Technology has changed the way modern farmers work the land. GPS-directed seedings and fertilization, computer tracking of feed and cattle growth, minute-by-minute crop and market reports assist todays farmers manage larger crops for greater profit and with less effort.

But, the  best measure of soybean moisture is to walk into the field, grab a handful of beans, open the pods and inspect the beans.  A strong thumbnail presses into the dicotyledon grain line easily  separating it if too moist. Drier beans fight the thumbnail and end up crunched between teeth where their inner texture is measured.

It’s still the farmer standing in a hot summer field, crop in hand that best determines the day of first harvest.

My wife is always perturbed when I go from early mass on a Sunday to some form of photographic endeavor only I can understand. I often announce my plan on the way to church, especially today when even the traffic signals were obscured by very heavy fog. This is the type of early Sunday morning where I pray for a short homily, happy there isn’t a choir at the early mass and my wife still wishes me peace before communion.

One of the difficulties shooting fog is finding something different than the last misty morning. The scene typically must be nearby as the fog can lift quickly and travel to another location allows even more fog to disappear. Having a researched itinerary with specific locations providing foregrounds, graphic shapes and horizon elements is a necessity. Driving around the countryside or through city streets hoping to discover a significant subject is counter productive and most certainly will end in failure.

Today’s fog provided a good opportunity for a farm scene I’d researched. A  modern white barn with dark green trim against a foggy sky was the choice.

Instead, before I could get to the barn, I found a single combine sitting on a recently harvested soybean field as the sun climbed just above the  tree line and over the top of the fog cover. I worked it for about an hour walking through muddy fields watching the fog slowly dissipate  revealing blue sky and streaks of sunlight to warm the cold fields releasing its moisture in wisps of fog.

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