Kindra clineff biography

TOPSFIELD - Maybe the fact that Kindra Clineff was born in Illinois and spent her formative years in the Midwest had something to do with her warm congeniality, because she loved linking with people. Photography was an early passion, mentored by her father and fueled by a love of nature, agriculture, everything rural, and people.

Kindra attended the University of New Hampshire, but her formal studies were cut short by a severe illness with repercussions that ultimately took her life on February 28, at the age of For the forty years between those dates, her vigor, lust for life, radiance, and productivity were in no way diminished. She lived her life fully, leaving a deep and radiant impression on this world.

Above all, Kindra loved photography. After learning techniques as an assistant, she launched a highly successful and multi-faceted photographic career. She excelled as a lifestyle, portrait, commercial, garden, and food photographer for the finest magazines and clients in the country and the region. Many of her photographs were featured as magazine covers—most recently on the issue of Victoria magazine currently on the newsstand. She photographed award-winning books. And yet, she was infinitely modest about all these accolades. Her lifelong obsession was photographing local fairs, capturing the magical behind-the-scenes moments that occurred before showtime, a pursuit that began with the Cornish Fair and ultimately blossomed into many years chronicling the Topsfield Fair.

However, photography was only one of many favorite pursuits. Kindra was fascinated by historic buildings. Together with her lifelong partner, Tim Preston, she took Topsfield’s Stanley Lake House under her wing. She also gardened fanatically and was active with the Topsfield Garden Club. She was obsessed with antiques, antiquing, and flea markets. She was a friend to animals (with a special place in heart for Pinkie, her Turkish Van cat) and all creation (with

In the small town of Topsfield, Massachusetts, about 23 miles north of Boston, locals gather for weddings and other special events in a restored year-old barn. Visitors tour the Parson Capen House on a knoll overlooking the town common, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since Descendants of Topsfield’s earliest settlers still call this place home. When you drive past the stone walls, meadows, and farms by the Ipswich River, it’s clear how tightly the past holds on here. It’s a town that sisters Kindra and Jody Clineff, who grew up in an Illinois home suffused with New England antiques, seemed fated to belong to.

Kindra and her husband, Tim, live in the Stanley Lake House on River Road. Its first walls went up around , and over the years the house was added on to, each generation leaving its imprint. It is one of the most arresting First Period houses in New England, a two-and-a-half-story wood frame with its original barn, so notable for its architecture that it boasts its own Wikipedia page. On Salem Road, less than two miles away, Kindra’s sister, Jody, lives with her husband, Steven, in the Matthew Peabody House, a saltbox that likely dates between and

“When an old friend of ours came over for the first time to see our houses, he just looked at us and said, ‘So which one of you is going to move into a cave next?’” Kindra says. “We don’t really know who has the older house. Possibly some sibling rivalry is involved.”

A photographer whose images have appeared often in Yankee’s pages, Kindra understands that there were forces at work that led her and her sister to this town, these houses. “My formative years were in Illinois,” she says, “but our parents always came east to buy antiques and bring them home. My dad made our farmhouse look like colonial New England. We moved to New Hampshire when I was 12, and Jody 6. My p

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Photographer KINDRA CLINEFF specializes in editorial, lifestyle, and travel photography. She regularly produces feature assignments for Nature’s Garden, Country Living, Coastal Living, and Yankee Magazine, and her images have appeared in numerous books and calendars. She lives in Topsfield, Massachusetts.

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I met Tovah Martinin when we both participated in a media tour to Holland during spring bulb season. Since I had for years enjoyed and admired Tovah&#;s garden writing in the original Victoria magazine, you can only imagine how exciting it was to actually meet her.

I think we were both surprised at how quickly our little group of seven (including our wonderful guide Bianca Helderman from the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions) bonded as accidental fellow travelers. I have vivid memories of Tovah wearing her knee-high rubber boots to tramp around the bulb fields at Hortus Bulborum  (I actually envied her pragmatism: I mean, who else would pack a pair of waterproof gardening boots to bring on a trip to Europe!?)

Tovah gave me a very important gift that week. I still remember sitting across from each other at an ancient trestle table. We ate lunch and swapped stories about book publishing. Known and loved around the globe for her beautiful Tasha Tudor&#;s Garden and Tasha Tudor&#;s Heirloom Crafts and many other books, Tovah graciously shared her advice and guidance as I struggled with how to develop my &#;garden shed&#; book (it was just an idea back then). Her suggestions about photography really influenced my decision to partner with Bill Wright on Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, rather than working with a variety of photographers in every market. She gave me a lot of clarity and I cherish her advice.

So now, I&#;m the lucky recipient of newest Tovah Martin book, by all counts, her 13 title. The New Terrarium: Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature, was published on March 3 by Clarkson Potter/Publishers. [Full disclosure: Clarkson Potter also publish