Barton Orchards (Apple Picking)
THE EXPERIENCE
I know you may be wondering, why is an alpaca the leading shot for an apple picking adventure? No worries... let me explain! That my friend is because, this cute little fellow, literally made me laugh the whole first half of being at Barton Orchards. I am not exaggerating when I tell you this alpaca was dodging every person that tried to touch it with the same exact face you see above. If I am to be reincarnated, I choose to be an alpaca with a personality like this one. He was so "woke"! He was making a public statement for all the alpacas across that nation, "We the alpaca are not here for your entertainment HUMANS!" I'm so silly. Okay, the "real" reason for this image is because it makes for a great segway into my introduction of the many activities you can get into at this huge farm. Being that this was my first-time apple picking I expected some apples of course, maybe some plants, but I was definitely not expecting to see a variety of animals at the location. I'm talking about horses, donkeys, goats, pigs/hogs, peacocks (white and traditional), ducks, and chicken. (Now that I'm typing this it makes a lot of sense that they were all there is that I just listed typical farm animals. But its okay keep reading. Barton's Orchards has 5 main areas which are the Pumpkin Patch, Apple Fields, Playground, The Eatery/Bakery and The Main farm. The pumpkin patch has these huge pumpkins all over the ground and a cornfield in the back of it. I advise that you take your picture here. The Apple Fields are filled with Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, McIntosh and Fuji apples that you can pick and eat there. The playground consists of a classic jungle gym and a huge ship for kids to play pirate. There's an eatery with a bakery and last a farm with an alpaca! I know it seems like a lot for one day so I'm going to tell you the best way to navigate through it all. Start by playing a couple games and feeding the animals, then take some pictures with Bobby the grumpy alpaca (just made that up). After riding the hay-ride to the field to pick some apples. After picking the apples to visit the eatery and enjoy the food they have for their guest. If the 3 mile long lines aren't enough to put your children to sleep, take the kids to the park so they can tire themselves out and last leave knowing that you've had a good day and that the kids are sound asleep!
It's not often that you get to see my family on this page, but here they are! If I can recall, we were looking for our favorite apples, Yellow Delicious. If this is the moment I am thinking of, this is exactly when we found a whole batch of large yellow delicious apples! I've never tasted apples so good, but I digress. As always, my girlfriend's family invited me out with them on one of their family explorations as they always do and it was a blast, as it always is. It was a day filled with laughter, silly pictures and lots of jokes but no one enjoyed it more than the kids. The kids just loved the open space and the freedom to "do what they wanted." There is no crime to running around and picking apples off of trees. So you can be sure that this is exactly what they did. They ran around enjoying themselves, while we followed, laughing as we took turns documenting everyone one of their little moments.
As previously mentioned, there is a small Cornfield near the pumpkin patch that makes for a great location to take portraits. The rows formed are not that long but if you use a 50mm or longer focal length with a fairly shallow depth of field you can create the illusion of an ongoing field of corn. This is what I've done above with my 50mm or "nifty fifty" at f/3.5. A shot like this can also be achieved with a 70-200mm at f/3.5. You just have to be mindful of the distance between you and your subject. If you're taking portraits here just be mindful that there will be obvious shadows on your subjects face due to the harsh light shining through the leaves. If that is not your style and you're more into traditional portraiture there is a hill and a pumpkin patch in front of the cornfield. That gives you two more locations to choose to take your pictures or to just take some classic family portraits.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT BARTON ORCHARD'S WEB SITE AT: