"Red Barn and the Watercolor Promise"

The Lenticular like clouds and the old wooden fence with a missing rail caught my eye. I love old barns but I have found they can be difficult to compose because they are often behind fences. Even though I could not get in close, I think the composition works well enough. As I was finishing up, an elderly woman (93 years young) came out of the nearby home to query me on my presence. After telling her I was "just taking a picture", she asked if she would get a copy. Upon asking for her address so I could send a print, she began giving me a tour of her home. The original part of her "Adobe" home was built in the mid 1800s. Her family had planted a lilac tree out front in 1858; still alive today. She shared with me her watercolor paintings and studio and said she would like a print from my photo so she could make a painting. This was taken in the Walker Basin near the Caliente-Bodfish road. I give this area my highest recommendations for photographic possibilities. This image will always conjure memories of my brief visit with Alice Rankin Beard, the watercolor artist of Walker Basin!

Thank you for your thoughts and comments. Please view the Larger version!

Hello Mark,

 

This is a lovely story and a lovely photo. The composition is great, and I love the barn in the background. The clouds are beautiful as well.

 

Well done,

 

Rob

 

Mark... The photo alone would be plenty, but to mix in a story like that makes it all come alive. Great work... Mike

 

 

it is so well exposed and processed that it is a pleasure to lay my eyes on the details of the photo. very good composition, a quality work.

Has a nice spatial quality to it. Fence in sharp foreground and clouds hovering in animation above. And a rolling field to invite exploration. Just hop over the stake fence where it is half open anyway. Good image that is subtle and watercolorish as you say..gs

Thank you Rob, Mike, Zsolt and Gerry. I have taken more dramatic photos in my time, but this one has some other kind of quality I haven't expressed before. I feel pretty good about it despite a couple of cow patties in the ratings. Quite honestly, I think there is plenty of quality color, the composition is solid and the detail is profound. I am thankful for those who can appreciate what qualities this possesses. For those who cast meadow muffins without a comment, I hope you step in a squishy, warm pile of it!

Looking again, Mark, I can appreciate even more the pastel quality of this photo which to me expresses the late time of day when colors are muted and the animals have strolled home with the farm dog to the barn. It is wondeful what the absence of the rail in the post does to enhance the composition,- there is always something to be tended on a farm. I am sure you composed it purposely because it breaks up what some would call barred fence, with cropped pasture beyond.. I like it even more today. "Non Carborundum etc" for those who throw cow patties easy to do when you fly by a nice landscap that doesn;t shout LANDSCAPE... Patties. They make the grass grow green:-) Mark., aloha, gerry

Excellent work!

Thanks Dr. Didi and again to you Gerry. The missing rail indeed provided a serendipitous equation to this comp. I do believe there are many members who jog through at a feverish pace and don't take the time to smell the roses. I feel this is a rose in disguise. As far as the low ratings, they are nothing more than cheap shots and I know intellectually that they are pretty much meaningless, but sometimes can strike an emotional chord. Low ratings without a voice are cowardly, knee jerk reactions to something that doesn't appear to be interesting. While I know that landscapes aren't everybody's cup of tea, this is a photography forum and landscapes are a staple category of photography. If it is not down someone's alley, speak your mind or look at something else that is down your alley. Anyhoo, thanks again Gerry or the kind words.