Capturing Tradition and the Space Between

A Year in Review with OMS Founder, Owner and Photographer, Monty Milburn

“One of the things I find interesting about photography is the ability to use it in a way that tells a visual story. I am drawn to finding the beauty in everyday subjects, situations, and environments. One of those subjects, farming, has all of those elements.

Molly Alderson, our Marketing Director here at OMS Photo, has asked us to list some of our favorite or memorable projects of 2025. Although each job has its moments, I have one in particular that is special to me. The images that you see represent that project. Agriculture shows itself in many forms, encompassing everything from traditional farming to modern biotechnology. For Molly’s request, I chose to put together a collection of images that share a similar theme and yet could not be more different in practice. Tobacco is harvested by hand, loaded on a trailer by hand, hung and stored by hand, where it is then cured in a barn. Corn is harvested mechanically by large-scale production systems where a single combine can harvest, thresh, and clean corn in one pass across a field that is hundreds of acres. It is then offloaded by equipment where it is stored in large silo’s.

I choose to feature this project because of the contrast between these approaches – and the quiet beauty found in both. I hope you enjoy looking at these images as much as I enjoyed capturing them.”

– Monty