Rustic Photos

Every year Strawberry Banke holds an event called Springfest that brings local farms and artisans together to share products and experiences that represent the historic farming in New England. Visitors can see animals, experience activities like sheep shearing and honey extraction, and purchase homemade goods. We visited a few weeks ago, and while the weather was rainy and some of the farms didn’t show up, it was an interesting experience.

I brought my camera and took a small number of shots that I’m very proud of. The weather significantly influenced the images, sometimes adding rain to the subject or the background, and setting the mood for an aged style in post-processing. These images focus on details, architecture, and isolation; the processing results in matted blacks, desaturated colors, and monochrome treatments for a historical feel.

The image above is comprised of three treatments of the same shot, one in muted color, one in monochrome, and one in sepia. I don’t favor one over another so I combined them into a series. The color image is processed using a preset called Abandoned Industry, which applies a sort of bleached and retro film look. It’s a free preset that I’ve had for a long time and I’ve started favoring it lately, using it in several of these images.

The images above are a mixture of shots – I particularly like the sheep peering above the fence like Wilson from Home Improvement. The matted blacks and low contrast of the chicks helped make up for bad lighting and reflective plastic on their enclosure while the candid of Adam captures some motion blur as his brother moves about the room. Demeritt Hill Farm provided a wonderful subject with its antique truck, offering multiple compositions, which I processed in multiple ways. I’m really happy with the deep black and whites as well as the antique views.

One of my favorites from this set is the apple cider pressing which, thanks again to Abandoned Industry, looks classic and historical. I also love the final image of the tulip through the fence. I’m not usually good at framing and this one works despite the frame itself taking up most of the image. The blurred slats actually bring the eye to the center of the image where the lone tulip appears, showing its isolation.

I close out the series with another triple-treatment of one image. I saw these tulips in the back of a truck bed as we were walking back to the car and just had to snap a picture. Each treatment feels different.

This series has a solemn feel to it, similar to the images I took at Butternut Farm last year during their cider tasting event. The images share a few things in common – both were taken in May, both were taken on overcast days, and both were taken with prime lenses, the cider images with a 28mm f/1.4 and these with a 35mm f/1.4. There is something about the limitations of a prime and the incredible subject isolation and blur they can provide that lends themself well to quiet images. The overcast and rainy weather sets the mood. I really enjoy these opportunities to slow down and reflect; they differ from my typical subjects and processing where I favor color and high contrast. It’s nice to take a break and be a bit more ‘artsy’ on occasion.