Growing up there was this barn on the side of the highway by my little town. It becomes one of those landmarks that lets you know you are close to home. As I got older and started seeing things a little differently the barn become something more. I always wanted to go look inside, see what’s there, etc. Finally, last year at Christmas I asks my Dad to take me out there so I could take some photos. This only prompted him to say “You mean to XXX’s barn?” Of course we knew the family that owned it, if only I would have asked earlier.
I was able to get some great images of it with the snow all around, and I have found I am partial to the black and white, that must be how I’ve always seen it in my head as a child. The barn is nearly 100 years old so I think the black and white is fitting. For the images below, you can see them larger here. I used a few presets that I have in Light Room and then of course tweaked them a little, I’m never happy with pre-sets. I did import a few of them into Topaz BW but I decided that I liked them better straight from Light Room. Take a look and let me know which one is your favorite.
This is the first image I completed. This is HDR using Photomatix, I love how the sun turned out…
This is an image of the back of the barn. Something about how the door was hanging from the hinge and resting on the ground drew my attention. The red with the sun hitting it was so bright and beautiful!
An image from the side in the snow path of the trucks and tractors. Just to the right was a huge snow pile that I did clime up a little to get a different perspective.
This image is my favorite. I used a few presets from Lightroom then kept tweaking them until I was happy. something about that old Black and White photo is how I have always seen it in my head. It gives this image some of that old story and mystery to it.
This is a different Black and White process I did. I love the sun as the focal point, but you cannot ignore that barn. I think this makes a unique panorama of the whole place.
I will be putting these up on my fine art america site but I am still looking for another printer that is a little cheaper. Fine art america charges so much and I get so little as I try to keep the costs reasonable. If you have suggestions let me know! 🙂