Photo opps present themselves to me at random times. Take for instance the middle of a heat wave when my husband Jonathan Campbell, a very fine photographer in his own right, (check out his website here JonathanCampbellPhotos) and I were buying gorgeous corn at Chris’FarmStand in Haverhill. It was hot, man, and humid. I finished the purchase while Jon was out behind the stand talking to proprietor Marlene Stasinos about some drone video footage he had shot of the farm. When I looked out back there was this gorgeous and enormous 100 foot arc of water saturating the cornfield. The crops were so lush, the sky blue, and the water impressive. Ding….photo opp.
I asked the proprietor if we could head back nearer the cornfield to take some shots. She said “fine”, whereby I wiped some sweat from my forehead and jokingly said, “maybe we just want to run through the sprinkler”. Marlene said “Go for it.” Hmmm, was I prescient???
We drove part way back to the cornfield and walked from there with the dirt pathway becoming muddier and muddier. I hiked up my billowing ground scraping skirt to just under my bustline to provide some clearance. My gold leather sandals provided virtually no protection from the healthy, albeit slurpy mud, but I was determined.
After this effort, I felt I deserved to be in the photo so I handed my camera to my husband and posed about 10′ in front of the soaking arc. We missed a shot where the water produced a rainbow, dammit. “Let’s try for the return spray to see if we can recapture it.”
To his credit, my husband said “You know I think that thing is moving.” I replied “Ya but how fast can it go. Let’s just try one more shot with the water behind me. It’ll look just like I’m in the spray, but without wrecking my hair or clothes.”
Then I heard the patter on the corn stalks closer than expected. I turned to look. Jon said “Don’t look away we only have one chance.” It sounded pretty close, but I stayed put. The water, however, did not.
And then this….
There was no dancing in the sprinkler, just a hasty retreat home and a shower. Thanks for the memory Chris’ Farmstand, I’ll cut you in for the sale price, if I grow extra ears.
Photos (c) Jonathan Campbell Text (c) Alison Colby-Campbell
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