Ron Smith 1, Senior Content Director

August 10, 2016

11 Slides

After a long day of travel, the temptation of a comfortable room, a cold drink, and a hot shower to wash away the fatigue of two plane rides and a five-hour drive is hard to resist. Muscles ache, joints creak, and the mind is not nearly as sharp as it was at six o’clock this morning. And tomorrow’s another day.

But then the West Texas sky, overcast for much of the drive from the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to Lubbock, opens up above a not-so-promising cotton field, just as the sun begins to dip below the horizon. The storm to the south and west begins to break and brilliant red and orange fissures crack through the deep blue cloud bank. Remnants of the passing storm scatter from the main mass and turn into yellow, gold and crimson beacons, pointing north. A center pivot irrigation system sits in silhouette beneath the last vestiges of the storm, a brilliant red/orange gash hanging just above.

Telephone poles stand as dark sentinels in the distance and a few white cotton blossoms are barely visible in the gathering dark at the near edge of the field.

Despite the lateness of the day, regardless of the fatigue, oblivious now to the urge to make those last few miles in haste, I look for a place to pull off the highway, find a vantage spot and shoot a dozen photos before darkness absorbs the artistry of creation.   

About the Author(s)

Ron Smith 1

Senior Content Director, Farm Press/Farm Progress

Ron Smith has spent more than 40 years covering Sunbelt agriculture. Ron began his career in agricultural journalism as an Experiment Station and Extension editor at Clemson University, where he earned a Masters Degree in English in 1975. He served as associate editor for Southeast Farm Press from 1978 through 1989. In 1990, Smith helped launch Southern Turf Management Magazine and served as editor. He also helped launch two other regional Turf and Landscape publications and launched and edited Florida Grove and Vegetable Management for the Farm Press Group. Within two years of launch, the turf magazines were well-respected, award-winning publications. Ron has received numerous awards for writing and photography in both agriculture and landscape journalism. He is past president of The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association and was chosen as the first media representative to the University of Georgia College of Agriculture Advisory Board. He was named Communicator of the Year for the Metropolitan Atlanta Agricultural Communicators Association. More recently, he was awarded the Norman Borlaug Lifetime Achievement Award by the Texas Plant Protection Association. Smith also worked in public relations, specializing in media relations for agricultural companies. Ron lives with his wife Pat in Johnson City, Tenn. They have two grown children, Stacey and Nick, and three grandsons, Aaron, Hunter and Walker.

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