Photography for mortals: Harvest Time

It is that time of year when the strange shapes start to appear in fields all across the country.

I am talking of course about harvests and for some reason I ma always drawn to the fields with rolls and stacks of straw and hay.

Why this is a mystery, but I guess it is partly that they represent the end of a season and a sign that autumn is on its way.

From a photograph point of view however they provide a very compelling image.The reason for this is because the human brain craves order and patterns. This is why people are so adept at finding images in otherwise random textures such as toast or coffee stains.

Hay bales perform the same function. It changes an essentially random field of wheat, corn or barley into geometric shapes, so turning a bland, chaotic scene into one full of order and interest. It is therefore only natural that a the eye would is attracted by such scenes.

However there is only a small window of opportunity to capture these scenes because they lie in the fields fore only short periods before being moved to the farm.

There has been one field that has been catching my eye for a while in particular. I have been passing it on my way to work every day and on bright, sunny mornings I noticed that the sun would cause the hay rolls to cast long shadows down the field, therefore adding even more contrast to the scene.

In truth it became a bit of an obsession with me to get out and take some photos there However every time I tried to go something happened to stop me. Whenever I got up early enough to go, the weather failed to match the forecast. On the days the weather did play fair, I had some other appointment which meant I could not go. Every time I passed the field I hoped the rolls would still be there

Yesterday however all the cards lined up and and on a clear summer morning I managed to get up at 5:00 a.m, get out and go to the field in question and take some shots. Even that was not without its issues because it had rained the night before and I forgot to take any waterproof trousers meaning my legs were soaking by the time I got to the field.

I used a 10-24mm wide angle with the aperture made as small as possible to try and get the sun star effect. As a bonus I also managed to get some images of other fields on the way to work.

Generally I like the result. OK a few more clouds would of been nice but it was great to at least know I had taken some images.