Photo of the Week 2014-07-28

Recently, after sharing a video lamenting the loss of many farms and the associated barns that dot the rural landscape, Alan suggested an outing to a couple of local abandoned barns to capture them before they too are gone. As long as I have known him, Alan has been drawn to abandoned farm locations and has many images depicting such scenes.

One our earliest outings together took place over 6 years ago at the then abandoned McWilliams farm near my home. Over the next couple of years, we enjoyed a few visits there and watched as the barn deteriorated further until ... after vandals torched the house, equipment moved in and demolished all structures. The site is now a vacant lot in a new industrial subdivision, the image of the barn lives on in memory and some of our photographs..

With pangs of regret for not having visited McWilliams more, our planned visit to other structures still standing, perhaps not for long, had stirred something in me. We, three, managed to visit only one of the intended locations on this outing, a place known to some as "Studio 32". We spent time leisurely sketching, walking, photographing and capturing the scene, each in our own way. Initially, I moved off to a spot to get a different view and after completing a couple of sketches, stopped to analyze precisely what it what was that had drawn me to that spot. A small area of the scene I had just sketched included the remnants of an old fence, it's line leading  away and eventually to the side of the barn.

fence to the barn

I see myself getting back to making time for sketching when I go on my photography outings.

DJE