My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
I noticed this red barn while driving back into town and had to stop. No place to pull over so I parked half way in the ditch and half way on the road. It was only after I did my post processing that I noticed the wreath over the door. The wreath now speaks louder to me than the barn. If we really study our images it may be enlightening to see how much is really in the image and what we subconsciously really saw.
“If I knew how to take a good photograph, I’d do it every time.” –Â Robert Doisneau
I go and get the camera and do it. Photography is a medium in which if you don’t do it then, very often you don’t do it at all, because it doesn’t happen twice. A rock will probably always be more or less there just the way you saw it yesterday. But other things change, they’re not always there the day after or the week after. Either you do it or you don’t. Certainly with things as changeable as sky and landscape with moving clouds and so on, if they look wonderful to you on a certain day and if you don’t do it then, you may never see them again for the rest of your life. So as a photographer you become very conscious – at least I do – that everything is in movement. -Paul Strand,
My subject when taking this image was the fading red barn. However, when I loaded it on my computer the barn was not as interesting to me as the sky. It’s a drab sky, nothing spectacular, just an overcast sky. Not sure what but the image has something in it for me, so I started playing around with it. Once I converted it to black and white I saw it completely differently. An emotion rose within me to keep playing. I played with tone and contrast and some vignetting, giving me what I needed. Now the overcast skies are what speaks to me.
The state of mind of a photographer while creating is a blank…For those who would equate “blank” with a kind of static emptiness, I must explain that this is a special kind of blank. It is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed in it at any time. We should note that the lack of a pre-formed pattern or preconceived idea of how anything ought to look is essential to this blank condition. Such a state of mind is not unlike a sheet of film itself – seemingly inert, yet so sensitive that a fraction of a second’s exposure conceives a life in it. (Not just life, but “a” life). – Minor White, The Camera Mind and Eye
There was a time when my idea of conceiving life was nowhere close to this quote. I was in a different place in life and in my photography. I now feel the words I share, the way I live life and the images I share all have the power to conceive a life. That belief is the reason I will do my best to treat people in a positive way.That belief is also the reason I will venture out on a cold December day with a camera and tripod. And as I head out the door there is no “pre-formed” scene just a desire to experience this beautiful world. And, just what will I find?
This is one of those images taken after driving by then turning around to go back. After loading up the image in Lightroom, I wondered what had really pulled me to stop. I do this so often and it seems without thinking, not that I’m known for my thinking. My first answer is the color: red. Red is a powerful color for me and against the white windows it is even more pronounced. I took several compositions, a few with only two windows and one with only one window. However, all of the images seem to be lacking something. What I felt when taking the image is not the same. I’m thinking (there I go again) there needs to be another subject. I would like to have seen a pitchfork or garden hoe leaning up against the barn. Maybe the farmer. Anyway, I can go back and ask the owner if we can add a prop or two. So, here’s the red barn.
A cloudless sky was whispering my name. After loading up the car I started driving east, I knew would end up at this old barn set against this open sky. I’ve taken several images of this barn and always with some wonderful cloud pattern to go along with it. But on this particular evening the lifeless sky was barren of clouds. Even the birds and flying insects seemed to be lost without a cloud painted sky. And, this barn has always intrigued me. I wonder about its history. When was it built and what was it’s initial purpose? I may visit some of the farms houses around the area and ask about it. If I do it could make an interesting story.
Barns have many uses such as storage of grains, stock barns and stables, dairy barns and milk houses, tobacco barns and especially photography. I’ve posted several images of this barn and finding myself drawn to it, so expect more until I find another one. 🙂 Of course I”m also drawn to clouds and open spaces.