Meet Modern Farmer’s Guest Instagrammer: Aliza Eliazarov

Eliazarov, a Brooklyn-based photographer, shot our Fall 2015 cover and the images for the accompanying four-spread story inside, all about alapcas. She also shot our Summer 2015 cover and duck feature – and she admits that our feathered friends are a bit easier to wrangle than the ungulates. This week, Eliazarov’s taking us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the various photo shoots it took to pull together the amazing shots we used in the magazine, plus she’s sharing a few stunning outtakes.

Eliazarov photographed the alpacas at various farms in upstate New York, and had to use all her charm and guile to get these divas to wow the camera. She says it wasn’t always easy as these camelids are pack animals and don’t like being separated from their pals. Treats worked for some of the supermodels, but others required a friend to keep them calm for the camera.

Eliazarov’s photography is centered on food and land issues. Her work han been exhibited in the US and abroad, and also been featured in The New York Times, Slate, Huffington Post, and other publications. For her series, “Sustain,” she trekked from state to state photographing young first-time farmers.

“I began shooting the sustainability movement several years ago and traveled the country photographing farmers and chickens I met via the meetup.com Backyard Chicken Enthusiast groups,” she tells Modern Farmer.

She’s a graduate of The International Center of Photography’s Photojournalism and Documentary photography program, and holds an MEd. in Education and an undergraduate degree from the School of Agriculture at the University of Connecticut. Before becoming a photographer she was a teacher – which is perhaps where she picked up her uncanny ability to get animal subjects to behave.