What to do in the winter?

Piggy-backing on my last blog post, about staying focused, what should I be doing during the winter? Well, the first and obvious answer, is to go out and shoot winter scenes. Scenes like the one included with this post.

The second answer is to sit down in front of the computer and finish processing all those photos from previous shoots that are sitting on my hard drive collecting "cyber dust".

That second is a toughie. And kind of hard to explain. I don't necessarily dislike photo processing. I do get excited when it is done. But... there's always a 'but'... it is kind of tedious.

Ok, very tedious.

The corn field and barn shown here is near Palo, Iowa, and was taken last winter (I think). Too bad the barn isn't bright red. That would be a nice contrast on colors, but it's aged look is interesting in its own right.

The harvest is coming...

Each season has it's good points and bad points. If you look, there's almost always something to see. Something interesting that might not necessarily be noticed when one is in a rush, however.

This time of year can be like that. I'll grant you that photo opportunities might not be as many and as varied as other times of the year. We have left the greens of spring and summer, and haven't yet reached the full glory of autumn. But, the golds and browns of harvest time can have their own intrigue when they contrast with other colors and features in their surroundings.

A good example is this golden field ready to be harvested and its contrast with the green trees with just hint of turned color and the red barn peeking out. It's really quite nice, and a portend of things to come.

And to think I almost drove by it at 60 mph and barely caught it out the side of my eye. Obviously, I had to come back for this one.

Simplicity at its Finest

What can I say? It's a gate. With no fence on either side, no less. But... it's a strangely attractive gate in a peaceful nostalgic kind of way.

I have been intending for several years to write a photography article about where to look when out shooting, and this is a perfect example. Across the road from this gate is a fantastic brick barn and farm house. Missy and I spent some time with those, and vowed to return some morning when the light will be better, and then this scene caught my eye as I was heading back to the car.

Nothing fancy. No real "Wow!" factor, I'll admit. Just a nice peaceful image. Sometimes that's all that's needed.