For Astrid Tilton, the outdoors is where she feels most at home – better yet, in a field of squash or beans with a camera in her hands. As the gleaning manager for Island Grown Initiative (IGI) and a photographer, taking photos of farm life is an extension of her love of both photography and nature.
Today, Tilton manages more than one hundred volunteers who harvest food from the IGI fields and other farms across the Island. The produce is then donated to the Island Food Pantry, schools, and the Vineyard’s food distribution programs.
After work hours, though, Tilton can be seen out in the fields with her digital Nikon camera capturing the seasons – from beautiful cover crops that sing in May and June to the colorful summer months and, finally, her busiest time: peak harvest season in the fall.
For the collection of images here, she loved spending time with the people – and the animals – she was photographing. “I’m just making photos of my life. Pretty simple! If there’s something I want to be involved with, I photograph it,” she said. Such was the case with Dan Sternbach’s grain, which is a relatively new addition to the Island’s agricultural scene. “I was drawn to it, and I wanted to participate in the action,” she said.
Tilton also pointed her lens at rows of okra and corn; sheep, tomato plants, and cosmos; and longtime Island farmer Andrew Woodruff surveying his cabbage.
This way of relating to the world around her began in sixth grade when Tilton received a digital point-and-shoot camera as a Christmas gift. It was light purplish pink, which only added to its appeal. “I loved it and as soon as I got it, I had it with me every second and would be photographing incessantly. It was a good little friend of mine,” she said.
Tilton learned how to work in a darkroom as a student at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School. In high school, she was mentored by Island photographer David Welch. She would spend a couple of hours every week with him, hearing about his work and talking with him about her own – everything from images of family and friends to seascapes.
Another high school mentorship experience that left an impact was at IGI. Upon graduating high school in 2016, Tilton was awarded a four-year fellowship from the Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship, which funded and allowed her to continue her farming experience as an intern at IGI during her summer breaks. In 2020, she graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, with a focus on photography, writing, and ecology.
“[The Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship] funds people and projects that will sustain the Island environmentally and socially,” Tilton said. “Their perspective aligns with my own values. Social and environmental issues are the same, and I want to use my energy and creativity to support my version of Island life, and the people in my world here.”
Farm life isn’t the only subject of her photography, though. Tilton loves capturing portraits as well. “I photograph my dad a lot,” she laughed. “He’s always up to something.”
