Taking my new Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 G Master lens out on its first shoot recently, on my way to the actual shoot location, I saw this farm irrigation system. It was a good chance to check out just what 12mm can capture in a dreamscape setting with the setting sun and dramatic clouds above. The emptiness of the land to me lets me dream of what grew here earlier in the season, and what has grown on it in decades past. What do you see in your dreams in looking at these landscapes?
While attending a pop-up market at WESST, hidden way out back with no one around were these skeletons propped up to be made to look to be driving farm equipment. It was extremely creative and unnerving in a way to see skeletons on benign human objects like a tractor. I had my Sony a7R IV with me of course with the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens on to get these detailed shots focusing in on the skeletons and their respective rides. The werewolf in the top photo unnerved me the most. Who thinks to make a werewolf skeleton?? Well done to the team that created this Halloween display!
I found myself at 5:50am on a piece of ranch land just outside of Artesia, New Mexico recently. After somehow getting buzzed by a semi on the tiny dirt road as I stepped out of my Jeep, it was all quiet after that, save for the sounds of farm animals on the neighboring ranches. I like to make animal friends when I am out on these rural shoots, like these horses in Belen earlier this year. So I was glad that two cows came over to see me this sunrise time and even prop up an ear in curiosity at perhaps the two large cameras and lenses I had on my person. It was nice to have company, but I eventually had to move on and finish up photographing the property. I feel like the cows, like the horses, were sad I went away. Maybe some day I can have an animal sanctuary as long has been my dream and then I can stay with all the animals all the time!
The Japanese have a custom of watching the first sunrise of the year. My first year living in Japan friends took me to a Buddhist temple at midnight on New Year's Eve and then to a beach at sunrise. I really like this custom. So this morning shortly after 7am I took my camera and tripod out onto the frosty ground and watched the sunrise over an Iowa cornfield. You can see five jets already streaking to far off destinations so early in the new year!
Nikon D300 Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro f/2.8G @ f/11 ISO 200 1/160th SB-600 hotshoe mounted in TTL mode
I had no idea blueberries had an opening in them at one end. This is the kind of thing you can learn when you get out and obtain your own food. Big Bear Farms in Plant City, Florida is not what I expected. No silo, no big red barn, just a lot of plants in large blue tubs. The blueberry bushes were not even planted in the ground! This was a bit upsetting to me at first. Even though Big Bear is a certified organic farm, it seemed a bit artificial to not even have the bushes in the ground, but maybe that is the only way to obtain organic certification in that area?
Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 9-bracket HDR tripod mountedOnce you obtain your bucket from the main office, you are entirely left to your own devices and no doubt the honor system for picking your blueberries. The farmer said you can eat some to test them out. I ate about 15 or so right off the bush. My picking method at first was very methodical and zen like. I searched carefully and without haste. I also had ten pounds of camera, lens and speedlight hanging off my neck in full on Florida afternoon heat, so such circumstances do not lend toward fast movement anyway!
Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th SB-600 on light stand to left in TTL mode, camera on tripod
The current rate for blueberries was $11 a pound. We took home $20 worth and they were all eaten right from the bag in just a couple of days. It was a very good experience. I liked spending time in the countryside harvesting, and the photography opportunities were pretty good too, from insectmacros, to HDRlandscapes to fruit macros.
Be sure and call ahead as blueberries are only available in certain seasons. The farm has other berries as well.
