The 52 Project, Week 6: Fourth of July on the Farm

Egad, it's already been a week since the last post?! There is more content than The 52 Project coming, I swear. Most of the articles just need to be posted, and tagged, and meta tagged...

Anywho, onto this week's bunch from two rolls shot on the 4th of July.

P.S. They're not fireworks. XP

It was a good thing I didn't get any closer... 

Scan 1: Berb's Barn Cats

So for the 4th this year, I went with a few friends to the Berberick homestead in the big burb of Attica, OH. Everytime I goto Matt's house, I find myself snapping a shot of everything I see on the farm. And even though I grew up on a farm, there's just something quaint and cozy about the Berberick farm that ours never had.

I couldn't have posed a fake chicken better.

Scan 2: Chicken Drinking from Pool

To be completely honest, I barely even remember having shot this image, but boy am I gald I did. The juxstaposition of color between the chicken and the background, the pool and the decrepid water, all spot on. There's even a sweet, broken down tractor in the background; bonus! I foresee 3'x3' enlargements of this shot in years to come, oh yes.

These chickens are creepy as hell!

Scan 3: Chickens in a Tree

Somewhere between a barbeque dinner and dusk, my attention was drawn to the fact that the number of chickens running around on the ground had decreased. To my surprise, many of the Berberick chickens had foregone their coop and decided to perch in a tall pine tree for the night. These chickens you see to the left were about 8-10' up in the tree.

Thank goodness I didn't have to stack these... 

Scan 4: Simply Stacked Straw

Taken a bit of time prior to the 4th of July, I couldn't turn down the chance to capture the staw bailing process. For years I'd helped my dad out in the sweltering heat chucking bail after bail onto a tight stack in the barn. This year, bail profits are low, therefore my dad hasn't been bailing as much. Luckily, a fallen economy translates into a barn I can fit into to take this shot. 

Something Good: In slightly overcast, lower light conditions, Fuji Pro high speed films reign supreme. These four images came from two rolls, 400H and 800Z. Scans 1 & 2 are 400H while Scans 3 & 4 are 800Z. The saturation and contrast in 400H is ridiculous, I think I'm in love.

Something Bad: If you can think of a situation in which flare is even remotely possible, 800Z will be sure to reward you with supreme loss of contrast in the final image. This annoying property is most visible in Scan 3, where the camera is pointed upwards, towards the inside of a pine tree during an overcast sunset. Perhaps I should suck it up and use 400 speed color films with a tripod of off camera flash.

Something Learned: As much as I try to separate myself from "the middle of nowhere" Ohio, I find myself becoming more and more intrigued with things pertaining to this area. For example, I hated raising chickens for 4H, but they make for interesting photographs. Maybe I'm just trying to record things that remind me of my childhood, but who knows. Perhaps if I lived in a big city I'd be doing a series on street vendors or bums?

Next Week: I'm switching my film gears back to Kodak color films, as I've got 30 rolls of recently expired Kodak Portra 160VC to rifle through. Still not sure what I'm going to shoot, but probably something close to this week, seeing how much fun it was. See you then!