Ever since I picked up a camera in 2007, old barns have been a subject that keeps drawing me back.
My attraction to these classic structures could be the architectural design or the textures of the weathered barn wood. Maybe it’s the yearning for a simpler time or the stories that old barn could tell. Whatever the appeal is, they’re hard to resist.
I happen upon old barns while exploring rural areas. Slowing down to travel the back roads that existed before modern highways often reveals these great treasures.
When photographing old barns, my first goal is to incorporate them as part of a broader landscape. Because of the surroundings, that’s not always feasible, so I’ll simplify the composition and isolate the barn in the frame.
There are a lot of barns I would love to photograph, but often they have too many unappealing items (junk) surrounding them.
Because these old barns are on private property, limiting my photography to views available from the public road. I would love the opportunity to photograph the exterior details and explore the contents of the interiors.
Without proper maintenance, these old barns continue to deteriorate, in time collapsing, which means time is limited for many. So sad. Time to preserve as many Pacific Northwest barns as I can in photographs.
