The image above is rather poignant to me, which I guess seems rather odd, because its a shot of farm equipment in a field. The photo is of cutting silage corn, and I truly love to cut silage. I grew up on a dairy farm and every year in late August we cut silage. We did it with another dairy family, the Williams, with whom we shared a cutter and all the labor. Two families, fathers and grandfathers, sons and brothers would all get together and work together to harvest the corn on both of our farms. Things have changed a lot over the years. The Williams brothers (who still dairy farm) cut more silage in two hours on Saturday than we did in a week, but the feeling of that combined labor is still there. This year the brothers had a major breakdown on their equipment, so Frank White from Liberty brought his cutting equipment in to finish the harvest.
I talk about the image being poignant. The time I spent in the corn fields with my family and neighbors was probably some of the happiest moments in my life. It was very hard work, but something about being part of this community effort made it something special. Hard work doesn't seem so hard when you have a close-knit group doing it together.
(Photographs copyright 2010 by Dan Routh)
Wonderful, evocative images, Dan. And I know what you mean about the joy of working as a team. That's something we don't often get as photographers, usually functioning as a solo act with maybe just one assistant.
ReplyDeleteWill and Deni. Appreciate the kind remarks, especially coming from you guys. That sense of community with farmer helping farmer, I'm afraid is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
ReplyDeletenice picture!!! great work...
ReplyDelete