Stills

A strong composition from an interesting perspective; I'd enjoy seeing some of the other shots from the series.

I wish I could remember the name of the photographer that this reminds me of. He did a book on the last days of a farm somewhere in the UK. Might have been in 70's or 80's. I think he was primarily a landscape photographer.
 

I agree with Rex. This picture could be about a success story or a beginning, not an ending. It is a fine picture of the place though.
 

Interesting. West Wales (or round us anyway) is big on dairy farming and, yes, the price of milk for the farmer is less than it was three or four years ago. That means (and the government would like - think about the consequences) that farms have to get bigger; difficult in a hilly landscape and not environmentally friendly: it means more problems with silage and slurry run off into rivers and large sheds scattered around the countryside.

The picture indicates (unintentionally, merely a record) that somone may sell up but there are enough buyers. The mart was only built in the last decade or so and there is still money in the enterprise, depending on how canny the farmers are with diversification and tapping into the myriad (but reducing) EU grants.

The picture was not taken in sorrow - I have been trying to record what goes on round here and this sale represented a change of land use that I wanted to document. I can't think who the photographer that you are thinking about might be, Matt. I did want to capture the character of the, largely older, bidders. These are the old farming people through and through.

There is a samll photo essay you can look at here:

http://www.johnelliseone.co.uk/gallery/list.php?exhibition=44&pass=public&lang=eng
 

I forgot to add that (mainly of interest to E-1 owners) all the indoor shots were taken at ISO 800 and not filtered. I converted to b/w, then created a quadtone and cross-processed by placing the quadtone over the b/w and reducing to 10% opacity.
 

John,thanks for posting a link to the photo essay. "104 Wyn in the milking parlour" and "117 final decisions" are particularly strong.

A friend supplied the name of photographer that these reminded me of; http://www.chrischapmanphotography.com/.

If you've never seen it before, his essay "Last Days at Truelove Farm" is fascinating.
 

Thank you, Matt, for the severe nostalgia attack! Before I come to the technical aspects of Chapman's work, I thought I'd let you why his Truelove essay came close to bringing a tear to the eye. After my mother separated, we lived on a farm on Dartmoor for about two years when I was 7 - 9, in the '50s. Apart from the David Brown tractor replacing the little 'Fergie' everything else was very similar, including the South Devon cows that give the milk from which clotted cream is made.

His essay, of course, is masterful. I had heard of him but only the odd bit of work in papers/magazines. There is no doubt that he captures not just the end of an era but a window back into it. My only quibble with his selection is that out of 26 in the essay there are 4 dealing with the kitchen dresser being moved out! He obviously felt that it symbolised most strongly the way of life.

I don't claim to be in the same league but I think the big difference between his subject matter and mine, and this addresses Rex's point, is that he has sought out, and found, this definitive piece of living social history (and the account of the development plans does make one weep), whereas I am documenting what is going on. When we came here in '85 one needed at least 80 acres to be viable. That is now around 150 (uncomfortably struggling) unless an intensive unit is housed on the farm. Truelove farm, at 138 acres, would have been viable in 1998 (when it was sold) if the family had adjusted to the times (whatever that means). Now it would not. Wyn's sale was sad for us because he was such a generous neighbour but I am not sure that he has felt too many pangs of regret. Nor do we regret that there will no longer be dairy farming next door: on small acreage it is too intensive with ever-present threats of slurry run-off and silage seepage; large machinery churns up and down the (unmetalled) drive. The new owners would appear to have enough money not to have to push their beef herd too hard and be slightly more extensive. They are also building a huge aviary for birds of prey. We are lucky: someone could have moved in to factory-farm 10,000 chickens, say. No, my two day take was to record an event not mark the passing of anything in particular, even if in 50 years time people might wonder what was going on!

Thanks for bearing with the rather lengthy context setting. If anyone has not looked at Matt's link, I do recommend it.
 

Interesting photograph and series John (104 Wyn in the milking parlour is fab. Obviously (I think) it would be impossible for us to get even a fraction of the story from this one shot but the series is a great. Some things just need more than one photograph.
 

Thanks John-jo. I selected this one because it could stand on its own without having to tell any particular story. But yes, you are right.
 

103 wins my vote.

The hats...oh the hats. And the heads...not many interested in the show. Not sure this stands on its own though. The stance of the cow just seems flat. As a series it is much stronger. Good work.