Keep On The Grass #14888

The Story

Two old Oliver farm tractors wait out eternity in the countryside weeds of a Pennsylvania farm machinery junkyard. The mechanical inhabitants there were mostly tractors and a few other mechanical farming odds and ends. Like a cow with a calf, a second smaller machine is tucked behind and right beside the larger tractor, hidden by some pretty high late summer weeds.

It was a beautiful summer day and quiet too. Only an occasional car came through the distant treeline and quietly hummed down the narrow rural road that striped the farm fields. Having the place nearly to myself, it was easy to settle into trying to show and tell the story of the afterlife of farm tractors. Out there in the fields, I can easily tell you there really isn’t much going on besides the growing wheat, corn, and soybeans.

In my carry bag, there are a regular color camera and one modified to shoot infrared only. The shooting is often split between the two on the same subject. I really prefer this black and white infrared take on these two Oliver farm tractors and used the infrared camera on other machines throughout this junkyard. It’s a great method to help focus on the subject; there are simply fewer distractions when showing basic elements of shape, shade, and line in your picture. Here’s yet another Oliver tractor in the same retirement home in Out To Pasture #14889.

Also, one of the fun parts of infrared landscape photography is a very darkened sky with interesting white clouds lined up upon it and they really stand out. You can see a great example of clouds against a dark sky in the lake landscape Quarter Till Nine #14797.

Location: near Newville, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks