Left on the Stalk 2
Nov 21, 2014 01:04:15 #
I'll probably get crucified for this comment (I'm getting used to it), but, quite frankly, I don't think there's anything that can be done for this entry. It's just a plain old cornstalk that got missed by the combine, nothing more. It should just be left for the winter winds to rearrange as they see fit.
Nov 21, 2014 08:32:57 #
jaymatt wrote:
I'll probably get crucified for this comment (I'm getting used to it), but, quite frankly, I don't think there's anything that can be done for this entry. It's just a plain old cornstalk that got missed by the combine, nothing more. It should just be left for the winter winds to rearrange as they see fit.
You shouldn't get crucified here because it is your opinion and you are entitled to it, same as we are entitled to disagree. No everyone is going to like everything. But even in your comment you have told the story that this image tells. I, and especially my husband would look at it as money left in the field. :)
Nov 21, 2014 10:30:02 #
jaymatt wrote:
I'll probably get crucified for this comment (I'm getting used to it), but, quite frankly, I don't think there's anything that can be done for this entry. It's just a plain old cornstalk that got missed by the combine, nothing more. It should just be left for the winter winds to rearrange as they see fit.
Actually, jaymatt, I am glad you said this. It brings up a point I would very much like to discuss ... The Art in Nature. You are right, when most people see a stalk of corn left in a field, or a boring swamp bed with dry grasses and dirty water that is all they see. But some people see the texture of lines in the leaves peeling away from the corn, the way the sunlight glows through the semi transparent leaf, the knuckles on the stalk that make it stronger, the little flag on top signaling it's escape from the combine ... my other cornstalk.
The point is that there is art in nature. There are patterns, textures, images ... the human form is replicated in drifted snow and bell peppers. It is the artist in the photographer that sees this ... maybe subconsciously at first .. something catches his eye, but what is it? It is in exploring these everyday things, photographing them in different light, from different angles, with different settings that the art is revealed to us.
And, so yes .. while it's just a cornstalk in a field .. if you stop and look and wonder ... it's so much more.
Below are three images .. screen captures of a Creative Live Class I purchased. I do have permission to post as long as I don't allow download.
Art Wolfe hikes to this place to find caribou ...nothing ... but he takes a shot of the whole scene. He always does this when he begins. He describes it as a nothing shot. Nothing interesting, terrible light .. so he begins to look around.
He notices that the water has an oil film on it. Now how many of us would say .. yuck .. and walk away? But no ... not Art Wolfe .. he investigates ... well those flowers are interesting .. takes a shot .. nothing .. he gets closer .. macro ... and he finds art in that oily dirty water filled with decaying matter at the end of summer. This man inspires me. I see these things too, but I fail to capture what I see. I try to get too much in my frame, and sometimes miss the art.
So ... I'm not done yet with my corn series ... hopefully to some peoples delight, but probably annoying to most.
The whole scene
Getting closer
The Art in Nature
Nov 21, 2014 10:49:43 #
Country's Mama wrote:
You shouldn't get crucified here because it is your opinion and you are entitled to it, same as we are entitled to disagree. No everyone is going to like everything. But even in your comment you have told the story that this image tells. I, and especially my husband would look at it as money left in the field. :)
Judy, it's funny that you should say this, because to me this fat ear of corn that is left is a testament to the abidance in our country. It takes my mind to something I learned in grade school about potato famers in Ireland that were so hungry they dug up the rotting potatoes in the fields just to fill their stomachs. In the country and time we live in, some corn is left for the deer.
Nov 21, 2014 11:01:00 #
Country's Mama wrote:
You shouldn't get crucified here because it is your opinion and you are entitled to it, same as we are entitled to disagree. No everyone is going to like everything. But even in your comment you have told the story that this image tells. I, and especially my husband would look at it as money left in the field. :)
:-D :-D
Nov 21, 2014 11:01:37 #
Nov 21, 2014 11:03:20 #
Nightski wrote:
Judy, it's funny that you should say this, because to me this fat ear of corn that is left is a testament to the abidance in our country. It takes my mind to something I learned in grade school about potato famers in Ireland that were so hungry they dug up the rotting potatoes in the fields just to fill their stomachs. In the country and time we live in, some corn is left for the deer.
When I was a kid we would get permission to glean the fields across the road. Dad would give us gunny sacks and off we would go to get what the Picker left. Most corn in our area at that time was picked not combined. The deer then and now are on their own.
Nov 21, 2014 11:11:17 #
There is one other use for an image like the one I have posted here. I am very interested in creating a body of work that will depict Minnesota. One of the areas I am going to cover is farming. Now, I agree, this is not a stand alone subject, but once I get it right, it could be a very strong image in the Farm portion of my Minnesota portfolio as a detail shot complimenting the big picture.
Nov 21, 2014 11:15:41 #
Country's Mama wrote:
When I was a kid we would get permission to glean the fields across the road. Dad would give us gunny sacks and off we would go to get what the Picker left. Most corn in our area at that time was picked not combined. The deer then and now are on their own.
....and now, as then, cattle are often turned out into the stubble fields fot yhe final gleaning. and trampling of the "stubble mulch" as in the modern "minimum tillage" approach.
Dave
Nov 21, 2014 11:35:34 #
Uuglypher wrote:
....and now, as then, cattle are often turned out into the stubble fields fot yhe final gleaning. and trampling of the "stubble mulch" as in the modern "minimum tillage" approach.
Dave
Dave
We used to do that also, though it was a risky business as the cattle would get a taste for corn and ofter breakout and visit the neighbors. :shock: Nothing worse than rounding up cattle in the dark in a corn field. :hunf:
Nov 21, 2014 11:58:41 #
Country's Mama wrote:
We used to do that also, though it was a risky business as the cattle would get a taste for corn and ofter breakout and visit the neighbors. :shock: Nothing worse than rounding up cattle in the dark in a corn field. :hunf:
...especially in another farmer's corn field. Been, there, done that, (well, the guy I worked for, anyway) and it's definitely embarassing...or could even be worse, if not on good terms with the neighbor! :roll:
Dave
Nov 21, 2014 12:13:32 #
Uuglypher wrote:
...especially in another farmer's corn field. Been, there, done that, (well, the guy I worked for, anyway) and it's definitely embarassing...or could even be worse, if not on good terms with the neighbor! :roll:
Dave
Dave
Thank goodness we had good neighbors. Their livestock used to come visiting also. It happens and nobody gets too bent out of shape as long as you do something quick.
Nov 21, 2014 16:25:07 #
lighthouse
Loc: No Fixed Abode
Nightski wrote:
Actually, jaymatt, I am glad you said this. It bri... (show quote)
This is a wonderful lesson of Arts nightski and it is how many of us landscape photographers work. Especially those of us who walk into places. Thank you for bringing it to us.
When walking into places, you naturally train your photographic eye, exercising it all the time while you are walking, seeing the big picture, the little picture, turning to see if the picture has changed on that patch you walked past 10 minutes ago, looking at it from a different angle -all that sort of stuff.
All this happens while walking & resting. Sitting, waiting for the light.
Teaching yourself to see. Teaching yourself patience, to wait, to explore. Teaching yourself to see things in a new way.
Learning how to capture it, how to put it in context, how to isolate it, the distance and focal length to use, the aperture and amount of blur .....
I look forward to the rest of your cornstalk series and your farm series.
I think it is a great idea to do a concept series.
Nov 21, 2014 16:59:52 #
I like the cornstalk stuff, and I like this much one better than the first one because of the really beautiful environmental context. I agree with some posters that the stalk would be easier to work into a composition if it went to the right side of the screen and let the left side tell the context of the story. It is sharply captured, and the subdued/cold colors are really lovely.
It reminds me a bit of my cotton shots. There is a time when the gathering is done or winter cuts it short and what is left will just remain as a part of the natural cycle. I grew up in part on my grandparents' small farm and I remember the frenzy when winter arrived unexpectedly back before there was the Weather Channel, and everything had to be hurried up with all hands on deck, even the kids. Still, there could be some left behind like this as a witness. Wherever I travel I look for the agricultural activities and try to find ways to photograph them. Thanks for sharing the ones from your neck of the woods.
It reminds me a bit of my cotton shots. There is a time when the gathering is done or winter cuts it short and what is left will just remain as a part of the natural cycle. I grew up in part on my grandparents' small farm and I remember the frenzy when winter arrived unexpectedly back before there was the Weather Channel, and everything had to be hurried up with all hands on deck, even the kids. Still, there could be some left behind like this as a witness. Wherever I travel I look for the agricultural activities and try to find ways to photograph them. Thanks for sharing the ones from your neck of the woods.
Nov 21, 2014 23:27:12 #
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