A more complete picture

By Rebecca French Smith

Anyone can take a photograph. Some people use professional cameras, while for others it's just a smartphone. Some are particularly adept at capturing a moment fraught with emotion -- they have a knack for telling a story -- while others simply document life and leave the interpretation up to the viewer. For me, the story a photo tells is the most important part. So much can be understood, but then again, there is always more to learn.

At Missouri Farm Bureau's 101st Annual Meeting in early December, the winners of the Fourth Annual Show-Me Snapshots Photo Contest were announced. Winners hailed from across the state and documented everything from planting to harvest, farm kids at play to hard work in the field. As single images, they conveyed a great deal of the story, but I found myself wanting to know more. What happened to the family that used to live in the abandoned house with the old truck parked in what was once the front room? Did the young competitor's sheep win? I'd like to see the face that belongs to the weathered hand holding the seedling.

The saying goes, one picture is worth a thousand words, and it's true, but only a thousand words about that moment. These images tell beautiful "short" stories about single moments. Luckily, there is a way to know more because some of the winners, along with many other Missouri farmers and ranchers, use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social sites to share the stories of their farms through photos and videos, status updates and links.

Still want to know more? Just ask.

MFB farmers and ranchers are more than happy to answer questions from those who want to know more about the food they eat. They open their farms and lives so that consumers have a way to do that. Finding them isn't too difficult. When you type hashtags like #MOFamilyFarms, #harvest15, #askafarmer and #ThankAFarmer into a social search engine, you'll find them, sharing life on their farms along with countless other farmers across the country.

The longer you follow someone, the more images they share, the more complete your understanding of who they are and what they do will be. Find Missouri farmers on social media and follow them for a more complete picture of Missouri agriculture, and visit MOFB.org to see the Show-Me Snapshot Photo Contest winning entries.

Rebecca French Smith, of Columbia, Mo., is a multimedia specialist for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization.