Eating Dirt: A photo essay

I always knew I felt healthier, happier outside. Science is catching up. Microbes in the soil aid in keeping allergies at bay, asthma (which I suffer from but was fine this last week), helps fight depression and many other maladies. Dirt - a new super-food. I ate plenty of it last week...

Volunteered to help clear trail through backcountry chaparral with the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, hanging out at a few schools with Common Vision that has planted orchards for some 250 schools in California, checking out a couple local farm-to-fork acreage with Patagonia... All a very good re-education into why it is good to stay connected and be a more integral part of the local landscape, to know the process of where our food comes from, to help expand the network of local opportunities to explore off the pavement. So many new experiences still to have, and in the backyard.

Next phase is getting out to volunteer on the local farms...

all images ©Bennett Barthelemy

I Have Come Here To Bleed

Recent publication for the winter issue of Ojai Quarterly Magazine... It has been great that for over four years now I have been able to write and shoot a feature for every issue on wilderness explorations, trails, enviro groups, local luminaries etc... Grab a copy if you see one. Barnes and Nobles etc...

Lone Eagle Collective

Still images record snippets of life, pockets of deep realities that the eye may catch but soon release.

I think this is why I like photography, and that static thin dimensional slice of synesthesia that when viewed again adds life, sounds, smells, emotion, pain, feelings into a split second - that can twist, grow, share and illuminate our collective moments...

Light-chasing Adventures...

Some images from some recent light-chasing adventures… four-legged and feathered inspiration, family, old friends and new, sunrises, rocks, desert blue skies, salty air…

It has been a sweet new year so far.

Craving my mountain fix… Soon!