Hanging Out With Strippers...

Every year we cover the cotton harvest, it's one of the bigger crops in this part of West Texas. It's kind of a fun thing to shoot, I like working with farmer they always seem to appreciate getting the coverage and are happy to have us out there. And while once the cotton harvest starts you can drive almost anywhere north or west of Abilene and you're likely to run into cotton strippers, it's a little easier to get some help. So, I've found the best people to call for help are the people that get the cotton, the cotton gins. It's always nice to have a source you've spoken with and it seems every time I've needed help with shooting cotton, calling the gin manager, Rex Ford, at the Stamford Co-Op gin has been able to help. Once again, Rex came through and sent me to a field to find someone stripping cotton.

I spent a couple hours out there. The field was a couple hundred acres and I had no idea how far out they were going out. It took quite a while for the strippers to get back to me. So, while I was waiting I learned all about the terminology of cotton and got photos of them building the cotton modules and covering them. By this time the strippers were back. I got them coming back and then shot the wide shot. After that one of the strippers went to the end of the field and finally returned a few minutes later. When I saw the front it was loaded up with four people in it. The driver passed by me then stopped and got out. He introduced himself, he was the owner of the field. Then he told me his son loves to ride in the stripper "He could do this all day." It turned out to be a pretty nice shot, and add a nice contrast to what I normally get from this assignment.