Easter on the farm

 

We spent Easter on the farm with our family in Northwest Iowa. Thank you to Don, Shelly, and Shelby for having us again and for being such wonderful hosts! Beside eating a wonderful Easter dinner we spent quite some time outside and despite a snow shower coming down we had a nice fire going.

It is an exciting time on the farm. Eight calves were born in the last few days and a few more are expected soon.

I always like to walk around on the farm with my camera and look for interesting subjects. This time I was on a mission. I have made many pictures of the more than 100 years old barn before but this weekend was probably my very last chance to work with this old farm building. It will be replaced by a new barn very soon because its shape may bare a safety risk and repair is not really an option anymore. The barn is still in use and everybody is a little sad about the fact that it has to go. It was the first time that I made pictures of the barn at night. There is a lamp post right beside the building and its position is just perfect for this shot. The fresh snow solves the problem with the muddy foreground and shoots some extra light towards the barn.

Thanksgiving delight

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120, f4

I hope you all here in America had a nice Thanksgiving. We spent the holiday with the whole family on the farm in Northwest Iowa. Thank you again Shelly, Shelby, Jessica, and Don for having us. We had a great time with outstanding food, fun, and good conversation.

This part of the state is very flat and landscape photography isn't always on my mind when we are there. The relative warm weather made it easy to spend some time outside and at the end of the day we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset over the neighboring farm. There was no doubt about that I would get the tripod out and shoot into the setting sun.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120, f4

Fifteen minutes earlier the sun gave the old barn a wonderful warm color. I love these old farm buildings and numerous images of this barn made it on my hard disk already during the last few years. My friend Dave Updegraff here in Eastern Iowa has an ongoing project and writes about it in his blog quite often. He shoots old barns and other farm related things and I'm sure he would like to point his lens on this one.

Hunting for the last light

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

The parade was over. People were gathering in front of a stage in joyful anticipation of a local band, that later would play the music for dance and entertainment, and a man was sneaking around the blog hunting for the last light of the day. I found it reflected on the windows and walls of this tall grain elevator beside the railroad tracks. I dialed in 1/160s, f/8, -½ EV, ISO 100… click… Done deal!  Liked it better than any of my images from the parade in the afternoon…

The image can be viewed in a larger version in my Photo-A-Week gallery "2011 - 52 Weeks".

How should I shoot a parade?

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

I still don't really know. I have asked myself this question last weekend. Joan and I were in Marcus, a small town in Northwest Iowa, for  a school reunion. Another reason to be there was the 75th annual Marcus Community Fair. The city had a lot going on last weekend and one of the events was of course a parade. Fire engines, old-timer cars, people on horses, tractors, and many more colorful things were moving through the streets of Marcus. I have been at heir parade before four years ago, took a lot of pictures and didn't really like any of them. Why? Busy backgrounds, harsh light with high contrast, and making too many mistakes were the main reasons. I wanted to do much better this time.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

The parade started at 4 PM and there was still plenty of light available. First we chose a street with some big trees that covered the sky in the background and would minimize so the high contrast in the frame. I believe that worked well for most of the pictures.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

How about the background? There were cars parked along the streets, people in lawn chairs had lined up along the route of the parade, with other words it was hard to find a spot without a busy background. I tried to solve the problem by zooming in and leave as much as possible of the distracting parts out of the frame. It didn't always work, but like in this image of happy girls on horses I was able to keep the "dudes with their beer coolers"  out of the frame. A little crop was necessary in some instances.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

I still don't feel comfortable about shooting an event like the Marcus parade, but this time I had some keepers that, I believe, reflect the spirit of the event and tell the story about the fun everybody had.