Throwing Hay (a photo essay) and testing new tools

Throwing Hay, by Jerod Foster from Jerod Foster on Vimeo.

I spent some much-needed family time back home over Memorial Day weekend. It was a relaxing intersession between the Junction workshops and getting back to Lubbock, and I found time to shoot a little essay on a facet of ranch work that you might not see all that often, hay hauling. My brother, Seth, runs his own business called Strongback Hay Hauling, and I spent an afternoon with him and fellow hay chucker, Jacob, helping them do what they do best: throwing hundreds of 50-pound square bales. This hay went to a nearby feed store in Boyd, Texas, and it will eventually be sold to various livestock and horse owners with in the local area.

I took it as a photo opportunity as well (since I was the driver, I didn’t have to throw too many bales). I’ve been playing around with photo sequences in video format for a short time, and this event was the perfect occasion to pull a more extended essay off. It was the middle of the day when we started hauling, about 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and the only thing I could imagine seeing these images in were black and white. All of the processing was completed in Lightroom 2 (I still refuse to use the new beta), and I’m pleased with the controls for B&W. I tend to shy away from B&W, loving color too much, but I’m satisfied with what came out. The clarity is a little touchy in some of the images, but this too is a facet of ACR I don’t use that much…

The essay also gave me a reason to use the Canon EOS 7D a touch more. I bought the camera last Fall as a backup to the 5D MK II, but here of late I have been using it more for sequence and video shooting. I couldn’t be any more happy with its auto-focus, and I regularly tell students that it’s the most bang for your buck in the way of video-capable SLRs. Now, I still walk every day with the MK II in my hands, but the 7D is a great piece of gear to have along, and until the 1D is full frame, I can stand saving a few thousand on a camera with a faster still frame rate than the MK II.

What I was even more excited to use to some extent is the Zoom H4n that I received right before I left for the Junction workshops. I used it extensively for all sorts of ambient sounds while in the Texas Hill Country (my students used it as well), and I have to say, it’s a very nice addition to my bag. I’ll have to write a more extensive review of my thoughts on the H4n later, but know that it’s worth the pennies you spend on it! The video above is probably not the best example of use, but the opening diesel truck audio is certainly crystal clear. I used the recorder in conjunction with a RedHead windscreen, a purchase I made after seeing some convincing audio examples from their users.

So much gear talk, but this past weekend was really a nice opportunity to push some equipment I don’t normally use that much, as well as create something new that I will continue to do for the Web site. I have a ton of images and information to share in the relatively near future, and now that I’m off the road for a couple weeks, hopefully I’ll have a moment (or two, or three) to post regularly. More to come!