Ron Shoots

Today, we worked with the some of the most wonderful people I have ever been priveleged to photograph. The three men are farmers in North Dakota. Two are father/son partners, and the third was a friend with a farm “just up the road”. I did learn that “just up the road” in North Dakota is about 30 miles!

Why use a flash on a sunny day?

You can see Gray holding the flash even though we were shooting on a gloriously sunny day. The flash is used for a “kicker” light or “rim” light on the edge of the subject to give the image just a little different look. In a few cases, like inside the barn, the flash became the main light. We’re using a Quantum T5D Flash with a Turbo 2×2 power supply. There’s a wireless transmitter on the camera that transmits the “fire” signal to the flash. The wireless is cool- allows us to position the light quickly and 50+ feet away from the camera.

Always looking for diffent angles

In shooting, I’m always looking for different angles! From laying on the ground, or standing on the platform of our production vehicle, we are always looking to change up the perspective. A typical shoot will also involve the “wide shot” that shows the entire landscape as well as a tight “detail” shot. For example, in the harvesting scenes, we have a full image of the combine tractor in the fields, and then we have a close-up of the farmer’s hands holding the soybeans that he has just harvested.

The best part of the day…

The highlight was lunch! Our crew was treated to a home-cooked meal complete with a baked ham, potato salad, rolls, baked beans and ice tea. And then to top it off, a home-baked “Juneberry” pie with ice cream. We were needing a serious siesta after that meal!

(Zoom in on the map on the Find Ron page and you can see the farmhouse.)