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I made a trip down to see the location and spent a morning scouting the farm that raises hundreds of thousands of pumpkins. Unfortunately, when I got there the weather was at its very worst and though I could see the pumpkins, I could not see the mountains that he spoke of. Well in spite of that I talked to the owners of the farm and told them of my desire to try and make an image on their farm. They were delighted and I agreed to give them a print if I got something nice.
I had to do all the preparation blind, so to speak. While I was on the farm, I took some GPS readings and a couple of compass settings. When I got home I checked my Naval sky charts to find that the full moon would be setting at sunrise on Wednesday, October 15th. I knew from past experience just how to time the event to get the moon in the scene I was envisioning.
I got out of bed at 3 am, left for my destination 120 miles away to arrive with about 45 minutes to scout a location for the picture before the sun started rising. I was driving through hundreds of acres of pumpkins in the dark and on muddy roads to try and find a place where I could get my image. I picked a spot, then with a small flashlight in my mouth started trying to make some compass readings, and ultimately start setting up the camera and equipment for a panorama. It was very difficult to get ready. In the daylight it is complicated enough, but in the dark it was a real chore.
I got everything on the tripod and started moving out into the field to pick my spot. I was going to use a tilt-shift lens for maximum depth-of-field and knew I'd have to do multiple exposures on each section of the panorama to cover the extreme contrast range. Logistically, this was going to be one of the most difficult panoramas I would ever make, but I thought I was
ready. The camera was set to make threee bracketed exposures of each section. I'd have to work very fast to cover each section as quickly as possible because when the sun started lighting the peaks and with the moon setting, fast work was essential.It all started happening, but there were clouds in the east where the sun would rise. It would complicate things. I started shooting panoramas right on schedule. I made several different shots, some with no direct light, some extremely wide, and some with the light on the pumpkins when the sun peeked through a break in the clouds. After I shot what I wanted with the TS lens, I switched to a 300mm to isolate and enlarge part of the mountains still with the moon above the horizon. It was with this lens that I made the image you see here. The panorama was made from nine images about 15 minutes after the beginning of sunrise. There was still frost on the pumpkins as it was a very cold morning. This is the image I settled on.
I am very happy with the results. The final print will measure 40" high by 104" wide, almost 4X9 feet. Though not an image I would normally shoot, it has a lot of impact and an almost otherworldly quality. The brilliance of the lit up pumpkins is almost overwhelming. Want color in a wonderful setting with everything that spells out Halloween? Well, here you have it. I'm interested to see what the company thinks of the image and what kind of comments it gets. Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.
Well, no
w I can get back to what really interests me for my fall pictures. I've already made some great moose images and will try to concentrate on some new Pronghorn and Bison pictures for the rest of the fall season. That's where my heart really lies, but sometimes a break from the normal is good for making you appreciate, even more, what you really love. This large bull was photographed in the Snowy Range. Aren't those fall colored willows the perfect setting for a portrait of this fine looking fella'? He was in his prime and looking for love. Any lovely lady moose would find him to be a real catch. I was privileged to make his portrait.Happy Halloween everyone. Jerry
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