Harvest 2019 | A B&W Film Project | November 2019 {Perth, Avon Valley & Wheatbelt Documentary Photographer}

With harvest now done and dusted for another year, it’s time to share a little personal project I’ve been working on over the last month or so. As many of you know, I drive a truck for my brother during harvest each year, carting grain to CBH (Co-Operative Bulk Handling) in Northam, WA.

It’s hot, dusty, and a little relentless, but it gets me out of the office, back into the agricultural industry, and amongst the farmers and industry personnel I once worked with as an Agronomist. These connections are still an important part of my network, and lead to much of the agricultural photography that I do, whether it be for farming families, grains research companies or local machinery dealerships. Plus it’s just nice to help my bro out during a busy time, so even though it’s an extremely busy period for me (I still shoot weddings each weekend!), it’s totally worth it!

But I do need something to break the monotony, especially on days when the trucks are banked up in long lines at the bin, waiting to dump their loads. Most drivers will kick back in their cab reading the newspaper or Farm Weekly, or stand under the shade of the sample hut gossiping, but yep, you guessed it, I carry a camera! And as long as I’m in my high-vis, I can go pretty much anywhere on site, so it’s a great opportunity for both photography and meeting new people.

So this year, I decided to shoot it on black and white film. Why? Because I didn’t want any additional editing to do (4 weddings were enough!), and I found 3 rolls of expired Kodak BW400CN film in my stash. Plus I love my old Pentax K1000 film camera, and feel it really doesn’t get used enough these days. But mostly I just thought harvesters and paddocks and grain silos and trucks would look cool on B&W film.

What I didn’t count on though, was how difficult it would be to shoot from the truck using a fully manual camera (including manual focus!). It just can’t be done one-handed while the other hand is on the steering wheel, so the opportunities for quick captures of impromptu moments were limited. Which is why most of the following images were shot while I was parked up - because old school film photography just takes time!

So here it is, my portrait of harvest in black and white…

A Portrait of Harvest | Personal Project | November 2015 {Avon Valley Documentary Photographer}

I've just spent a month working on an exciting personal project, documenting the story of harvest, from paddock to bin, while I drove a grain truck for my brother on our family farm.

This was a special opportunity for me on a number of levels, but mostly because I was able to return to my farmy roots, and at the same time, have oodles of time to record the story of a unique and ever changing season on a farm in the Wheatbelt of WA.

All shot on a Fuji XPro1 mirrorless camera, with the 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 and 35mm F1.4 lenses, this is a collection of spontaneous, opportunistic 'grab shots' which were taken while I was working, often as I pulled into a paddock or sat in line waiting to deliver my load of grain at the CBH bins. 

In most cases I didn't have the luxury of waiting for the best light, or taking time to position someone better for a portrait, or even to shoot on anything but aperture priority mode, because, well, I was meant to be working, which for the most part includes holding the steering wheel in a truck! Which is why you'll see lots of loosely composed images, and shots taken through the windscreen, bugs, dust and all.  But as many of you will know, I kinda like to shoot like that anyway, so really, I was completely in my element on this one!

Following are some of my favourites.  But there are so many more, so I suggest you settle in and enjoy them all in slideshow format, because that's where you'll see plenty more of the farm, my fellow truckies, and the friendly staff at CBH Avon Yard, who so kindly allowed me to poke around with my camera for an entire month!