Grandpa's Old Barn


To get the effect that I am trying to achieve, read the text first then look at the photos.

My sister and her family were living in our grandfather's old house and I was there with my family for a visit. The boy's were playing in the loft of Grandpa's old barn and I was sort of watching to see that they didn't get into trouble. I decided to photograph the barn and I concentrated on filling the frame and getting the peak of the roof centered in the frame. I snapped the shot and then went on to other things.

Days later I had returned home and was processing the roll of film. After I had started the wash, I took a peek at the images and saw what appeared to be a photo of a bleak, bare tree. I couldn't remember having taken a picture of a tree! Now scroll on down to see approximately what the 35mm negative looked like to me when I first saw it.

What had originally looked like a picture of a tree turned out to be the picture of the barn with the shadow of a tree exactly centered on it. I had not even noticed that the shadow was there when I took the photograph. I was not paying attention to the boys in the loft either. My little nephew is visible standing in the center of the loft door but his head is lost in the shadow. One of my sons is peaking around the corner of the opening and only his face is visible.

Grandpa built his barn in the early 1920s. I don't know whether the barn or the house was built first. However, the barn blocks the beautiful view east-southeast down toward Round Mountain. Apparently the view was not a critical factor in house planning back then. The following snow-covered scenes of the sunrise around the barn and the house in the snow were taken by my sister or her husband; she couldn't remember which. They were both skilled photographers. I would describe my photos this way: "This is it and this is what it looked like." My photos are more documentary in nature. Their work could be described as: "This is what I saw and this is what it meant to me."



This is the view to the east-southeast. This is visible from the side of the yard, but not from the house. There was some dust or haze in the air so it is not too clear but it has a certain artistic quality about it.

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