When My Vacation and Vocation Overlap
There’s a certain kind of magic that happens when work doesn’t feel like work at all. When the lines blur between what you do and what you love. For me, that place exists “in the field” each summer at the Green Mountain Bluegrass & Roots Festival.
Capturing the essence of a person and their connection is always what I strive for—but at this festival, it comes effortlessly. The music, the landscape, the community—it all creates a rhythm that invites presence. People soften here. They open. And that’s where the photographs begin.
More than twenty years ago, I met my husband at a bluegrass festival. That moment quietly shaped the course of my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined at the time. Now, years later, his sister and brother-in-law have built something extraordinary of their own—something that has grown from a small, heartfelt vision into THE MOST special gatherings I know.
To return each year, camera in hand, is something I don’t take lightly.
This festival isn’t just about music, it’s about relationships. It’s the way friends greet each other after a year apart, the way children run barefoot through the grass, the way strangers become part of something shared. It’s laughter, late light, spontaneous dancing, and the quiet in-between moments that often say the most.
Over the years, I’ve had the joy of photographing alongside an incredible group of artists, each bringing their own perspective, each helping to tell a richer, more layered story of what this festival is. Seeing all of our images come together, weaving a collective narrative, is one of my favorite parts of the work.
Mostly, I feel grateful.
Grateful to document something that means so much to my family.
Grateful to witness a vision grow and take root.
Grateful for the trust to capture it, year after year.
If you’ve ever been, you know it’s hard to put into words.
If you haven’t, I hope these images offer even a glimpse.
I’ll be back in the field again this August, camera in hand, heart wide open.