Arata's Pumpkin Farm

Thanks for participating in the blog hop. We had so much fun and had a great turn out. Congrats to our winner Carmen!

Last weekend I threw a somewhat impromptu gathering together in Half Moon Bay at the Arata Pumpkin Farm. I've been really curious about stopping whenever I drive by and 'tis the season for awesome pumpkins! This one is especially cool because they have a hay maze on 2 acres of land with an artistic Ape figure that begs you to stop from the highway.

My photos are hardly the best. I got stuck with a Nikon 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 lens and I will admit I was disappointed since I've been spoiled by always shooting f/2.8 lenses, sometimes even faster than that! Here is a group shot I took, while waiting for a few more friends to arrive.I originally thought they had pumpkin launching but it turns out that a farm nearby used to have that before they shut down. Ah well, we made our own fun. Kristi & I bartered with one of the people working there and they gave us $1 off the hay maze since we had a large group. It wouldn't be a party without Jenna & Marissa!
We were told that it would take 30-45 minutes to find our way through the maze. I thought we were coming back out through the entrance but it turns out that when you have 2 acres, the only place to fit an exit is right next the entrance. :D Our group of 16 got separated along the way and then partially re-mashed back together again.
I convinced several friends to climb on this tractor for some very posed photos. We are a very silly group.
I like this photo that Kristi Lewis snapped of me:We wandered through the pumpkin farm and snapped lots of goofy photos. I think this is the only serious photo taken at all that day. Another favorite shot by Kristi using Marlon's brand new Canon 7D! Doesn't it look like we should be starting a band? Or maybe a reality tv show? It looks very promotional.The big group met back up to go through the haunted barn before heading off for some warm food. Some people are still missing from this photo because they were off grabbing hot dogs and various other things right outside of the photographic frame. Shame on them. I think one of them told me they were allergic to photography. It will not work with me!
Here is a very posed photo that I think Abe took, maybe Marlon? Sandy offered up her camera. We suffered from severe red eye that I conveniently removed. I think I might just print up the original for some vampire scrap pages coming to a theater soon. I went through the haunted barn twice since its better when you don't run through it. I was a little jumpy the first time. And the second time I guess. The fewer people that go in the better it is. Too bad I love big groups. I'm so glad that Sandy and her gang drove all the way from Sacramento for our outing. I hope to make this an annual thing. I'm still waiting on a few friends photos before I start scrapping up a storm.