This month's camera is my Zorki 4 (made by KMZ) and the topic of the month is Harvest. In Lincolnshire, the harvest is mainly the wheat harvest but not exclusively so. We usually grow rape (over some time since), sugar beet (not yet), barley, oats, flax and, in the south of the county, a large variety of vegetables. Having said that, most of these photographs are of the wheat harvest but I have included a few photographs of other crops, but not being harvested.
I have tried to use the camera to good effect. My Zorki 4 only has the standard Jupiter 8 50mm lens so I cannot do wide vistas or home in on a hill side. Most of these photographs use the hyperfocal distance of the lens giving maximum depth of field and obviating the need to focus each shot. Some are close-ups (beans, straw bale, wheat ear) for which I am dependant on the rangefinder for the correct focus of the lens. I was intending to capture barley and oat ears as well, but my 24 exposure film ran out too soon.
If wheat is caught within a day of being harvested, the straw and stubble are both a glorious golden yellow. This quickly fades to a dull brown. I have stuck to the fresh item although the colour can be rejuvenated using Gimp or Photoshop.
The harvest is a major event in Lincolnshire. Everyone is affected, if only by the dust and large number of slow agricultural vehicles on the roads. The end of the harvest is signalled by the ploughing of the fields - ready for the farm cycle to start again.
All the photographs were taken in the Lincolnshire Wolds. I have not labelled any of them - I am hoping that the subjects will be obvious.
