Land O'Lakes -- Andy Maser, Director + DP

We shot this broadcast spot across an entire growing season from spring planting, through summer, finishing with fall harvest. We revisited the same farms on multiple visits, staying from dawn to dark. The goal was to follow the actual rhythms of the work rather than try to impose our own ideas.

We kept the camera crew to two—me as Director + DP and another camera operator/assistant. A larger team wouldn't have been welcomed onto these working farms, and even if they were, they wouldn't have gotten the level of spontaneity, of intimacy that I wanted to achieve. To these farmers, their growing seasons are their entire lives—the whole family on helping and there's no separation between who they are and what they do. Earning the trust required to document that authentically was everything to me.

The VO is drawn from a poem by Amelia E. Barr, written in the late 1800s. The piece aired nationally during college bowl season, and when it reached farming communities across the country, they claimed it as their own. On more than one occasion I found myself on a farm somewhere in America and farmers always knew and loved the piece. I couldn't imagine any better measure of success.