Hunting down those Fields of Gold

Sometimes life as a photographer can be exasperating; but ultimately rewarding if you stick to your task. The task being, in this case, finding a few more Fields of Gold (Oilseeed Rape – Brassica Napus) worth photographing before the season ends. And that end is rapidly happening in temperatures averaging 25-28C in recent days.

One learns many things as a Photographer including:

• Always have a plan B in mind
• Have patience – inexhaustible patience
• Accept that your hopes and expectations will very often not match reality. Mismatches are common.

And on the subject of potential ‘mismatches’ here’s another list of scenarios you will all have experienced from time to time:

• One based around weather, light, time of day, cloud coverage etc: what a difference those factors make.
• A glance from a moving car that ‘Spots’ an image is seldom matched by the reality of getting out of the car and taking a proper look. Our eyes disregard the blurred foreground and other intrusive factors which when viewed more carefully from a static position ruin the image our mind has conjured up.
• Seasonal images don’t last forever. The clue is in the word Seasonal! They develop and then go past their best and are over.

I’ve experienced all these recently. The lousy day scenario: must return on a sunny one. Those ‘Spotted’ images noted while driving, only to find on the return visit that the foreground ruins the shot. Times when I’ve wanted to stop and couldn’t find anywhere to stop for a mile and given up. And the occasions when I’ve returned for the shot 2 weeks later only to find the Yellow of the field is by then well past it’s best and now turning green.

And the final annoying point is this: because farmers rotate their crops, the yellow fields found this year after so much effort won’t be planted with Oilseed Rape next year – the search will have to start anew. Aaarrgh!

Rant over – but I anticipate that a few heads out there will be nodding in agreement. Been there, know that, got the T-shirt.

So, scattered through this text are the last of this year’s hard won images of Brassica Napus. Behind each image is a story – I won’t bore you with the details but cloning out annoying foregrounds, slithering down banks, vaulting barbed wire, mountain biking and perseverance all played their part. Not forgetting Plan B. I hope you enjoy them; and now – it’s time to move on.

But if you can’t find what you want, Photoshop is there to manufacture it for you. Yellow, Green and Blue!