If you had been raised in northern Illinois you could certainly fill in the blanks when you viewed this photograph.
Your mind's eye could replace the things that are missing, the vanes of the windmill and the livestock in the barnyard. The vines choking the windmill structure could easily be erased and the extended property mowed and clean of brush.
This could be true if you'd seen this particular barn or not because if you hadn't seen this one you'd seen a thousand just like it. This is a lifestyle that has passed and I'm not quite sure exactly when the final moment came. For now it's standing and decaying at a rate determined by nature.
One of the first photos I ever posted on the Farmer's Wife is still one of my favorites. It's a jacket hanging on a line in the barn that once stood on Empire Road. The farmer simply walked out of the barn one day and never returned. The barn has been demolished and the wood used to build a nature center south of here.
And so it goes......
8 comments:
This shot is beautiful. I think that the black and white really adds to the overall image... it enhances the feeling of isolation.
i like the contrast. the image leaps out. thanks for the lens.
This could so be my family's barn on the old home place. We had to sell it this past summer. Quite sad. I hope they don't tear down the barn but they probably will. Our barn was adobe for the first floor (a very warm milking barn it made!) and then had such a huge upstairs for all the hay storage. It was a great place to play (and sometimes get scared in).
Wonderful photo. Beautiful old barns make me emotional, goofy huh? If I won the lottery I would buy a beautiful old barn like that, fix it up and live in it.
That's right at the top of my list of dream scenes.
Thanks for sharing.
Love your blog. Thank you for noticing and making other notice as well what I hope is not the dying gasp of our agricultural heritage as well as our American safe food source.
Looks a lot like my attic.
Love the B&W photo of this scene. Very nicely done.
Just found your blog. I feel right at home, as I am a farm wife in IL. Will come back tomorrow to check out more of your posts. Please take a look at my barn shots. I love pictures of old barns. When I pass an abandoned barn I feel empty. If you know what I mean.
http://kidscattle.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment