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THRESHING DAY, HARVEST TIME, and JULY RITUAL
(In the Vintage Tin and Old Iron portfolio.)
Each July, the Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa holds a special “Grain Harvest” event which features various old time farm activities, including steam threshing with this restored circa 1920's J.I. Case steam tractor.
This first image is a good example of inspiration from non-photographic art. It is the direct result of seeing a painting of a steam tractor powering a thresher with farm hands and 1920s’ era farm vehicles nearby. It also is the result of an effort to produce an authentic appearing photo in less than ideal circumstances. Some great possibilities exist for some really interesting photos, but one problem with this event in regards to getting good “authentic appearing” photos is that spectators will be milling about watching the threshing. And the year this scene was taken, the location was in an open field with modern vehicles visible in the background. It is possible with patience to get an uncluttered view of the tractor or maybe the thresher with the farm hands in straw hats feeding the thresher, but lining up a shot like this showing all elements together in the best action without any modern items showing is nigh on to impossible.
In situations like this, I resort to my alternate shooting policy - I take the best shots I can under the circumstances and then try to eliminate unwanted items later. Pre-visualizing what was needed to create the image I had in mind and working around the presence of wandering spectators, I took a series of shots - some showing the tractor with good smoke, some showing the men feeding the thresher in a good action pose, and others that showed a clear view of an old wagon that was receiving the threshed grain. I took all these photos from the same position to ensure the perspective would be the same when I started assembling the final image from each of these photos.
After combining (in Adobe PhotoShop) parts from several photos to get an uncluttered view that showed good threshing action and then using the clone tool to take out the modern cars visible in the far background (by cloning from an area of the open field), I decided the image could be improved even further. First, I extended the palette to the right, then copied parts of the background and foreground to create more open land to the right. This copying required copious amounts of closely detailed work with the clone tool to achieve a seamless, natural looking result. I now had turned what was a "traditional" rectangle photograph into more of a panoramic composition.
Next, from my files I selected a photo of a Ford Model A pickup shot at another steam tractor event in Kansas, removed the background except for the grassy area directly under and around the vehicle, sized it appropriately, and copied it into the threshing scene. I also had a similar photo of a 1920s’ era farm truck taken at that same Kansas event, and feeling the truck would look better than the old wagon, I used the clone tool on the grass and far background to "paint out" the wagon. I then gave the farm truck the same treatment I gave to the Model A pickup, but also flipped it to face to the right, and copied it into the main composition, placing it next to the thresher in place of the old wagon.
I then made one final change. While all the threshing was going on, fresh grain from the large field behind the tractor was being gathered by men using horse drawn wagons, but I was unable to include any of these wagons in my original photos as they never ventured into the background seen behind the tractor and thresher. But I later shot the tractor from another angle with the wagons in the background, and I “pulled” one of the loaded wagons from one of those photos (below left, Print #2 "Harvest Time" in the “Rustic America” portfolio), removed its background, resized it and also flipped it to travel in the opposite direction, then copied it into the background behind the thresher and farm truck.
All that was left was some careful blending of these copied items using the clone tool to eliminate any “cut lines” and match up light and dark tones to achieve a natural look.
The image above left was taken the same day as the first image, but is a completely "straight", unaltered shot. Sometimes one gets lucky and can capture an authentic looking scene without spectators being in the composition.
The image above right was taken in a later year than the first two, and this time the threshing was taking place beside the farm's 1900 period barn. Again, this is a "straight", unaltered image taken before the spectators arrived.
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(In the Railroading portfolio.)
Railroad photography by definition requires one to be near speeding trains, where there is some element of danger. And unless one photographs only from a public sidewalk at grade crossings, it is hard to get any kind of unique or dramatic image without going onto railroad or other private property.
During the past couple of decades, a few train photographers have earned a bad reputation for all train photographers with the railroads, for trespassing on railroad property and placing themselves in dangerous positions in the quest of a good train photo, as well as on occasion actually damaging railroad property in some way (stealing builder’s plates and other “souvenirs” off locomotives, for instance). Because of this, railroads are understandably sensitive to anyone trespassing on their property; and the train enthusiast fraternity is also sensitive to any such acts by their members which might place them in a bad light.
So when I first published this photo in an issue of The Railfan Photographer magazine, I received some rather severe criticism for my poor judgement, as I obviously was trespassing on railroad property as well as being in a dangerous place - inside a tunnel with a train passing through, no less! Guilty on the first count, although my trespassing involved nothing more than walking down the tracks, a practice many non-photographers (day-hikers, fishermen, etc.), as well as many train photographers (including, no doubt, many of my criticizers), often follow.
As to my being in a dangerous spot - not really, although it was somewhat frightening to be in this tunnel and hearing the roar of the approaching train! But in reality, my being in this tunnel was no more dangerous than standing in the open near the tracks while a train speeds past, a situation many of my detractors also routinely practice with no second thought at all to their safety should a derailment occur.
I originally envisioned a photo like this when I was hiking these tracks one day in the late 1970s. I liked the way the black tunnel portal framed with a similar shape the rock peak above the next tunnel, and although my Kodachrome slide from that day was a nice shot, I wanted to capture the same juxtaposition (a word that us artists love to use!) of the tunnel portal and rock spire with the silhouette of a train also in the scene. This was also an ideal way to show the close spacing of the many tunnels in this section of the Denver & Rio Grande’s main line through the Rockies - popularly called “The Tunnel District” because of its 30 tunnels in only 13 miles.
So one day in the early 1980s after I had switched to medium format black & white and was concentrating on photographing trains on this line, I decided to see if I could accomplish the image I had had in mind for the past several years. After a lot of serious thought, I felt I could do so safely, but went up well ahead of a scheduled passenger train and carefully checked out the location. As I had remembered from my earlier walks through this very short tunnel, while a little too narrow in many places to safely stand inside with a train passing through, the interior tunnel walls are of rough cut rock and there was a deep crevice where I could safely snuggle in and be well out of the way of a passing train, while also being in just the right position for a good shot of the portal.
I also planned to shoot a passenger train as opposed to just any old train that might happen by. Passenger trains run on a published schedule which allowed me to time my trip, but my main reason for wanting a passenger train was to avoid having to stand in my tight crevice for the long time it would take for a 100+ car coal train to slowly lumber through!
To avoid having to lean out too far to take the photo, I found I had to frame my scene while carefully bracing my camera in position by holding it against the rock wall, but would then have to pull my head back into the crevice and shoot “blind”. Because I was shooting without a motor drive while not looking through the viewfinder, I would only have one chance to guess / determine when the leading edge of the locomotive was in the right spot to achieve the best composition. Even though I knew my position was safe, I did not relish the thought of having to re-shoot this scene to get the right overall composition.
Hearing the train’s approach while it was still several miles away climbing the grade into the mountains, I got into the crevice, carefully positioned the camera against the rock wall, pulled my head back and steeled my nerves. Sure enough, as the sound of the locomotives’ approach loomed ever louder, so did my apprehensions. But it was too late now to leave my safe niche and get out of the tunnel, even if I had decided to do so.
Fortunately my growing sense of terror quickly passed with the locomotives, and as I mentally crossed my fingers and fired the shutter when I felt the train was in the correct position, I realized I was indeed quite safe in my rocky depression, unless of course there was a derailment while the train was in the tunnel! But there was not, the composition turned out to be about perfect, and the only consequences I suffered were the handful of letters I received years later chastising me for my actions in getting this shot (and mainly for having the audacity to publish it!); and the publisher of my book on this railroad would not let me use the photo in the book because of the potential negative reaction it might cause.
On the other hand, to this day this remains one of my favorite railroad shots. (And is one I WILL NOT ever try again!)
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(In the Pot-Pourri portfolio.)
“May yor traps be full of plews, yor pot full of sweet buffler, and yor trail free of griz. Keep yor powder dry, watch yor top knot, and I will watch mine!” WAGH! (The mountain man’s way of saying “so long” to a companion.)
In the early 1800s, fur fashions were in vogue in the eastern U.S. and Europe, and fine brushed beaver fur was in especially high demand for the gentleman’s tall hat that was favored at the time. When Meriwether Lewis’ and William Clark’s Corps of Discovery expedition between 1804 and 1806 to explore the young United States’ newly acquired Louisiana Territory to find a northwestern passage to the Pacific Ocean brought back reports of the vast supply of beaver “peltry” in the Rocky Mountains just waiting for the taking, it was not long before the first hardy individuals were exploring the Rockies in search of beaver.
Some were “free trappers”, operating on their own. But others were company men hired and outfitted by large English and American fur companies to go into the Rockies for months at a time to trap and also trade with local Indian tribes for their beaver pelts, or “plews”. In Canada and the eastern U.S., the fur trappers had been known as voyageurs, but because they trapped the Rocky Mountain region, western trappers would come to be known as mountain men, a term that today evokes images of hardy souls living a romanticized life (that was in reality very harsh and dangerous).
In 1822, William Ashley and Andrew Henry formed the Ashley-Henry Fur Company and organized the first of several trapping expeditions into the Rockies. To facilitate the collection of his trappers’ take each year, In 1825 Ashley came up with the idea of holding a yearly rendezvous at one convenient place. This first rendezvous was held in July of 1825, on the Henry’s Fork of the Seedskadee (Green) River in what is today northeastern Utah. But as the rendezvous grew in popularity, soon hundreds of other company and free trappers, Indians and fur traders were making the trek to each year’s meeting site.
Adapting many Indian ways and living off the land relying only on their own wits and skills, the mountain men were surely a hardy breed. And they in turn partied hard - looking forward to the yearly “rondevus” where they could sell or trade their season’s take of plews, buy supplies, meet old friends, “visit” with the Indian women, get drunk, fight, and compete in various physical skills contests before heading back to their lonely existence in the mountains. “Shinin’ times” was the term these robust individuals used to describe these equally robust gatherings.
These meetings continued almost yearly in various locations, until the last was held in 1843. By then the fur trade was dead - nutria from South America were replacing beaver as the preferred fur, and even fur itself was in decline as silk from the Orient was becoming the fashionable hat material. Besides, the beaver population had been pretty much exhausted, and the great American western migration was bringing civilization to the Rockies and the west.
Today, rendezvous and fur trapper reenactments are held in several northeastern states and around the Rocky Mountain region. The modern day voyageurs and mountain men dress in buckskins and fur hats, and carry muzzle loading weapons and huge “Green River” knives in their belts, live in tipi villages and generally enjoy experiencing the life of their idols of over 160 years ago.
Some sell their wares on “traders’ row” where they display such items as period weaponry, clothing, furs (some are real-life trappers selling their furs, and there have been stories of a few individuals in the Rockies who actually live the mountain man life as much as modern times and laws permit) and other items. There may be period music being performed live (with recordings available for sale), mountain man art and books, and black powder shooting, knife and tomahawk throwing contests.
At most rendezvous events, the camps are open to the public during the day (but are usually closed at night to all but the participants). The participants will usually be more than glad to pose for a photo (and I always send my models a print or two as thanks for posing for me), or one can just wander around the tents and tipis to capture some fascinating scenes of the Rocky Mountain fur trade era.
I photographed Rod Noel (seen above) at one of the large, week-long gatherings of the Colorado State Muzzle Loaders Association’s “Rocky Mountain College Rendezvous” held each August in the beautiful South Park region of the central Colorado Rockies. Alhough the original rendezvous were usually held in what are now the states of Utah, Montana, or Wyoming, the South Park region of Colorado is an appropriate setting for a rendezvous, as this area was frequented by fur trappers. South Park is one of several of Colorado’s high, large open grasslands known as parks. (“Park” comes from the French “parc” used by the early French fur trappers in the Rockies. Impressed by the large numbers of wild game that herded into these large open grasslands, they were reminded of their game parcs, or preserves, back in their native country, and the name stuck.)
I found Rod's “look” to be very compelling, and had him pose beside one of the many white canvas tents in the camp to provide a clean background. My goal, as seen in the finished print, was the look of a pen and ink drawing against a blank background, and I achieved this by copying the original negative onto high contrast film for the final print.
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(In Rustic America portfolio.)
This dramatic old “arched” mine building is one of several well preserved mining structures that were part of the great mining boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries on the “back” side of Pikes Peak in Colorado: The famous Cripple Creek & Victor gold mining district.
After a cowboy named Bob Womack discovered gold in a cow pasture in the area in 1891, the area quickly boomed, and the neighboring towns of Cripple Creek and Victor sprang up. (Cripple Creek took its name from a local creek named by an early settler after he accidentally fired a gun, wounding another man in the foot and frightening a calf that jumped over the creek and broke its leg in the rocky terrain; Victor from one of the first residents of the area.)
Around 1/2 billion dollars in gold was taken from the Cripple Creek-Victor area between 1891 and 1962 - and this is at the old prices of gold of $35 or less an ounce. Especially near Victor, gold was so prevalent that many home builders struck gold when digging their basements; the high school ball field was named the “Gold Bowl” because gold was likewise found when it was being built. And one of the largest banks in Victor sat directly over one of the richest mines.
Even the streets of Victor were paved with a low grade of gold ore, and it is said that in later years the street in front of the post office was re-processed and an additional $5000 in ore was recovered.
By 1900 Victor alone could claim a population of over 18,000, and was served by no less than four railroads. But by 1962, most of the mining activity had played out, and the population of old Victor today is around the 400 mark. Some mining activity is still carried on in the area (surveys have indicated there is probably more gold still underground than has been taken out).
Cripple Creek suffered a similar decline, but of course has today become, in the words of my good Texas friend and avid photographer of Colorado Dr. Stan Blevins, a “gambling ghoul”. Cripple Creek has undergone an extensive change with the remodeling and construction of the many fancy casinos and hotels. But old Victor is still “all original”, and, in fact, in places almost resembles a picturesque old ghost town. About half of the town’s Victorian-era buildings are deserted, and decades-old signs are still visible on the sides of buildings.
But the most dramatic mine structures - like the “arched” mine building above - lie a little northeast of the town. A loop road beginning on the outer edge of Victor circles up through the well preserved ruins of about a dozen mining buildings, many with their tall headframes and other large structures still standing. The road also passes the little community of Gold Field and the two dozen or so well preserved cabins and other buildings of the old company mining town of Independence.
(Those who are familiar with Colorado’s ghost towns may know there is also a ghost town named Independence on the highway over Independence Pass, outside of the ski resort of Aspen. Both ghost towns of Independence share something else - the origin of their names. The Independence town above Victor was named for the large mine of the same name that was discovered on July 4, 1881; the Independence near Aspen was also named after a mine that was discovered on July 4, 1879.)
Many of the mining structures are now being maintained by the Colorado Historical Society, and some, like the Theressa and the Independence mines with a dramatic view of the snow-covered Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) mountains in the background, even have maintained walkways and parking areas for visitors.
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