When I arrived at the North Carolina State Farmers Market grounds in Raleigh late Saturday morning, I wasn't expecting what I would quickly see -- a huge crowd ... and vast displays of sundry pumpkins -- in all shapes, sizes and colors (including variegated) -- for sale by quite a few vendors.
It just didn't occur to me, but I guess it should have. The crowd was the biggest I'd seen there, and growers also were selling mums, fruit trees, honey and baked goods.
And when I left the grounds early Saturday afternoon, I couldn't help but feel that the vendors who had worked so hard to set up attractive displays to draw people to their products had also handed me a gift: an easy photo shoot using the camera in my iPhone X.
Thank you, farmers of eastern and central North Carolina!
The photo you see leading off this post is a prime example of the diversity of the various squash plants I came across at the market. And that grouping wasn't even a vendor's display; it was a stack on the bed of a hauling truck in the market's parking lot, presumably waiting to be unloaded (see photo below).
The North Carolina State Farmers Market on this day was easily the largest attended I had ever been to, and I'd even go so far as to say it had the most vendors I'd ever seen collected at one farmers market -- if you don't include professional city markets like that one in downtown Charleston, S.C., for example. The Charleston market runs daily -- and for several blocks -- although it entails many more crafts, art and other homemade goods than it does traditional produce and such fare.
Those of you who are photo enthusiasts like me, if you have a large farmers market near you -- and by "large," I mean many, many vendors -- it might be worth your while to stop at one while it's still pumpkin season to see what kind of compositions you can make with their creative displays.
As I was taking the pictures Saturday, I was excited about some of the natural shadows that were part of the compositions, again, thanks to the creative displays by these vendors. I didn't even attempt to mess with those afterward. I'll cut short my prose and fill out the remainder of this post with pictures.
As always, to view a larger, sharper version of a photo, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful when accessing the blog on a mobile device. To view a
full gallery of shots from my visit to the State Farmers Market on Saturday, click on the link in this sentence.
Above and below: Original color and monochrome conversion of a composition I came across and photographed without touching the arrangement. For the monochrome below, I did play a little with the contrast (intensifying it a bit) before returning a minute amount of shadow detail.
I was so taken by the texture of the pumpkin above that I was tempted to use this image to lead off the post and/or use it as my display photo for the online gallery of the shoot. There is a monochrome conversion of this photo in the full gallery accessible through the link the blog text above. Below is another arrangement that a vendor put together ... and I did nothing to disturb it.
Above and below: Different angles of the same arrangement.
Above and below: Another occasion to present original color (above), although there is very little "color," and a monochrome conversion below.
Original color (above) and a monochrome conversion (below) of the same composition.
Above: A horizontal, or landscape, presentation of the same display as above, only this, I feel, gives more weight to the pumpkin on the right's curvy stem.
Above and below: A couple of maize displays. The one below I adjusted to reduce highlights (and thereby add a bit more color).
Photos above and below help depict the festive atmosphere at the grounds on Saturday. I wonder if the people in the photo below knew there was a ghoul looming above them.
Above: I wasn't sure if the sign was meant to designate a loading zone ... or an attempt to get drivers to stop there and shop. Either way, it was an attention-getter.
Above and below: A creative vendor fashioned wreaths using pumpkins as a centerpiece.
Above: One of the vendors chatting with a customer ... and her adult guardian.
Above: I love the definition provided by natural shadows within the pumpkins' surface curvatures in this image.
Fuzzy thoughts (above) and spectacular patterns and colors in the gourds in the first and second photos below.
I can't say I saw many white (above) or variegated pumpkins (two photos above) while I lived in Indiana. I sure see a lot of them in North Carolina. Stems were my focus in the pumpkins in the image below.
Above and below are my attempts to depict the crowd size in attendance. Most folks parted to the sides when they saw me taking the picture, but you can see more congested areas in the backgrounds.
Above: I finish the post with a photo from a German bakery, which was selling lots of yummy things. One of them were these cheese pretzels. I got one, but haven't tried it yet.
