February 17 is my last day at Fine Woodworking, bringing me close to six years as associate editor. I’m a sap, so I’m getting wistful and nostalgic—two things that are dangerous when you have access to a newsletter. But there are snippets of a story here, I swear. Below are some of my most memorable photo shoots, the ones I’ll carry with me for years and years. They’re scenes of what it’s like to work for the best woodworking magazine (and with the best people).

When I interviewed for the job, the team asked who I’d like to work with. Peter Follansbee was the first name out of my mouth. I’m not sure I’d be as interested in woodworking without his influence. Two years later, I was in his shop. The link below isn’t that first article Peter and I worked on together, but it and the related carving article are more in my wheelhouse. I’d watched a video of him doing these exact things for years, and now I was photographing them. Then a photo I took got the cover.

My first shoot was with Ellen Kaspern’s article on setting up a tablesaw. I’ve used her methods to set up several tablesaws since, making her article my first glimpse into how much this job would inform my shop time. It’s hard to shake the knowledge from photo shoots—and who’d want to? Over my time here, articles have built on themselves, coming back around to inform later articles. And other times, its photos that literally come back around for later issues. I once pretended to be Ellen by painting my nails black and wearing a blue shirt for a filler shot tight on my hands.

Tom McLaughlin and I worked on eight articles together. He saw me progress from unsure to the editor and photographer I am today. He, of course, was fantastic at each stage of my development. At some point, we became a well-oiled machine, which was never more apparent than with the Shaker dresser build we did. While shooting this big project article, Tom and Ben were simultaneously filming it for a Master Class. It was an intense juggling act, and tremendously gratifying. Then it got the cover. (Tom is responsible for four of my six covers, by the way.)

Some authors have magical windows. We normally shoot with two strobe lights, a main and a fill, but when an author has a magic window, that’s the main light. It is magic, after all. Dawson Moore is one such author. One person on staff said the shots I took there are among the best they’d ever seen in FWW. But, full disclosure, Dawson took a shot of his own with his cellphone and then posted that and one of mine to Instagram. His got more likes. Most of the time, I am a full believer in humble pie.

Other times, humble pie stays on the plate—like when I had my own first project article. A bench I designed for myself for kicks turned into eight pages in Fine Woodworking. I was so proud of myself I framed the exploded drawing, but the highlight was when my grandfather leisurely flipped through the issue. I gently took it from his hands, turned to my article, and handed it back. He wordlessly looked from me to the article and back to me at least three times. We both smiled pretty big.

Thanks for welcoming me these past six years. Hopefully we’ll see each other around a workbench sometime.

Barry NM Dima

	Simple, handsome 17th-century box Underneath the carving, this traditional form is a great exercise in hand skills Peter Follansbee
	Tune Your Table Saw A few key adjustments get your saw cutting smoothly. Ellen Kaspern
	Build a Shaker chest of drawers Years of experience mending antiques led to the methods Tom McLaughlin used on this Shaker chest of drawers to ensure that it will live to be an antique someday, too. Tom McLaughlin
	Greenwood: Carving a wooden cup This cup, with design roots in Scandinavia and Japan, offers a quiet lesson in carving a small object. Dawson Moore
	Sturdy, knock-down workbench Clever construction makes small work of big joints Barry NM Dima