Tag Archives: crop

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Farm, Clearing Fog

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Farm, Clearing Fog
“Farm, Clearing Fog” — Soft morning sunlight comes to a small mountain farm as fog clears.

On this summer morning I headed over the mountains for the coast, planning to drive north from Santa Cruz and photograph foggy coastal scenes. However, it turned out that there was too much fog for what I had in mind, so I had to recalibrate. There are many lonely little roads that run inland from the Pacific Coast Highway, and I decided at random to explore one of them. I headed up a small valley, crossed some hills, and eventually wound through a narrow valley whose bottomlands held this small farm.

Today a lot of agriculture takes place on large corporate farms, especially here in California where the Central Valley is filled with those gigantic agribusiness operations . But if you poke around a bit off the grid, there are still these little farms in quiet little places. I pulled over and quietly watched the morning sun start to break through the thinning fog.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Agriculture, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Corn Stalks

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Winter Corn Stalks
“Winter Corn Stalks” — Winter corn stalks, with the crop left behind.

This is where I should share a corny joke, maybe one about stalkers. Sorry… What we have here is a photograph of a corn field that is maintained all the way into the new year. Why are these stalks still standing on New Year’s Day, and why has the corn not been harvested? This crop is grown to provide feed to migrating waterfowl.

Over the next month or two, before the birds begin to depart the California Central Valley for distant summer homes, the stalks will be gradually knocked down so that the birds can feed on the corn. On our visit we passed this spot when the midday bird activity had declined, so I paused next to the field and made a few photographs of these textures, shapes, and colors.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Agriculture, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Corn

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"Winter Corn" — Old corn left on the stalk in a winter field.
“Winter Corn” — Old corn left on the stalk in a winter field.

We don’t usually see corn on the stalk this late — by now it usually has been harvested, either for human food or animal feed. The stalks are left to decay for a while or sometimes salvaged for seasonal autumn decorations. Eventually they are knocked down — and it parts of California they get burned. It is quite unusual to find stalks with fully mature ears of corn on New Year’s Day, which is when I made this photograph.

So, why are the ears still there in this field? Not everyone understands the multiple factors driving support for wildlife refuges. Many of us are simply grateful they are there, providing safer places for migratory and other birds. But hunting and agriculture have played a big part. Here, attracting birds to places that are not someone’s field is one of the goals, and this crop provides feed for migratory birds.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Equipment

Mini Medium Format… or Not?

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A photographer and friend asked me for my thoughts on mini medium format, or “miniMF,” camera systems. I told her the answer was complex and that I’d write it up at the blog. Here it is!

I have attempted to include several things in the article: a bit of background regarding formats, some objective facts (“the numbers”) about them and their relationships, pluses and minuses of various options, my own current subjective thoughts on what this means to me, and a few alternative perspectives.

The evolution of digital medium format cameras has been among the most interesting photographic developments over the past few years. High MP backs from companies like Phase One and Leaf became the high-end standard for digital image making, and other companies have recently entered the market. The larger sensors may provide improved image quality in several ways: greater system resolution, greater pixel resolution, improved dynamic range, less noise, and more.

It wasn’t that long ago that digital formats larger than full frame were out of reach for nearly all photographers, with costs that were frequently many tens of thousands of dollars, often for only the digital back, which had to be attached to a medium format body.

However, in the last few years several manufacturers have driven down the cost of camera systems using larger-than-full-frame sensors, and now digital “medium format” (more on that term in a moment) bodies are available for less than $7000. A range of manufacturers are now in this market, including Fujifilm, Pentax, and Hasselblad.

When the costs of larger sensor bodies were in the mid-$20k and up (sometimes very up) range, few photographers using full frame DSLR or mirrorless cameras could realistically consider them as options. But the current $6500-$9000 price isn’t that much higher than the most expensive full frame bodies. At these prices the potential improvements in image quality are enough to make folks take a closer look, especially if they are photographers who produce large and high quality prints on a regular basis.

I began to pay attention when the miniMF Pentax 645d came out some years ago (though I was a bit disappointed to find out that the sensor wasn’t really “645” size), and my interest only increased as Pentax updated to the 645z and then as Fujifilm and Hasselblad brought out competing products. I thought a lot about the possible value of such systems for my photography, and I considered getting one. I haven’t done ao — though I won’t rule it out in the future — but I would like to share some of my musings about the choices. Continue reading Mini Medium Format… or Not? →