Field Crew 2012

Above is Dave, Johnny, and I or "The Field Crew". Dave is the critter control guy, Johnny the corn picker, and I drive the tractors and communicate with the packing crew. We all also pack lots of corn. I try to get a photo of us in the field with the last load every year but it wasn't possible this year so I shot this photo in front of the John Deere 8335r. Below is Dave discing down the second planting in Harold's Field - unfortunately the frost ruined the field before we could pick it.

Cake and Costumes

Today was Andrew's(my nephew)first birthday and Trick-or-Treat night. We had dinner and cake at my sister's house and then the kids all went out to get their candy. I stayed behind and helped pass out candy to the other trick-or-treaters.

Last Load 2012

The last load is always a big deal at the farm - I didn't get the chance to shoot to many photos so I combined these with my photos of the second to last load. This year made for a long season - we started picking earlier than ever and went quite late. I'm tired, very tired. I love my job but would be lying if I didn't say that I was pretty excited to wrap things up at the farm. I have so many things I want to get into this Winter - I can't wait to share them....stay tuned...

Last Shot(s) of Summer

Yesterday I developed a roll of Iford HP5 Plus 400 film in Kodak HC-110(b) that I mostly shot over the late Summer. It took me a minute to figure out which fields and when some of the shots were from. This is my second roll of HP5(not counting my high school photography class) and I'm not sure yet whether I prefer it to Kodak Tri-X 400 or not yet. I feel that I get a bit more contrast with Tri-X but I need to shoot a few more rolls of this first and make some prints before I'm sure. I'm really pleased with the above shot that was taken directly into the sun which was just starting to burn of the thick fog from the Cuyahoga River. It came out as I hoped - I think my black and white film photography skills are starting to get where I would like them to be....

The corn picker in Muranyi's Field - shot with my ubiquitous red filter to bring out the clouds.

Pumpkin Carvers

Last night I went over my parents house to hang out and watch my niece and nephews carve their pumpkins. I came straight from work(where I shoot mostly natural light) so I didn't have a flash with me. That being the case I shot a few with my pop-up flash and a few at high-ISO settings. The high-ISO shots look decent in this size but start to show noise(or graininess) when viewed large - not really a big deal for these kind of photos but my nerdiness always prefers more image quality when I shoot digital.

Fall in the Field

Our last field, Mrs B's, at sunset.
Utility Pole - I like the highlights...

New Finds at the Bender Farm

A few days ago I left work early and decided to poke around the abandoned Bender Farm on my way home. I've hiked around and photographed the farm multiple times(old post) but I always seem to find something new. This time I found an old manure spreader in a little valley near where the cow pasture used to be. I also explored the remnants of the greenhouse and found the tombstone of Jim Brown's son.  

 Every old farm used to have one of these. Johnny Szalay told me they sold theirs(which was rotting into to the ground) to a nearby lady who uses it as a planter to this day.

Diet Velvia

I bought a roll of Fuji Velvia 100 last spring to shoot with my Nikon F3 but never got around to it - I figured the fall color on the farm would be a good time to test this film that is supposed to be great for its color saturation. The title of the post refers to the 100 ISO version of the film I choose to shoot - the original Velvia was ISO 50 - I was a little afraid to try such a slow film. Velvia is considered by many to be the best color film available - I still like Kodak Ektar 100 but Velvia is the best slide film I've shot so far.

Picking Corn Stalks

My favorite machine on the farm is our antique Internationale Harvester Corn Stalk Bundler. It runs off a drive wheel and was designed to be pulled by horses - we rig it to our John Deere 6320. Its an amzing machine to watch in action - we're still not sure how it ties the knot. We always like to imagine the farmer over 100 years ago who was sitting in his house one Winter night thinking, "I'm never picking and bundling corn stalks by hand again....I have to think of something....."