hay there and here

post #42

      Today, new flowers on the old hay rake, and lots of hay rows on hillsides.  It's just that I can't keep myself from being captivated by hay rows. I think photography must be all about what obsesses and fascinates.
     The last four days have been filled with hills being mowed, rowed and rolled, making for wonderful designs.  And then there's been that good light and the minimal wind that make all the difference to us photographers.  Low humidity, too.  All happening this week in Kentucky!

after the mowing, doing the raking into rows

popping a 5 by 4 out the back of the round baler

What keeps the bales from rolling away??

  
      Then there is the big field I drive by year after year. I love to watch it change through the seasons.

two evenings ago, sections of these hillside fields in different hay stages

nearby valley view, to the east, on the same evening

to the west, this year's view of a garden plot in the hayfield

     I have shown this section of this field last year when it had hay rows.  That photo has been on two of my posts so far.  This year the rows were there only a day or two, and I didn't see them in time to have taken a photo like last year's.  Also, the garden plot has now been moved.
     I am honored, however, that last year's photo, despite needing to be in a cropped version, will be appearing on the cover of a reprint of Wendell Berry's poems titled Farming: A Hand Book, to be released in mid September!  (I borrowed this cover image from Amazon.)

Counterpoint Press, 2011

    Note: I received fewer responses than usual to last week's post, about Kyle and his death at a young age and my photos of him over 8 years.  I am not complaining, but I am curious whether I expressed myself clearly and whether such a personal story was of interest to the wider world.  Thanks as always for reading all the way to the end of the post!