Harvest time

The time to harvest the crops is upon us. It's the season when farmers have to make the sometimes difficult decision as is to when is the optimum time to roll out the combine harvester, maximise the yield and not to risk a change in the weather, as this has the potential to do untold damage to the crop, not to mention their bank balances.

The South Downs are covered in fields of wheat and on a recent walk the threatening shower clouds started to form, although the rain never fell one me fotunately.

This post of just four entries captures for me something of the beautiful downland scenery at this time of year.

Harvest shower

I was drawn to the scene below of the old tree and the flowing lines of the field which had recently been harvested. A week later I returned to the same spot and these distinct lines were no longer so clearly defined. The 'decisive moment' of landscape photography.

The harvest tree

In the next image, which I have called 'Harvest Enemy', I have tried to capture the mood of a brewing storm which threatens the crop of wheat in the field below.

Harvest enemy

I rarely process my work in colour but on this occasion I particularly liked the the contrast in colour between the field of wheat and the threatening sky. I also used a 'letterbox' crop instead of a '5x4' crop which was applied to the mono version of the same RAW file.

Harvest enemy in colour

I love this time of year as the summer draws to a close and the more changeable weather of autumn starts to appear. Will I be drawn to more colour work to capture the wonderful autumnal colours?, This I don't know, only time will tell. Whatever happens, I will be out with my camera doing what I enjoy most!