A quick shot of wheat

I only supervise from the sidelines for a reason, but here’s a quick shot of Matty D in action alongside the old combines:

 

Day 3: Old-time Harvest

Fourth of July in southwest Kansas is pretty normal for a small town: kids shooting off fireworks until 3 am, bloody hot afternoons with sprinklers and the local pool, an ice cream social… we also took advantage of an old-time harvest being conducted a few miles out of town. 

We shot in and out of a wheat field for more than an hour. Again, as I’m learning that one only gets bits of useable footage with hours of tape (we are not shooting digital).

But, Matt excitedly ran around, perching and up and down, left and right, every which way to follow one particular combine from the 1930s. He got some beautiful imagery of the wheat, which is quickly turning into my favorite color against the blue sky.

The sky, for that matter, was the star of the day: perfectly blue and littered just right with big puffy cumulus clouds.

 

Snake patrol

We had ribs in the smoker and freshly picked potatoes diced and dressed in rosemary — all on low fire settings on the grill — when the thunderstorm cleared enough to let the evening sun out. 

So, we bundled up the dog and jumped in the truck to shoot the sun setting on the prairie. 

It takes a long time for the sun to fully set when there  are no trees or buildings blocking the view. 

We found a largely abandoned dirt road and settled in for the next hour. Matt settled into the weeds with the camera, jumping back and forth between ditches and sides of the road, and finally the middle of the dirt road. I perched on the truck on both car and snake patrol. 

Snake 101: they’re not in the weeds; the snakes are on the roads because it’s warmer. 

No photos to illustrate this post because my battery ran for the hills. Will post still when we pull ‘em out.

 

Production Day 2

Matt and I had an unexpectedly beneficial shoot at the museum in Ulysses today. Despite having left the camera light back home, we managed to capture about nine decades of really significant and wonderful archived photographs. 

In addition, we capture footage of valuable historical documents, including the original loan documents that really jump started this community. Matt shot arrow heads, original adobe buildings and a tee pee. 

Later in the day we had a smothering thunderstorm, which enabled Matt to get some great low-key shots of a quite beautiful rain shower against that massive blue sky (it rained while the sun was out) that Kansas tops its head with.

 

First day of shooting

Went well, despite extreme heat and lessons learned about providing water to the production team (that consists of 3 to 4 people at various times).

We shot on location at a farm, in fields, in a combine, in a potato field, at an irrigation motor site, and in the middle of roads.

While I cautioned Matt to watch for snakes, he vehemently stood with camera in tow, in the middle of a dirt road to shoot telephone poles at various angles. I’m not sure what he was doing, but it turned out to be the right move because the shot was beautiful sky and tips of wheat.

 

Production on The Last American Farmer Begins

Hello world, is right. 

Today, Matt and I officially begin production on our new documentary (my first documentary), which is tentatively titled The Last American Farmer. 

Our first stop is the Museum in Ulysses, KS. They have a 100-year in photography celebration that begins on July 4th. Our mission today is to talk with the museum curator and film inside the museum before the exhibit opens. 

Tomorrow we will shoot the first of many interviews with my father. This afternoon we’ll scout a location to shoot the interview. 

This is my first experience as a producer. Matt, my husband and filmmaker, is guiding me in the role. Watch for my official descript of our new documentary to come.