Greetings friends for the first blog posts of 2016! Finally got the camera out to try out my new ultra wide lens. This was the first photo taken with a Tokina 11-16mm F2.8. Adding a B&W circular polorizer filter really makes the dogwoods and sky pop. I can’t wait to use this in the peony fields for some dramatic landscape pictures.
Walking down our windrow, ran into an American highbush cranberry. Most of the fruit has already been taken by the songbirds, but just happened upon one that had some remaining.
Further down the windrow, one of my favorite shrubs called a ‘Flame Willow’ presented this shot. Soon their winter orange colored stems will turn back to a greenish hue.
What is a windrow? Because we are an oasis of chemical free growing, these rows were planted 8-years ago as a buffer to our fields. Little did Becky know how many were planted as a pull behind planter came in tow after picking these up from Wright County Soil and Water. Every spring they offer Wright County, MN residents the chance to pick up various conifers, trees and shrubs to afford all the chance to plant a wide assortment of quality plants. My, my how much faster the planting goes when pulling this behind our tractor. Needless to say thoughts ran through my mind about using this same planter for a few raspberry plants. Well, maybe a few hundred plants. Man does this planter work great when we put in 1,200 raspberry plants but now in the spring I am banned from ever pulling a tree planter back to our farm. Oh well there’s always black currants to add to the fields and with more land available, maybe they will change their mind? Nope, I’m done. When the letter came a month or so ago, I only order 75 more conifers and shrubs to plant by hand. That way I can sneak them in the ground by hand because…I didn’t bring the planter home!
Back to my new lens, I just love the effects and composition this new lens offers. If you don’t have one in your camera bag, give it a try this year for those special shots! Happy shooting!