Cows From the Hood

In the mid 80’s my dad and I were visited my cousin Dan, a cattle farmer. It was calving season and I accompanied Dan and his brother David as they did their morning chores. I thought I’d look around as they did their work, but was stopped.by these three serious looking characters. Guess I passed the test because they let me pass. Got some good photographs that morning.

Nikon FE w. Nikon 28 f/2.8 on Ilford FP4

C10 at Sunset

C10 at Sunset

Doing fall work was a good time on the farm. The pressure of harvest was over and the crop was “in the bin”. It was cooler outside, which took a bit of the edge off the day and made for better moods all around. There was also some satisfaction in working the harvested stubble to prepare for next spring’s planting. The satisfaction came slowly, though, and was often displaced by the monotony of working a huge field 30 feet at a time. Seeing the blue truck arrive was a good thing. It signalled that it was time for a meal break, or, in this case, that the day had been long enough and it was time to head for home.

This was a difficult picture to take for a number of reasons. At the time, I shot mainly Kodachrome 64 which is known for its tight grain pattern and vivid, deep colours. Kodachrome 64 is a slow film and often requires a slow shutter speed, making camera-shake a concern. The film also had a narrow exposure latitude which means that shadows tend to go to black very quickly and highlights wash-out. Exposure wise, I was bang-on with this one. There is still some shadow detail and the sky didn’t wash out. There isn’t too much evidence of camera shake, although if I’d shot with a tripod I know I could have improved this photo’s sharpness.

I love the colour in this photograph. The Kodachrome 64 was true to its reputation and delivered deep rich tones, particularly in the blue shadow areas of the truck. The blues strike an interesting contrast to the orange/white sunset and the tractor working the field in the distance.

Nikon FE2 w. Nikkor 35 f/2 on Kodachrome 64

Bill Enns Seeding

This photograph of my dad Bill Enns (1932-2008) represents a very pleasant surprize. I had completely forgotten about this photograph and was absolutely delighted when I found it while digitizing some slides the other day. I remember that I was trying to learn documentary photography that spring seeding was my project. My farmer dad had no capacity (or inclination) to understand why I had to take pictures of everything. He cared about me, though, and if I was interested in something he would let me go at it, even if he thought it was “a bunch of nonsense”. During seeding and harvest he was focused, a bit anxious, and often had a bit of a grump on, especially if something had gone wrong that day. This photograph is odd because while he would put-up with my photography, he didn’t like being interrupted in his work. There is no way I got him to pose for this photograph, but he did pause for a moment, which is something.

I love the way this photograph tells the story of seeding. We had just filled the discers with wheat and fertilizer and dad was about to get back into the tractor. He’s dressed for work, even for urgency. He often wore old loafers instead of work boots because he couldn’t be bothered taking the time to his boots on the way to the field. The back lighting sets him apart from the scene but doesn’t separate him from the scene - a nice effect. Most of all, I like the way the texture of the freshly-seeded earth and the machines work together to tell the story.

My documentary projects have become precious records of life on the farm. This is how I remember my dad: not in his Sunday best in a photo studio but out on the field putting in the crop.

Nikon FE2 w. Nikkor 35 f/1.4 on Kodachrome 64; Post processing in Adobe Lightroom.