Chilly Night, Cozy Barn, Great Soup!

One of my chillier shoots over the winter came in January when photographing for Wegmans Food Markets.  It was around 17 windy degrees and falling when freelance assistant Amy Millert and I left the studio in Rochester and headed to Canandaigua, NY to create this evening image of the barn at Wegmans Organic Research Farm.  We had been waiting for a few weeks to get a little fresh snow and get a clear sky for the photograph.  The right kind of night was finally going to happen!Once we had chosen our perspective and scrutinized a few test images on the laptop, we hauled some 2000 watt tungsten lights upstairs in the barn to brighten the cupolas and upper windows.  While we waited for the sun to go down, we had a really nice visit with Mary Ann, who had stayed late that evening to keep the place open for us.I had met Mary Ann back earlier in the Fall when photographing during a two-day project surrounding a Harvest Party at the Organic Farm.  She was a gracious host on this chilly evening, and let Amy and I each take home some of the wonderful honey that Vince, the beekeeper at the farm, had harvested from their hives.  As I type this, I'm also realizing that the honey level is really low in the jar, and I need to replenish my stock.  Looks like I'll have to make a trip to the Wegmans store in Canandaigua this weekend to get some more!As the sun passed the horizon and the sky began to dim, I finally was able to start taking pictures.  It was really a beautiful, clear evening.  The wind bit through our gloves, though, and fingers began to hurt.  I was loving it!  It wasn't too long before I wasn't even able to feel the camera buttons.After several series of exposures during the changing light, we reached a point when I knew we had captured what I had hoped to.  After loading the last group of images into the laptop and packing all the gear back into the truck, Amy and I made the trip back to Rochester and stopped into  Magnolia's for some of their amazing chicken and vegetable soup.  This stuff is among my top three favorite Rochester soups.  It's just that good!  Paired with a couple pints of some really good beer, it was the perfect end to a really super afternoon and evening.Camera: Canon EOS 1DS Mk 2.