Blowing in the wind

My father once told me a story of how he thought winnowing was an easy task only to find himself in bed for the rest of the week after just over an hour at the task.

He was a young boy when it happened, something he says taught him to respect the farmer's labour.

This must have been in the 1920's long before the combined harvesters came to our farms.

Even today though, most families don't own large plots of land and so cant afford the mechanized marvels. Most families use the warm summer wind to separate the grain from the chaff. And if some can afford technology, its limited to manual fan.




Okay so why these photographs ?

Do I confess first? Well I guess I should, in the little time I had to steal these images there were from the front where one could see the ladies face then from the rear with all the chaff blowing straight at me.

Yes the dust did bother me but it was not entirely the reason why I came round the the front to carefully position myself in order to get the basket and the mustard pods in the frame. I was not very open to looking at the sight from a different point of view.

I guess you can see I have learned the lesson again and hope it reminds you too, your point of view makes all the difference and we're not just talking about Photography.