Shelli Emerson Foth

It may seem silly to have photos of coffee for this project but to be honest, coffee is pretty sentimental to me. 

When i was a kid, i used to wake up saturday mornings to the sound of my dad grinding coffee, and shortly thereafter the smell of his french press would waft into my room. He taught me how to make a french press at age 10. Needless to say, i started drinking coffee pretty early on. 

The First photo in this project is of the jar of coffee beans i have at home. My husband and i are self proclaimed coffee snobs, so this isn't your average bean. These beans are from a local direct trade coffee roasting company called Stumptown. The coffee comes from Columbia, in South America from a farm called Montes De Oro, where Stumptown pays the farmer directly for the beans, thereby insuring that the farmer is paid fairly. Stumptown also has a contract with their farmers that a portion of the proceeds from the coffee that is bought goes back into the farm to make it  a better working environment, and Stumptown also makes sure that the workers are begin paid fairly. 

If there was a way to communicate the smell of ground coffee in a photo, i would. However, the second photo will just have to do. This photo takes me back to my time when i worked as a barista. I've worked at a couple different places, and the smell of coffee grounds is pretty wonderful. Pulling shots on a manual espresso machine reminds me in a lot of ways of photography. Using an manual espresso machine is like using a dark room to process photos, its a craft and there are so many variables. 

Photo three is a self portrait of pretty much my morning routine. Two things i love: Coffee and Natural light. If i can sit in front of a window with natural light around me drinking coffee I'm a happy girl. Coffee relaxes me, which is interesting because its considered a stimulant. The grain was added to the photo, i feel like it adds to the feeling of just waking up and drinking a cup of coffee.