Books that FEATURE my photos
Living the Farm Sanctuary Life
By Gene Baur
Living the Farm Sanctuary Life is a book about Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur and Gene Stone. I have been taking photos for the organization since 2000.
Book Description: Gene Baur, the cofounder and president of Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, knows that the key to happiness lies in aligning your beliefs with your actions. In this definitive vegan and animal-friendly lifestyle guide, he and Gene Stone, author of Forks Over Knives, explore the deeply transformative experience of visiting the sanctuary and its profound effects on people’s lives. The book covers the basic tenets of Farm Sanctuary life—such as eating in harmony with your values, connecting with nature wherever you are, and reducing stress—and offers readers simple ways to incorporate these principles into their lives.
Living the Farm Sanctuary Life also teaches readers how to cook and eat the Farm Sanctuary way, with 100 extraordinarily delicious recipes selected by some of the organization’s greatest fans—chefs and celebrities such as Chef AJ, Chloe Coscarelli, Emily Deschanel, and Moby.
Coupled with heartwarming stories of the animals that Farm Sanctuary has saved over the years, as well as advice and ideas from some of the organization’s biggest supporters, Living the Farm Sanctuary Life is an inspiring, practical book for readers looking to improve their whole lives and the lives of those around them—both two- and four-legged.
Ninety-Five: Meeting America's Animals in Stories and Photographs
By No Voice Unheard
I was approached by No Voice Unheard to have some of my farmed animal photography featured in this book, and was excited to be a part of it. This beautiful full-color coffee table book features thirteen of my photographs of rescued farmed animals living at sanctuaries, as well as amazing photographs and stories by other contributors. It has been published in English and Italian.
Ninety-Five is the estimated number of animals eaten each year by a human living in the United States. Therefore, someone who chooses to eat a vegan diet spares this many lives. This is all very symbolic, as animal agriculture is a complex system subsidized by our tax dollars, so it is impossible to be free from enabling it.
My Photos from the Book Ninety-Five
The Lucky Ones
By Jenny Brown
I met Jenny Brown at Farm Sanctuary while she was doing an internship to learn how to care for farm animals. Her goal was to open her own farm animal sanctuary. I got to photograph her wedding on the property that wood become the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary.
The Lucky Ones is autobiographical and features some of my photographs of Doug & Jenny's wedding, as well as photographs I have taken of the sanctuary animals. It is a well-written account of Jenny Brown's path to becoming a farm animal sanctuary director.
Book Description: Jenny Brown was ten years old when she lost a leg to bone cancer. Throughout the ordeal, her constant companion was a cat named Boogie. Years later, she would make the connection between her feline friend and the farm animals she ate, acknowledging that most of America’s domesticated animals live on industrialized farms, and are viewed as mere production units. Raised in a conservative Southern Baptist family in Kentucky, Brown had been taught to avoid asking questions. But she found her passion and the courage to speak out.
The Lucky Ones introduces readers to Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary which Brown established with her husband in 2004. With a cast of unforgettable survivors, including a fugitive slaughterhouse cow named Kayli; Albie, the three-legged goat; and Quincy, an Easter duckling found abandoned in New York City, The Lucky Ones reveals shocking statistics about the prevalence of animal abuse throughout America’s agribusinesses. Blending wry humor with unflinching honesty, Brown brings a compelling new voice to the healthy-living movement—and to the vulnerable, voiceless creatures among us.
Always Too Much and Never Enough
By Jasmine Singer
I met Jasmine Singer a few years ago through the animal rights movement, and have had the pleasure of photographing her for her book Always Too Much and Never Enough and her podcast Our Hen House.
Book Description:One woman’s journey to find herself through juicing, veganism, and love, as she went from fat to thin and from feeding her emotions to feeding her soul.
From the extra pounds and unrelenting bullies that left her eating lunch alone in a bathroom stall at school to the low self-esteem that left her both physically and emotionally vulnerable to abuse, Jasmin Singer’s struggle with weight defined her life.
Most people think there’s no such thing as a fat vegan. Most people don’t realize that deep-fried tofu tastes amazing and that Oreos are, in fact, vegan. So, even after Jasmin embraced a vegan lifestyle, having discovered her passion in advocating for the rights of animals, she defied any “skinny vegan” stereotypes by getting even heavier.
More importantly, she realized that her compassion for animals didn’t extend to her own body, and that her low self-esteem was affecting her health. She needed a change. By committing to monthly juice fasts and a diet of whole, unprocessed foods, Jasmin lost almost a hundred pounds, gained an understanding of her destructive relationship with food, and finally realized what it means to be truly full.
Told with humble humor and heartbreaking honesty, this is Jasmin’s story of how she went from finding solace in a box of cheese crackers to finding peace within herself.
Jasmine Singer Author photo by Derek Goodwin
Yoga Assists: A Complete Inspirational Guide to Yoga Asana Assists
By Sharon Gannon and David Life
I did my Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Training in 2011, and documented some of it with a Nikon point-and-shoot. I was really only making images for my yoga scrapbook, but they ended up being good enough to help illustrate a book on yoga assists! The book was self-published and continues to be the go-to book for yogis wanting a deep understanding of yoga assists. I have quite a few pics in there, and there is also one of me being assisted in a handstand!
Book Description: In this book, world-renowned Jivamukti Yoga practitioners Sharon Gannon and David Life use the word assist to communicate the idea that in yoga there are actually two beings interacting together on various levels of consciousness to foster a decrease in avidya, mis-knowing, and an increase in vidya, or the knowing principle.
A yoga assist is action taken in a microcosmic relationship that reveals macrocosmic truths. It is action undertaken in mutuality with the best of intentions and the blessing of the teacher’s teachers.
The giving of yoga is an art. Yoga assists are not static; they comprise a flowing dance of body, breath, and energy. They are based on continuous focus and awareness of the relationship between partners in the process. It takes two to tango! As in tango, in each encounter between yoga student and teacher, there is an equation of reciprocity. Whether we receive or give an assist is an active process in the resolution of a relationship, a transmission, a dance. In this sense, the relationship between teacher and student is a microcosm of the flowing interrelation among all people, all species, all living beings. Through this book, with the “assistance” of Sharon and David, practitioners will deepen their understanding of the fundamental principles of yoga assists and apply them in practice and in service to others.
Animal LiberatioN
by Peter Singer
In 2006 Peter Singer was speaking at the Farm Sanctuary Hoe Down, where I was the photographer. I took some photos of him with the animals, and some of him by himself. He posted these on his web site and since then I have had a steady stream of universities and textbook publishers and other organizations asking permission to use them. One of them ended up on an edition of Animal Liberation, his classic work that is often cited as sparking the modern animal rights movement in 1975. Interestingly he is now controversial even within the animal rights movement. Regardless, this book is still relevant in its philosophical critique of how we treat animals and why we should rethink the deep-rooted belief system that we tell ourselves justifies our societal unrestrained use of animals for food, entertainment, and research.
Book Description: Since its original publication in 1975, this groundbreaking work has awakened millions of people to the existence of "speciesism"—our systematic disregard of nonhuman animals—inspiring a worldwide movement to transform our attitudes to animals and eliminate the cruelty we inflict on them.
In Animal Liberation, author Peter Singer exposes the chilling realities of today's "factory farms" and product-testing procedures—destroying the spurious justifications behind them, and offering alternatives to what has become a profound environmental and social as well as moral issue. An important and persuasive appeal to conscience, fairness, decency, and justice, it is essential reading for the supporter and the skeptic alike.
The edition with this cover features my author photo. Animal Liberation is available on Amazon
Bizzaro and other Strange Manifestations of the Art of Dan Piraro
By Dan Piraro
I took a photograph of Dan Piraro with a rooster at Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, and he ended up using it for his author's photo in Bizarro and other Strange Manifestations of Dan Piraro. I am flattered, as I think his syndicated comic Bizarro is one of the best ones out there. Always clever and insightful, sometimes silly, sometimes just strange. This book is great to have on your coffee table, or to pull out when you need a laugh.
Book Description: What goes on in the head of Dan Piraro-stand-up comedian, fine artist, animal rights activist, and creator of the award-winning syndicated comic strip Bizarro? This wildly inventive compendium of cartoons, never-before-seen sketches, photographs, and paintings-along with Piraro's own hilarious and thought-provoking insights into his life and the world at large-takes readers inside the mind of the mad genius with a nationwide following. Much more than just a collection of cartoons, this is the first comprehensive book incorporating all of Piraro's work in a variety of media, interwoven with autobiographical passages that shed light on the evolution of the artist's left-leaning worldview. It's a must-have for Bizarro fans and a terrific introduction for the uninitiated.
Dan Piraro photo by Derek Goodwin