Saturday, March 21, 2015

March 21, 2015: Tulip Time...In Black and White


This time of year, thousands of people come to the Skagit Valley to view acre and after acre of tulips in bloom.  Why?  The magnificent colors, of course!  The bright reds, purples, the deep maroons, the brilliant whites are a feast to the eye and the senses.  You just can't do 40 acres of flowering tulips justice using black and white photography.

That actually is true.  But what about the people whose job it is to work the tulip fields.  Lost in a sea of color, they suddenly appear in a black and white photograph.



In the fields before sunrise and the tourists, these workers have the back breaking job of picking the budding plant.  With a wrist loaded with rubber bands, they bunch them as they pick, then hand them off to the runner.






The runner takes arm loads of the bunches out to the headlands where they are packed into wood crates and transported to an awaiting truck.

By all means, if you are in the area, come on up to Skagit County and oooo and aaaah over acres and acres of color.  But put your monochrome glasses on just long enough to find the people working out in those fields brining our little corner of beauty to the rest of the world.

No comments: