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Sara Quinn
Multimedia Storyteller
Yolks & Spokes
July 07, 2015

When did you know that you wanted to work in food?

How we grow, eat, and share food informs so much of our identity. I found my way to documentary photography and filmmaking after years of working in farming and food justice. My old 35mm film camera was a haven in a moment of transition. The act of taking photos and developing film slowed things down in such a way that I could engage more intentionally and meaningfully. Visual storytelling helps us draw out the complexities of how humans interact with their surroundings. With a camera, I could see and expose the big picture, and tell the nuanced stories of how we all interact with our food landscapes. Yolks & Spokes works at the intersection of food and narrative, telling stories about breakfast from along the Mississippi River. Stories from the breakfast table are often sweet and intimate, and speak to so many pieces of the human experience.

How did you get your current good food job?

A food-based, bicycle-driven storytelling project was an easy sell. Dana Bialek proposed Yolks & Spokes as a way to use food as a lens to create a series of human portraits. The two of us make a good team: she finds words and I find images. We built the project based on the idea that a lot of little stories could tell one big one - that so much informs our breakfast routines. Traveling by bicycle is slow, and affords spontaneity and the opportunity to really experience the changing physical and human landscape. The Mississippi River corridor is wildly interesting with its deep history and rich culture.

How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?

I've spent the last several years exploring documentary photography through personal projects, and have more recently been working as a videographer with Balance Media in Portland, Oregon. I traveled to the Alaskan backcountry to shoot the film Chuitna. That job had me trudging through waist deep water with a tripod and camera on my shoulder, running a generator nightly to charge equipment, engaging with commercial fisherman and native leadership, and sleeping very few hours. It taught me to be prepared for the unexpected. Yolks & Spokes is full of the unexpected.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?

We never know quite what to expect when we prop our bicycles against the window of a greasy diner, a Catholic convent, or a stranger's home and shuffle in with cameras and audio equipment. After a morning of eating eggs and engaging intently with strangers, we hop onto our bikes and pedal up to 100 miles. It's physically and socially demanding work, but we keep collecting stories and pedaling downriver.

Name one positive thing that a former employer taught you that you continue to appreciate?

I studied cultural anthropology in college, and the field practices involve slow, patient observation. When Dana and I walk into a breakfast joint, we sit and we watch. Some things are obvious right away - the outspoken regular, the sassy waitress, the jukebox playing country tunes. But the most important details of our breakfast routines are the more subtle ones.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

Time for brunch and mimosas with folks I love, and endless rolls of medium format film.

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