Fields of gold

Fields of gold. There’s just something about fields of gold. Can’t resist them, don’t want to. Whenever I come across a field of gold – or red or yellow or blue or pink or orange – I just want to stop, drop, and roll.

It’s funny how some photo shoots stick in your mind more than others. This one with Sean Kathryn and Hannah was a magical moment. And I do mean literally just a moment.

We happened upon this field of wild flowers on the outskirts of the city just as the sun was dropping over the horizon. I didn’t have time to debate gear settings in my mind, brainstorm posing ideas with the girls, or scout the best angles and backdrops. Rather, we had about three minutes to grab a dozen make-or-break shots before the sun finally fell out of the sky.

Though written about a couple, the words to Sting’s song ran through my mind as we managed to capture the final light dance in that field of gold:

You’ll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold.

So she took her love
For to gaze awhile
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold.

Will you stay with me, will you be my love
Among the fields of barley
We’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold.

Now, whenever I’m listening to a 90s station while driving along the coast and this song comes on, my mind travels back to that spring evening five years ago and the magical moment with my daughter and her best friend and those fields of gold as the sun slipped slowly out of sight.

There’s just something about fields of gold.