Iron Oak Farm: Photo Friday

Each week I take dozens of photos around our farm. Things that are changing, growing, or just pretty to look at. Since a child I've been compelled to document things. I kept countless diaries, drew pictures of objects or animals I wanted to remember, constructed lists of important things like the President names, the states and capitals or countries. I loved to collect things like seed pods, dead insects, leaves and rocks. I would check out books from the library and keep records of all the things I found. When blogging became a "thing" I was naturally drawn to it. It was the perfect medium for me to organize and document my life. Sharing my life with the rest of the world took some bravery on my part, but in the end, the experience I have gained from all of you sharing your thoughts, ideas and encouragement has been priceless.

Photography is a complimentary sister to blogging. And though I'm a writer at heart, photographs many times say things better than I could ever attempt to describe. My dad was a photographer, mostly for industrial work which seemed foreign to me at the time, but he also enjoyed nature and capturing family moments. Now that he's passed I'm blessed to have a collection of things that he treasured through his lens. His collection of images. His documentary of life.

I asked my parents for a camera before I got out of grade school and was gifted an inexpensive point and shoot. It was all great fun until I learned the price of film and development. Each photo then became a wager. Was this image worth using film? Was it worth capturing? And such disappointment when I got a roll back and the images were often not the quality that I hoped they would be.

With the birth of digital photography the financial stress of buying film and having it processed for a young kid, was erased and my camera and photography became therapeutic. I could snap and experiment with lighting, angles and most of all make lots of mistakes without feeling like I was wasting film. There is also the instant satisfaction of seeing your results immediately with the playback screen, or a simple download to the computer.

Many of you follow me on Facebook where I share tons of photos each day. Many of these photos are what I call "stand alones" which mean they have little in common with others, they don't necessarily correspond to a project, or they simple don't have much need for explanation. So I don't usually write a blog about them. But they are still a part of our farm, life and I'd like to document and share them with you. So each Friday, I'd like to take the collection of photos from the week and share them here. It might be random, I might not have much to say about each one, but I hope you enjoy seeing what's going on in our lives.