Picture Iowa – Twilight of harvest
By Joseph L. Murphy
A combine travels down a county road in Carroll county under the backdrop of a magnificent sunset. This year’s harvest is in its twilight. When finished, Iowa farmers will have harvested nearly 415 million bushels of soybeans and 2.2 billion bushels of corn despite a growing season that included spring floods and a fall drought. Many attribute the tremendous bounty to better farming methods and advances in biology that make crops more resilient.
For more than two decades, Joseph L. Murphy has had the pleasure of meeting and connecting with people from all walks of life through photography. He has photographed presidents and heads of state, traversed the winding alleyways of the Fes Medina in Morocco, photographed the sprawling countryside and people that make up Argentina and covered events that have defined the U.S. Most recently, Murphy’s travels have taken him to Cambodia, Mexico, China, Vietnam and Ecuador.
He has spent the past 20 years specializing in agriculture photography for multiple organizations, publications and marketing projects.
A graduate of the University of Iowa, Murphy determined at an early age that his love of photography would shape his vision for life.