The extra effective length over 85mm was to my liking. But the 35mm effective shorter length was limiting. In the bright evening light all was well, but the camera gets noisy in low light. Not so much noisy as blurry-looking. I suppose I could just have put the old 28-105mm on a full frame body and had done with it!
Subject-wise there was a fair bit of interest. There had been a few changes - things planted, things harvested - and work in progress.
The prolonged dry weather and the couple of days of strong wind have set back some crops. The courgettes from an earlier post were being watered by hand in an attempt to give them a boost. I'd noticed that after the winds many had lost leaves.
I have to admit that I chickened out of photographing the watering. Some times I don't give a toss and will take photos of anyone without asking, other times I don't. No idea why. In this instance I think it was a case of distance. They were too close to not notice me, and too far away to speak to without shouting! As it turned out the farmer came over to me while I was photographing the supportive stickers on the tractor and we ended up having an interesting conversation. That's why I now know it was courgettes being watered.
While I am still looking for semi-abstract, graphical landscape pictures I am also starting to look for less 'arty' pictures which give more of a sense of place, using more traditional framing. Trying to get two or three elements which make the pictures site specific. In this case greenhouses, telephone poles and fleeces.
Although only a brief walk it had proved quite productive and I wanted to get out again, but much earlier. That had to wait until Sunday when I was out the door by seven thirty, teh heat jsut starting to increase.
This time I had gone back to basics and put the 24-85mm on a 'proper' body. Breaking my usual habit I shoved the 70-300mm in my little shoulder bag next to a bottle of water. Both of which proved useful. I ended up doing a fair bit of lens swapping. I find that when it comes to longer focal lengths 85mm isn't enough - hence the 24-120mm thinking. Like in my early film days I ended up keeping the unused lens in one of my jacket pockets rather than the bag!
This proved to be a longer walk, in terms of both distance and time, resulting in far too many frames exposed. Before setting out I had determined that closer pictures of crops would be worth adding to the files. With many now close to harvesting subjects were easy to find. A left behind weeding tool was a nice bonus in this instance.
Not convinced that isolated vegetable portraits were the way forward I tried some environmental shots choosing a lower angle than for the semi-abstracts. I can visualise how the various types of pictures can come together in a final presentation. Or at least I have a vague idea.
Turning into one meanygate I could see the irrigation boom I'd photographed a while back was in operation. That would be a challenge but useful for the project. By the time I was in lens range it had shut off. However, that meant that I could get some closer shots of the boom and the sprayer nozzles. Both wide and close-up shots were taken. Too many choices of viewpoint and framing though.
In the back of my mind I always seem to have thoughts for making series of 'boring' pictures of things. With this project it's farm machinery and buildings. When it is bright this kind of picture is very much dependent on having the sun more or less behind you, or at least to one side. when it's overcast it doesn't matter so much.
Something I have become aware of looking at the pictures from this project is how having bright sunlight and cloudless skies gives a completely different look to the pictures I usually take on dull days. They almost look like someone else took them. It does raise a question of how coherent the project will look when the weather returns to normal. I have some already taken on duller days and they look a little out of place. I'll cross that bridge in due course rather than fret about it now.
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