Plowing Day
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NOTE: The four individual pictures are located here here here and here
I attended Plowing Day at the Wilbraham, Massachusetts (USA) Community Gardens with the goal of getting a few photos. The Community Garden is a large field that provides people an opportunity to plant and maintain their own garden space in a public area. Plowing day is an event that occurs at the beginning of the gardening season to start preparing the ground for planting.
It was a nice day, but the weather was less than perfect. It was warm and humid with some sun, some clouds and some drizzle. As a photography student, I was hopeful that the clouds would hang on until I got some pictures, especially after seeing how open the field was. Cloudy skies generally make better photos, because the clouds diffuse sunlight and reduce shadows.
There were attendees of all ages, along with concession booths set up by a few vendors. The absolute stars of the show were the horse pulled plows. There were two plowing rigs in operation, each one drawn by two horses. One plow was arranged so that the operator walked behind. The other had wheels and allowed the operator to work from the seated position.
I asked for, and received permission from both plow operators to make some photographs while they were working. I had a few pre-conceived thoughts on how I wanted to shoot the photos. I wanted a couple shots where the camera was close to the ground, to show off the grandeur and stature of these beautiful animals. The intent was to shoot from a position where cars, houses and people would not be in the frame in hopes of making at least some pictures illustrating the way this might have looked in the 1800's. I also wanted some eye-level shots to give the point of view of a visitor at the event.
The biggest surprise for me was to see how much the plow operators care for their horses. I was expecting to feel bad for abused animals, seeing men crack whips and bark commands, but it was not like that at all. At the end of every plow run, they would turn around, then stop and let the horses rest. I always thought plow horses were considered beasts of burden. I overheard one of the plow operators talking with a fellow spectator about the personality and medical issues surrounding one of his horses, and it seemed more like the horse was a part of his family.
It was a real thrill to be standing only a few feet from the plow and experience the gentle gaze of these beautiful animals. At such a short distance, I could feel how much power these creatures commanded, yet see how truly peaceful they are.
I'm pleased with the photographs. The colors of the light green spring foliage and brown soil nicely complimented the subject of the photographs. I was graciously allowed to get close enough to let the subjects fill a large portion of the frame. There were several shots that I missed, because of my bad timing, not being ready with the camera, or not wanting to intrude. Some of these included a young girl petting the snoot of one of the horses, a split second when two horses turned to each other and touched noses, and a horse blowing into the hair of a baby being held by its parent.
NOTE: The four individual pictures are located here here here and here
I attended Plowing Day at the Wilbraham, Massachusetts (USA) Community Gardens with the goal of getting a few photos. The Community Garden is a large field that provides people an opportunity to plant and maintain their own garden space in a public area. Plowing day is an event that occurs at the beginning of the gardening season to start preparing the ground for planting.
It was a nice day, but the weather was less than perfect. It was warm and humid with some sun, some clouds and some drizzle. As a photography student, I was hopeful that the clouds would hang on until I got some pictures, especially after seeing how open the field was. Cloudy skies generally make better photos, because the clouds diffuse sunlight and reduce shadows.
There were attendees of all ages, along with concession booths set up by a few vendors. The absolute stars of the show were the horse pulled plows. There were two plowing rigs in operation, each one drawn by two horses. One plow was arranged so that the operator walked behind. The other had wheels and allowed the operator to work from the seated position.
I asked for, and received permission from both plow operators to make some photographs while they were working. I had a few pre-conceived thoughts on how I wanted to shoot the photos. I wanted a couple shots where the camera was close to the ground, to show off the grandeur and stature of these beautiful animals. The intent was to shoot from a position where cars, houses and people would not be in the frame in hopes of making at least some pictures illustrating the way this might have looked in the 1800's. I also wanted some eye-level shots to give the point of view of a visitor at the event.
The biggest surprise for me was to see how much the plow operators care for their horses. I was expecting to feel bad for abused animals, seeing men crack whips and bark commands, but it was not like that at all. At the end of every plow run, they would turn around, then stop and let the horses rest. I always thought plow horses were considered beasts of burden. I overheard one of the plow operators talking with a fellow spectator about the personality and medical issues surrounding one of his horses, and it seemed more like the horse was a part of his family.
It was a real thrill to be standing only a few feet from the plow and experience the gentle gaze of these beautiful animals. At such a short distance, I could feel how much power these creatures commanded, yet see how truly peaceful they are.
I'm pleased with the photographs. The colors of the light green spring foliage and brown soil nicely complimented the subject of the photographs. I was graciously allowed to get close enough to let the subjects fill a large portion of the frame. There were several shots that I missed, because of my bad timing, not being ready with the camera, or not wanting to intrude. Some of these included a young girl petting the snoot of one of the horses, a split second when two horses turned to each other and touched noses, and a horse blowing into the hair of a baby being held by its parent.
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updated: Sun May 10 21:42:58 EDT 2009
