The recent heat that’s swept across the Mid-Atlantic isn’t just making everybody wonder why summer is in such a hurry — it’s also shortened the strawberry season.
Last week, I went to Brown’s Orchards & Farm Market to photograph people picking in their strawberry fields. This is what was published on the front page:
© 2011 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Carol Brown of New Freedom picks strawberries at Brown's Orchards & Farm Market as her youngest son Mitchell, 8, searches for more berries on Thursday, June 2, 2011. The Browns -- no relation to the orchard -- moved from Arizona last week and had not been able to take their children berry-picking until now. The recent hot weather has shortened strawberry season, according to workers at Brown's Orchards & Farm Market in Loganville. Fresh strawberries are available for sale in the market, and the farm's strawberry fields have been open to pickers all week.
And this is the photo that was my personal favorite/runner-up but that I knew was too weird/messy/weird to run:
© 2011 by The York Daily Record/Sunday News. Mitchell Brown, 8, far right, gets to his feet after sampling a strawberry as his older siblings and parents pick berries on Thursday, June 2, 2011, at Brown's Orchards & Farm Market in Loganville.
I’ve lately been asking friends and fellow photographers how they would characterize my style or vision or whatever as a photographer. Some have noted a difference in how I shoot/edit for work versus how I shoot/edit for myself. Others have said that I’m not afraid to get close to people — that is, physically close to people, with a wide lens on my camera.
I honestly don’t know what my style or vision is. I’m either too young or too inexperienced to know, or maybe I just haven’t cared enough to recognize and cultivate it. Or, maybe my photographic style is that I have no style. Who knows? I don’t. I just like making pictures. I do think, though, that my personal attachment to the second photo does say something about me as a photographer. I’m just not sure what.
Words and Light 
Nice job dealing with the heat issue in a different way. However the tilt is distracting and I wish you got closer to the strawberries!!!! You’ll figure out your style eventually- don’t push it, it will come naturally.
Thanks, Chels! You’re not the first to point out the tilt in my photos… I don’t do it deliberately, but I guess I should deliberately not do it. I did get some close shots of the strawberries, but I had to show picking, too. 🙂