(upbeat rock music) ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

We all have those moments in life that we look back on, and we go, "Man, why didn't we take a picture of that?"

Well, today's guest, she's gonna agree.

Today we're talking with Haley Stewart from Petersburg.

How you doing?

- I'm good.

How are you?

- Good.

For the people in Peoria, where is Petersburg?

- It is an hour south of here.

- Is that where you're from originally?

- I'm from Athens, which is right next to Petersburg, five minutes away.

- Okay.

All right, you live there.

You live around a farm.

You married a farmer.

- Unfortunately.

- Yeah.

(laughs) well, that's your fault.

How'd you meet that guy?

(laughs) - The day I moved home from college, I was working the beer tent at our county fair, and he was buying beer from me, and then I never left.

- The beer tent, I mean, that's- - It's where all true love meets- - No, it's probably the least romantic... (both laugh) That's where everybody thinks they're funny and can sing and all that.

We've all been to the fair tent.

But you moved to Hawaii?

- Yes, shortly after that, and then did not like it, so I moved back, and I've been there ever since.

- What were you doing in Hawaii?

- Laying on the beach, pretty much nothing.

- Hey, that sounds fantastic.

- It was like a three-month vacation, but it just wasn't...

I don't know, it's a whole other world.

It's not as good as what it seems.

- What island?

- Oahu.

- Okay, so that's a city.

- Yeah, it was like a hot metropolis.

It wasn't good.

- Yeah.

- Exact opposite of coming from cornfields, yeah.

- [rob] Except less humidity, probably.

- For the most part.

- We can roll with the best for humidity here in Illinois.

So you did not grow up on a farm?

- I did not.

I grew up in a farming community, but my family was not farmers.

- Okay, and so when you moved back, did you call this guy, or did he call you?

- (chuckles) I guess he texted me while I was eating a cheeseburger across the fairgrounds.

He said that's what sold it for him, was me eating a cheeseburger.

- Oh, okay.

- Yeah, isn't that romantic, even more than the beer tent story?

(Rob laughs) Yep.

- Okay, I don't even know what to ask after that.

That's funny.

- It's like I'm living a fairy tale every day.

- You knew you were gonna marry a farmer.

Were you prepared for farming life?

- I would like to think I was.

I was prepared for farm life as just a wife.

Adding kids into the mix, I was not prepared for that, being pulled away from helping from a lot of the things that I got used to helping him with and now having try to do that while also watching our children.

- Okay, again, that's your fault, having the kids, but that's- - I think that's only half my fault.

- I hear a lot of times that a spouse, a non-farm spouse, will marry a farmer, and then they get to the farm, and they struggle knowing their role.

They don't know what quite, yeah.

- It definitely changes, which isn't a bad thing.

I mean, there's nowhere else I'd want to raise the kids.

I think it's the best environment for them.

It's just a lot of work on away from the home and in the home trying to coordinate schedules.

And especially when you have side jobs or doing other things, you know, who's taking care of the animals today while we're on vacation with the kids?

Or it's a lot a lot of planning out in advance that I was not used to prior.

- Yeah, do you guys have livestock?

- Yeah, we have cattle, hogs, a horse, a donkey, some goats, some chickens.

- [Rob] Oh my gosh.

- I like to say I'm starting a petting zoo.

My husband does not love it, but.

- (laughs) Does he have a choice though?

- No.

(both chuckle) - And these are just pets besides the hogs and the cattle?

- I mean, the cattle and the hogs are not pets.

The goat is a pet, yeah.

My son walks him around on a leash in our yard.

- [Rob] You can't eat a goat.

- But we won't eat the goat.

It's like a dog.

- Okay, I mean, can eat anything, right?

- Yeah, not the goat or the horse.

That's where I draw the line.

(Rob laughs) - So you get on this farm.

At what point does the photography come into your life?

- So the first couple years that I was with my husband TJ, Grandpa Jack was still around the farm working.

- His grandpa?

- Yes, his grandpa before he got sick.

And there was all these like, tall tales about how strong he was and how fast he could do this, and he was just like the best thing to his whole family- - Sure.

- As he should be.

But there wasn't anything to back up those stories.

And maybe it's just my farmer, but he's pretty good at telling tall tales, and I don't know- - What?

- How much of it is true or not, so (laughs) I just thought it would be nice to have the photos to go with those stories so when Grandpa Jack did eventually pass away, it's not just us, you know, telling future generations, "This is what he did."

We could show 'em.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And that's kind of like...

The picture that my husband took, that's kind of what inspired it.

That was the only picture of him working, and I just thought that was unfortunate.

That was what he loved.

It was his passion.

It was his life.

He did that from the day he was born until the day that, you know, he died, and there needs to be something to show for that, like for someone's life work.

And so I wanna provide that for other families, including my own.

- This picture is fantastic for me because this was my youth.

Literally, you put my uncle in that tractor, and that was...

I would love to have a picture of that.

But of course, I mean, well, we didn't have cell phones back when I was doing it, but even now, I don't think I'd ever think to take a picture of this.

- Yeah, I think my father-in-law wishes sometimes I wouldn't think to take a picture of it either.

(laughs) I'm always following him around.

But my father-in-law's really, really great with my boys and taking the time to, you know, explain things and how things work.

So they're growing up loving it too.

It's not a burden to them.

You know, they're doing these things, and my husband loves doing it, and it's because Grandpa Jack and his dad took the time and had the patience to show him how to do it.

- Yeah.

- And like, I want to capture what that feeling is because at five and two, you know, they may not remember what it was like working with grandpa when they were little, but I hope in the future I can show them what it was like.

- I don't know your father-in-law, but I might hazard to guess that maybe he doesn't mind it as much as he lets on.

- He's the first person...

I printed him a photo album this year for Christmas of a bunch of old farm photos that I found in albums, not necessarily of them working on the farm, but just pictures at our farm- - [Rob] Yeah.

- And then started filling it in every year with the pictures I'm taking, and I don't care what he says.

He's the first person to show his card group all these pictures.

- See?

- Oh yeah, oh yeah.

He's at the coffee shop at the elevator in the morning.

He's telling everyone how hard his five-year-old grandson works, yep.

- Did you study photography?

Did you major in it in college?

- I did not.

I originally went to school for art for graphic design.

- Where?

- At SIU in Carbondale.

- Ah.

(bell rings) Go, Salukis.

- But I was not focused on school as much as I should have been, (laughs) and so- - Right there with you.

(laughs) - I did not pass the art entry exam, and so I switched to journalism.

So there was a little bit of photography and, you know, the marketing and the graphic design of it that I had the base knowledge for, but really, I hadn't picked up my own camera until much later.

- Okay.

Hands of Harvest, that's your company.

- Yep.

- So, was there a progression where you just like, taking some pictures for friends and made a business out of it?

How'd that come together?

- So I started off with my husband and father-in-law, and at the time, I only had my one son at our farm.

And I posted a couple on Facebook, and everybody loved it.

And this photo that my husband took on his cell phone is in every member of our family's house.

And after seeing how much just one cell phone picture could mean to so many people and how much everyone loved the pictures I was taking of my father-in-law, I wanted to be able to offer that to everyone.

So it started doing it at no charge for local farm families.

And in exchange, if they wanted to, they could donate to my Wreaths Across America fundraising group.

- [Rob] So what's that?

- It's an organization that lays wreaths at national cemeteries across the US.

So we fundraise for Camp Butler in Springfield.

- Which, I mean, we've talked to people with this before.

You're talking thousands, tens of thousands of wreaths, right?

- Yeah, so last year, our group raised almost 2,500, enough money for almost 2,500 wreaths.

- Okay.

- Yep.

- Yeah, that's really cool.

- Yeah, at Camp Butler, last I checked there's over 30,000 people buried there.

And so even my small portion wasn't very much, but I mean, each wreath is $17 now.

So even when you're donating almost- - A wreath?

- 2,500, yeah.

At $17, that's a- - Man, I need to go into the wreath business.

- Yeah.

(both laugh) - You just take a pie and then wrap it up, right?

I can do that.

- I don't know.

They come from somewhere out East.

I don't know.

They haul 'em in, that's all I know, but.

- Well, at some point, I mean, learning is great and that, but you gotta get paid for your time.

- Yeah, so after I did it for two years for families for free, a lot of 'em donated to the Wreaths Across America, so it wasn't for nothing.

But after that, people from farther away wanted me to start coming, and depending on the price of gas, it just wasn't feasible to be away from my own family, my own farm, and drive all over to go do these things.

So it eventually became, I call it a part-time job, but really it's more like a full-time job and to where I can travel and do it too for other people that aren't close.

- In fact, you came here today from what, your county fair?

- Yes, yep.

- It's rabbit-judging today?

- Yeah, the rabbit and poultry show was this morning, and we have the rodeo tonight, which is- - Oh.

- Yeah, it fills the grandstand.

It's a good night.

- That'll be the action shots, right?

- Yes, that's one of my favorite things, taking...

I love taking pictures of kids exhibiting their animals in the show ring, but the rodeo's a close second.

- Oh yeah, yeah.

Are you good?

- I hope so.

I mean, people are paying me, so I hope I'm decent at least.

- Do you use...

Okay, because I say this not to be smart, but, you know, my cell phone is the same quality camera that we're filming on now.

So do you actually use your phone, or do you use a camera camera?

- No, I have a professional camera and added a drone last year to my equipment to kind of get a little- - [Rob] How many times you crashed it?

- I tried to herd our cattle with it a couple of, or a couple months ago, like early spring when the weather was just crappy, and we were being lazy.

We had an angry cow in the back pasture give birth, and we wanted to get it up to make sure that it was okay, but she was not having it.

They're kind of terrified of the drone, so this sounds awful, but- - Okay.

I flew it back there, and a gust of wind flew me right into a tree and crashed it.

So it's the only time.

I feel like that's pretty good.

- I've done it too.

You just replaced the blades, or was yours worse?

- Oh, it was not operable.

- Oh.

- Yeah, I had to send it in and get a new one.

- I've got one in the bottom of a pond too, so don't worry too much about that.

(laughs) - I figure one crash in two years isn't too bad.

- No, no, that's not.

- Yeah, it's pretty good.

It's better than how I drive my car, so.

- They take remarkable video.

- Oh yeah.

It's made a big difference in what I can do.

And my husband has a land-clearing business with the skid-steer, and when he has the, I don't know the technical term, the attachment that is like shredding trees, there's no way- - The Devastator, the Devil's tool.

- I'm gonna next to it and take a picture of it because I would be cut in half- - Yeah.

- By logs flying at me.

So it's nice in that situation to have to be still be able to capture like that part of the farm or that part of people's lives and stay safe in my car a mile away.

- What kind of camera do you have?

- My real camera is a Nikon.

- Okay.

Is it like when you have one, you always want the next best one?

- Oh yeah, I just upgraded, and I'm already thinking I should have upgraded a little bit more.

- Like, what...

Okay, this is a non-photographer question, but like what difference would that be?

- The more expensive you get, the faster they can take photos.

I would say that is the main thing.

So especially like tonight at the rodeo, I mean, barrel racing or even like the bronc riding, you have to be quick.

So the more pictures you can take in a second to get the horse or whatever perfectly positioned, the better off the chance of capturing what you want.

- So you want the one that goes (Rob imitates camera shutter clicking)?

- Yeah, rapid fire.

(Rob laughs) - Okay, when you get called out to a farm, right, what are people, what do they say?

What do they want you to capture?

- A lot of times it's a family member wanting to capture the grandpa or the head of the farm who is about to retire or- - [Rob] That sounds horrible.

- Or maybe- - That sounds like my personal hell.

You've gotta follow my grandfather around who hates getting his picture taken and take his picture.

That's your job.

- Yeah, but I like it, especially in different parts of...

I mean, I've only known one farm community my whole life, so I know how we do things, but I'm a big believer in not doing things just because that's the way you've done it for 60 years, you know?

Traveling to other states, like this year I have one booked in Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, and Missouri so far.

And even Southern Illinois is way different than how we do things here.

I went down for wheat harvest about a month ago in Southern Illinois, and they cut their wheat like over a month before ours.

And she was telling me the cost of renting per acre, the cash rent price, and it blew my mind.

What they're paying compared to what we're paying, I'm like, "That is just..." Not growing up on a farm, it just blows my mind how we're only two hours away, but things could be so different.

So I'm learning from them and providing them with something that they get to keep in return.

- So do you get to that?

Do you get, I could say this 'cause I'm a farmer, grumpy, nasty, just whatever?

Do you get to a point where they're like, "Okay, maybe you should take a picture of me doing this?"

You know, they want it, but they are never gonna admit that they do.

- I've never ran...

I have more trouble with high school boys than I do with old farmers.

- [Rob] You're kidding me?

- No, I would say old farmers, they wanna act like they don't like it, but they're the first ones who want to look at it later.

And I'm super fast.

- Has that girl got those pictures, those Polaroids to us yet?

- I tell 'em that they only have to stop the equipment for, you know, 10, 20 minutes at most.

And the wheat harvest in Southern Illinois, when I got in the combine with one of the equipment operators, he's like, "You don't have to sprint across the field like that."

I'm like, "I do 'cause I don't wanna inconvenience anyone.

I want you to enjoy this experience and not feel like I'm putting you behind.

Like, I want it to be like I'm not here.

So if that requires me to sprint across the field to get in the combine so you're not stopping for more than 30 seconds, then I'm good with that."

You know, 'cause I want people to tell their neighbors or whoever like, "We didn't even know she was there, and she gave us these photos, and it's something that we can cherish forever."

- Do you want me to give you a sales pitch?

- Maybe.

Sure.

- Okay.

Farms should hire you because we will never, we'll never know what we're missing until we can't get that back.

- Exactly - Right?

Just an average day of planting, average day of harvest, especially if there's some extra family around, that needs to be cataloged.

That needs to be 'cause you never know what picture is going to mean the world to you.

A lot of times this stuff just flows.

My favorite picture in the whole world was taken by a trail camera.

It wasn't even supposed to be a picture taken.

But you just, you never know what moment or what collection of people that might not be there next year.

And that's why a farm really needs to... Farms never think about this stuff because we're so mono.

You know, corn, soybeans, that's what it is.

They need to stop.

They need to have a day where maybe they aren't gonna get the most done, but yet they're gonna have a lifetime of memories with you.

- Exactly, and I think a big part of that from some of the families I've done afterwards, they coordinate like a big field meal more so than what they would normally.

So they take even just like a 20-minute break.

And I don't know about other farms, but I do not cook like my husband's grandma did.

There will be no field- - That's what he was saying.

- There will be no field meals like she provided, or even my mother-in-law.

She's a great cook.

I am not.

If you want McDonald's, I got you, and I'll go get it, and I'll deliver it to you, and I won't complain about it.

But I'm not bringing Crock-Pots to the field for ya, and so I think that's something special, like not something even directly related to farming.

But I know my husband would love pictures of Grandma Jean, you know, dishing out her famous beef and noodles to everybody who was working that day, and he doesn't have that.

And it's just small things like that.

He could tell you exactly what year our last drought was and what the corn made that year, but it's harder to remember the small moments in between the big ones that you don't wanna forget.

- You know, looking back, he didn't know that was gonna be Grandpa Jack's last tractor ride.

Thankfully he caught it, but maybe he didn't, and then we would have nothing.

You know, like you don't know when someone is going to get sick.

There's been several times closely after I've done farm photo shoots that something has happened to someone, and my photos have been used in their memorial service.

I mean, that's absolutely not what I hope for obviously, but- - [Rob] That's gotta give you a- - You know, that captured their true self, you know?

And so then when they're memorializing that person, they get to see who they were, not a department store headshot, you know?

So it just makes it more meaningful on all aspects of life for everyone involved.

- You're part of the Real Ag Stock company?

- Yes, yeah.

- We've had Erin and Leon before.

- Yeah, she's amazing.

- Actually, she's not a real good photographer, yeah.

- Well, I think she's excellent.

She took our farm photos this year, and I have 'em blown up all over my house.

- [Rob] I guess she's okay.

- Yeah.

(both laugh) She's not only a great photographer, but she's built a wonderful community of ag photographers.

- Yeah, that's what I don't get.

That's what I asked her.

I was like, "Why?

This is your competition.

You should be looking at someone like you and going, 'I wanna crush her.'"

But no, she's like, "I wanna help."

- Well, she's so good that she has a wait list, so now she's kind of gotta share the love with everybody else.

- Hm, but this is like a stock photos, right?

So if someone's doing a, I don't know, a report on cattle, they can pull up this thing, and you know, they'll take your picture.

Do you get some money?

You get credit?

Is that how it works?

- Yeah, so they have like yearly subscriptions from the larger ag-based companies to buy... You can search keywords on there like if you're wanting a specific cattle photo or whatever and then all of the photos pertaining to that.

And if someone purchases my specific one, then I get a percentage of the total sales that month.

- Nice.

- Yeah, so it make it...

It's nice 'cause now when you see big companies like that using photos, they're coming from real farm families and real...

Most of the photographers in her organization live on farms, have grown up around it, so they know what to take, the pictures.

They're not post pictures.

They're real life what's really happening on the farm.

- By people that understand.

- Yes, it makes it a way more authentic experience for the advertisements.

- It's easy to hate on the ag producers when they are faceless and nameless.

- I say that because it used to...

When I wasn't on a farm, it was so easy to be mad.

- [Rob] You hated me?

- No, I didn't hate.

(laughs) I had a lot of friends growing up who were farmers, but it was easy to be mad in the morning when you're running late, and you get stuck behind someone on the road.

- [Rob] Oh yeah.

- You know?

- Y'all hate that.

- And I didn't understand it.

I'm like, "Why can't they just move their equipment at 9:00 AM when everyone's already at work or already at school?"

Like, it was a big inconvenience for me.

And now that I'm a part of a farm family, I get it.

Like, you move when you have to move.

Like, there's a timetable for everything.

And I mean, I still don't check the weather, but my husband does.

And so if he needs to move at 8:00 AM during rush hour traffic to beat, you know, the next rain, he's gonna do it, and I understand that more now.

But just seeing a tractor and not knowing who's in it, it's way easier to judge those people, whereas if people see that, you know, these are your neighbors, these are the kids on your son's baseball team, they're the ones producing your food, your livestock.

It's easy to say, "Well, they should do it this way," you know, when you know nothing about it.

- Well, not just that, but like when it comes to, I don't know, potential loss, right, banning of whatever herbicide where a person just hears that, and they're like, "Well, just a bunch of factory farms or whatever," without any knowledge of it, you know, just to get a personal thing to where they could realize, "Okay, maybe it's not just some nameless company that's producing our food.

It's actually a real person."

- Yes, exactly, especially with... We have beef primarily for livestock, and a lot of my friends, and they're gonna give me crap for saying this, but who live in big cities and not in farm communities, they're like, "Well, why don't you raise them like this?"

And it's like, you know, there are people who do, and that's great for them, but this is what works for us based on our climate and what we're able to grow with what we have.

- What's the name of your friend that asked you that?

- I'm not gonna say it.

I'm sure she'll watch this, but- - You could whisper it to me.

- No, she's just...

It's very common for the grass-fed vs. grain-fed debate.

- [Rob] Yeah, definitely.

- Without understanding... And either way, I mean, if you're buying from a local farmer, it's gonna be quality meat, and it's a personal preference.

But judging someone for doing it one way or the other before you know the full facts of why they do it that way, I just don't think that's fair to the farmer.

- No, and as a farmer, it's partly our fault because we don't tell the story.

You are.

You're doing a great job, which gets me to this.

If people wanna find you on the internet, social media, where do they go?

- Handsofharvestphoto.com, or I'm also on Facebook and Instagram, Hands of Harvest.

- Okay, and people, a farmer, can... How far do you go?

- Again, my husband won't like that I'm saying this, but I will go wherever.

- [Rob] Everything has a price, doesn't it?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Well, not only that.

I mean, if I can coordinate a vacation in with it, then I may not even charge travel fees.

- What about a farmer in Oahu?

- That might be where I draw the line, but maybe not.

I think most farmers in Hawaii are on the main island.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- And I could swing that because there's a national park there.

That's one of my goals, is to make it to 40 national parks before I'm 40.

So if you farm next to a national park, call me, and I'll- - Discounted rate?

- Yeah, I'll stop by, take your photos, and then I'll head over for a hike.

- Well, Haley Stewart from Petersburg, Hands of Harvest.

Go check her out.

And if you're a farmer, I mean, and there are... You can check the other ones too.

There are people out there that will give you some pictures that you like.

We didn't even get into it.

I wish I had pictures of my old equipment that are no longer in my farm.

It's like adopted kids.

But anyway, Haley, I wanna thank you for what you do.

Your pictures are beautiful, and you oughta be really, really proud of what you're doing for agriculture.

So, Haley, thank you very much.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next week.

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