Black and White – Page 25

The Great Wheel

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

This is Sheep to Shawl weekend at Carriage Hill Farm. That means that the sheep are being shorn, some of the ladies are spinning the merino wool into yarn while others are weaving the yarn into shawls on the loom.

My good friend Debbie told me that she would be working her great wheel and asked me if I would like to come in early to take photos before the public arrived. I was pretty excited because I had never seen the great wheel in use and we would be shooting in the natural morning light from my favorite window.

The challenges started very early. The morning turned out to be rainy and the light from the window was weaker than normal. I had to run back to the car to get my tripod. I had hoped to shoot a little more agile, but I would rather be tied to the tripod than get shaky shots. I really don't like to shoot handheld slower than 1/30th of a second.

While Debbie prepared to spin, I set up the camera gear.

The great wheel is also called a walking wheel because the spinner walks back and forth while spinning the wheel by hand.

The larger wheel causes the spindle to spin very fast, adding a lot of twist to the yarn, perfect for wool.

Debbie made fast work of the wool and before long, she had a skein ready to go. For me, the shoot was as much about post processing as it was about taking the photos. I converted the images to black and white and thought they looked pretty good, I decided that they could use a little warmth. I decided to then add a little sepia tone, finally deciding on only 15% level. I didn't want the images to be brown.

Finally, I wanted to throw the viewer back in time and anchor them there. So, I added a vignette to each of the images.

I hope you like the images. Drop me a comment to let me know what you think.

Tim

head to toe

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

a little self reflection

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

My reflection in a dress store window. Thought you might enjoy seeing an image of me in action. I almost called this one "44".

dog wood blossoms

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

Our dogwood is in full bloom. One more confirmation that the weather is a month ahead of where we normally are. I'm not complaining about the warmth. However, I am wondering what the summer will be like.

empty nest

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

This empty nest was blown out of a pine tree during one of our recent wind and rain storms. We were, at first worried, that it might have had eggs, but happily, it was empty.

indian mound reserve

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

You don't have to walk far from the parking lot to see this view at the Indian Mound Reserve in Cedarville, Ohio.

washtub

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

the roundup

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

If you had been there to witness The Great Chicken Roundup of 2012, you would have been in stitches.

spring plowing

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

While I was out at the farm on Saturday, Lee and Luke hitched Belle and Duke to the plow. The unusually warm weather meant that it was time to start the spring plowing a little earlier than was usual.

There is nothing quite like the beauty of a horse team in action. The soil was wet and heavy and the horses really worked to turn it over.

Seeing the team pulling across the field, it was all to easy to let my mind slip 120 years into the past. Although rare today, this sight was all to common to our great grand parents.

sewing squares

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Tim McMurdo

I spent a couple hours at the farm on Saurday. There was a lot going on. Volunteers planted over 1,000 trees, Duke and Belle were hitched to the plow and began the process of turnng over the heavy wet soil. In the house, Debbie was sewing quilt squares on one of the hand cranked sewing machines.

She had a stack of fabric and asked me to pick out some that she would use. With the fabric in hand, she cut it into smaller squares and then sewed them together on the machine. Once assembled, she then used the old iron to press the square flat.

If you live in the Dayton area, the sheep sheering will occur on April 15th. While the men are sheering, the women typically spin processed wool into yarn. If you have never seen them all in action, you might want to stop by.