Approximately fifty cows go on a merry-go-round ride while being milked on the Flood brothers' family farm in Clinton, Maine. The Flood's farm has around 2300 cows of which 1200 are being milked on a daily basis. All of the Flood's milking cows make this ride twice a day.

This photo was kind of a challenge. There were three different types of light to deal with, including daylight that was coming in through the windows. The walls of the milking parlor were also not very far from the milking carousel so it had to be shot with widest setting on the 17-35 mm lens that I used. I was only allowed to work with available light so I had to use a shutter speed fast enough to stop the motion of the carousel while providing enough light to make the picture work with the film that I wanted to use. I ended up mounting the camera on a tripod for some extra stability.

Setting up the shoot also took some extra effort. I wanted to get a picture that contrasted how things are done on a large dairy farm as opposed to the small and medium farms that the story concentrated on. The University of Maine at Orono Coop had told me about the carousel at the Flood's farm, but didn't know how to reach them. After a few unsuccessful tries by phone I decided to just drive over from New Hampshire and try my luck. Fortunately the Flood brothers didn't mind me dropping by and let me shoot whatever I wanted on the farm with the limitation of staying to the side of the milking parlor and not using flash while shooting there.

Photo Technical Details

Minolta Color Meter III F

Tripod Mounted Camera