(as usual, click to enlarge photos and links appear in a different color from the regular text)
Cotton fields near Hazel Green, Alabama.
Most of the fields around Huntsville have already been picked and baled, many of the bales already transported to cotton gins for processing. I was lucky to catch these unpicked fields on the way up to Fayetteville, Tennessee this morning.
This was taken in the parking lot of the gas station across the road from this cotton field. Sorry for the lack of clarity. I lose a bit when I zoom in with my cell phone camera. [I really need a good DSLR camera--oh, well--Have iPhone, Will photograph] As a spinner, I really would like to run over and pick a few bolls and take them home to spin. I generally do not pick field cotton because I have no idea about how long all the chemical residue lasts that is sprayed on the fields to defoliate the plants before picking. I do have a limited source for what I suppose you could term "organic" cotton because the grower does not apply any herbicides, pesticides, or defoliants to her crop. She usually grows a small patch for school children to pick during the October Farm Days that they host. I got a whole Target bag full last year when I volunteered at the event. I was unable to volunteer this year due to family obligations.
I love the intense blue of the sky in this photo. You can see a little of the colors of the trees in the background. Had I been paying attention to the entire frame, I might have been able to compose a really nice photo with the autumn colors, the blue sky, and the white cotton, but I was mostly focused on the cotton. This is the same field as the one in the smaller photo above, made from the gas station.
