I have been spending time taking self-portrait photographs, submerged in Lake Champlain along the shores of Shelburne Farms. The Lake is the lifeblood of my community, and the Farm serves as a lens, helping us glimpse the effects of 12000 years of human dependence on its waters and surrounding land.

The Gilded Age took pleasures on Lake Champlain’s shores.

Would I be able to water my garden without Lake Champlain?

Murky or not, this is the water I drink. Lake Champlain is my town’s water supply.

Twelve millennia of human habitation on its shores are part of the Lake’s health profile.

Raw sewage is no longer routinely dumped into its waters.

It is cleaner now than when I was a girl.

Catching salmon was once pretty common.

Pass the word.

The Lake is alive and it’s a great story!