• architecture,  Barn

    Overcast Skies

    Overcast Skies

    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.

  • landscape,  People/Portraits,  Self-portraits,  sunrises

    Waiting

    Waiting

    Adopt the pace of Nature; her secret is patience. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

    This is not the image I had envisioned when I left the apartment. I had to change plans when I got there. The last time I shot this barn at sunrise I did not have an oil drilling rig off to my left. Damn! How quickly man changes things. Saddens me. 🙁 Anyway,  I went ahead and waited for the sun to rise. Waiting can be tough in our “microwave” society, we want things now. If I do not take in all the beauty around me at these times then what I thought was patience was only an endurance of time to get an image. On this cold December morning with a slight wind blowing in from the north, in this case my backside, it was a bit of both, a test of patience and endurance. I’m gaining more patience as I add each birthday. Waiting.

  • architecture,  Barn,  landscape,  quotes,  sunrises

    Conceiving “a” Life

    The Cold Barn

    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?

  • architecture,  Barn

    Cloudless Sky

    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.

    I parked the car and headled across the newly plowed field, circling the barn for an appealing perspective. I can’t remember the last time I walked in a plowed field. It may have been in my high school years when our family would visit relatives in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle area where they farmed. We would time this visit during their wheat harvest, giving me opportunities to work in the fields. A different world for a city boy.

    As I stumbled along, I realized how much of my life is lived on level and smooth concrete, asphalt or tile, very seldom ever making full contact with the earth. The smell of the dirt was refreshing to me, stirring from sleep memories of the past. I smiled. I reached down and grabbed a handful of earth, feeling the texture, breaking small clods of dirt and let it fall through my fingers. As I stood up I noticed how vast the scene was around me, something not experienced in our large cities. With only the barn and no trees, I felt so small and insignificant. So what did this land look like 200 hundred years ago. What plants grew here before the plow? Was this area a massive prairie dog town? Enough of that. Hope you enjoy these images.

  • architecture,  Barn

    Back to the Barn

    The Barn Again

    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.

  • clouds,  landscape

    Alone on the Horizon

    Abandoned Barn

    The other morning a few clouds were snuggled among the mountain in the west while the pale blue sky to the east had nary a cloud. The wind was causing a bad hair day for even those without hair. As is customary along the Front Range, by mid-afternoon larger clouds were developing from those few clouds. As these clouds moved eastward they showed their power with thunder, lightening and rain. So, in the next morning I rose early in hopes of seeing a colorful sunrise. But nature gave me more cloudy skies, unusually cool temperatures and, of course, the wind.

    Since I’m new to this area just east of Denver, everything is unexplored. After driving 20 miles east the pavement ends and the bumpy dirt road reminds me of the few rattles in my old car. The beauty offered by the Colorado prairie are large fields of green wheat extending into the distant flat horizons. Every so often we can find small clusters of trees following along river bottoms that offer protection and habitat for deer, raptures, coyotes and other wildlife. But, along with finding these gifts in nature we also find mans electric power transmission lines, a farm house with a barking dog claiming ownership to his homestead, an old barn (maybe no longer used), an isolated oil pumpjack, and, sadly, the proverbial real estate sign. I had another good morning but  without the photograph of a colorful sunrise, only a a photograph of an unused and solitary barn on the horizon.

  • architecture,  Barn,  Canon Powershot G12

    Two Silos

    Two Silos

    Still playing with the G12 and have a few things to share with you. I am very pleased with image quality, colors, sharpness and the noise (under 800). Love the small size and find it so much less intrusive when people see it. I really have struggled with the ergonomics and controls. It’s a far cry from the SLRs I’ve been using for the past few years. Over time I will be able to know the camera better and be able to change settings quicker than I do now. I hardly use the viewfinder, finding the LCD display to be the better solution for me. Seeing the histogram before taking an image is helpful. The above image was taken out at the Arapahoe Nature Area. Just across from this nature area is an old abandoned farm with a barn, couple of silos and some corrals. I knelt down low and placed the early evening sun between the silos and used the widest aperture the camera has: f8.0. I don’t think the lens did too bad a job with a starburst.

  • Cityscapes/Urban

    I'm gonna have a wreck…

    An Old Barn

    …one of these days if I keep driving while my head is turned 180 degrees. Yes, I’m guilty of roaming eyes and not paying attention as I drive along new roads. It’s not unusual to find me turning the car around so I can have another look, maybe even get out and walk around. Anything can catch my attention. In this case it was the picket fence style barn doors on Jugs Road. I parked the car, saw no signs and walked closer, taking a few shots from this angle then this angle, tyring to get the feeling. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I just move on down the road.

  • landscape,  National Parks,  Photography

    Lightpainting

    Barn in Tetons

    Back in 2003 I took a DLSW workshop with photographers Moose Peterson and Vincent Versace and Dave Black. This workshop was taken in Jackson, Wyoming  and our shooting was done in the nearby Teton Mountains. One evening we were given an opportunity to experience light painting, something new to me at the time.  They took us out to this barn located on Antelope Road just outside of Jackson. I would venture to say most photographers will have a photo of this barn somewhere in their portfolio. Anyway, the image was made after sunset with our cameras mounted on a tripod and an exposure from 20-30 seconds. We all would press our shutters on the count of three then Moose would run around in front of us shinning these lights on the barn creating our exposures. If you are interested in some very good images using this technique please visit Dave Blacks site.