I've been wanting to photograph chickens on an Oliphant-style backdrop for a long time. A weirdly long time, considering the number of subjects there are to choose from. Two things happened to make this dream a reality. 1. A super talented set designer and I bartered. He made to samples of small backdrops so that I could get an idea of color. These samples were too small for humans, but... you guess it. Perfect chicken backdrops. 2. My daughters' school hatched chicks. I did a little happy dance and then set up the tiny little studio in the school's gym, by a window, and talked the 5/6 grade teacher into acting as chicken wrangler. Here's what I learned: Little fuzzy chicks are super cute, but boring to photograph. The awkward adolescent stage is a much more varied and complex moment to photograph both humans and chickens. Chicken necks can be extremely graceful. Chicken shoots include loads of poop breaks and clean up.