Jefferson, IA and the state's amazing clouds

My mom drove me around on Sat. and I shot a bunch of cloud pics out in the country. I also bought some awesome mud boots... so now I'm unstoppable.

Experimental Night Shots

I love seeing how things look.

New-fangled barn

This is what a new barn looks like. They've lost a little charm but they have motorized garage doors. The pioneers would have been impressed.

This is a continuation of the barns I shot for the Little Village. I stopped at this barn on a whim. I drove up to the house and the owner immediately came out and showed me around the old barn, which housed a new momma dog and her litter of puppies. He advised that I didn't get too close.

Oh Man

And I got a call from Oregon offering me a full ride. Decisions, decisions. 

Ilene's Barn for Little Village

This barn is featured on the "Iowa Red Barn" label for Wallace Winery. Ilene is co-owner of the winery and owner of the barn and sheep farm. Her family has been on working the land for about 100 years, with a three year exception. She applied for a grant from the Iowa Barn Foundation for repair money but found the restrictions and regulations to be too stringent.

Being on this farm was peaceful and homey. There were buildings surrounding me and animals roaming about. The sheep were quite entertaining. Once they realized I was there, they would charge in and out of the barn, confronting me with more beady-eyed faces in every round.

First Barn for Little Village

I am privileged to be the photographer for a local free publication called Little Village. Maggie Anderson's barn story is my first assignment. I will be posting my rough shots as I go. I shot two barns today and am hoping to shoot a few more tomorrow. The first barn is falling over but the composition remains beautiful and the decay is a photographers dream. Farm owner Terry Johnson was kind enough to let me on to his property and tell me a bit about the barn.

Terry has lived on the farm since he was three years old. The barn predated him and his family and he guesses that it's age is over 80 years. The barn was built with wooden pegs which you can see throuhgout the structure. While we talked he kept repeating that he wasn't proud of this barn. And I quote "Every time we get a big wind storm I look out at the old barn and hope it's blown over. Then I won't have to pay anyone to come do it for me."

A man offered to start taking it down for him in exchange for the lumber. He stripped some of the shingles off the roof and gave up, saying it was too much work. The evidence of his brief labor lays in a bare strip up the middle of the barn roof.

Enjoy the photos.