:48:19] LHL: Yes. Like an easier swing, not dealing with life portraits, folks, first of all. Then, also, folks that probably – when she was talking about this white lady coming in and taking pictures, I feel like it is a scary thing for anybody to do. But for someone who's a refugee or a new American to feel that level of trust because being photographed is such an intimate thing. I just think that that's such a big swing for a first kind of project.

[00:48:49] BB: Yes. I loved hearing a little bit more about her connection with Jozimar. Being able to document him very, very early on in his creative practice and seeing how he's grown and the way that they collaborated was really, really insightful. It just proves to show that that creativity is innate. It is in all of us. Sometimes, you just need a little nudge to get that to blossom.

[00:49:13] LHL: Yes. There's no one right way to be creative. I think she was lovingly jokingly talking about not being able to draw a stick figure. But I think if you have this mentality of being creative means drawing better than a stick figure, then to recognize that being creative is taking photos is –

[00:49:33] BB: Many, many different things.

[00:49:33] LHL: It’s writing different things. It’s –

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[00:49:35] BB: Communicating in new ways. It's exploring the world around you and being able to document it. It's really exciting.

[00:49:43] LHL: Becky herself is such a warm, genuine, caring person. The love that she feels for these new friends, this found family essentially that she has is so, like, “Ugh.” I want to hug her. It's so lovely, and I'm really glad that we had a chance to be able to talk to her on the show today.

[00:50:03] BB: Me too. Me too. If you'd like to learn more about Becky Fields and her photography or learn about how to donate to her scholarship fund, please visit differentrootsnh.com. As always, you can find those links and more in the episode description and on our website, creativegutspodcast .com. You will also find us on our Facebook and Instagram at Creative Guts podcast.

[00:50:27] LHL: This episode is sponsored in part by the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts. Thank you to our friends in Rochester for their support of the show.

[00:50:34] BB: If you love listening and want to support Creative Guts, you can make a tax deductible donation. Leave us a review. Interact with our content on social media. Purchase some merch. Whatever you do, we really, really appreciate you.

[00:50:47] LHL: Thank you for tuning in. We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode of Creative Guts.

[END]