A Couple from Mormon Row

Just got back from a trip to the Tetons.  The above pic is of course from the popular Mormon Row area.  The good news was the top of the Tetons were in view.  The bad news was that we didn't have ANY clouds to put some interest in the sky.  Oh well, it's still very beautiful up there.  The below pic is of another one of the Mormon Row barns.

The Leaning Barn, June vs. August

To contrast the different color palate in the Palouse depending on the time of year, the above photo of this barn was taken about 2 weeks ago and the photo below was taken in August of 2011.  Quite a difference a couple of months make.  

 Also, quite a difference in condition of the barn a few years make.

Another Old Barn

Yep, another barn.  There are plenty of them in the Palouse.  This one obviously has seen better days.

Dahmen Barn Detail

I enjoyed taking some detail shots of this barn.  It had some nice geometrical shapes to contend with and I learned another lesson in composition with this shot.  If you notice the peak of the roof lines up with the vertical window grid, allowing a nice balanced view.  If it didn't line up, something would seem off and the photo would seem more ordinary.

Iconic Palouse View

When I first saw this scene, I knew this was going to be for me the iconic view of the Palouse.  You've got barns, hilly terrain, wheat fields, a leading line leading your eye to a single tree and even some clouds in the sky.  However, it's one of those scenes that unless you're carefully looking for it, you would drive right by it.  But fortunately, I was with Dan Sniffin, a photographer with an uncanny sense of composition.  He was the one who discovered this very out of the way location that worked to the delight of everyone in our group.  I would love to return here at either sunrise or sunset.

Barns, Barns and more Barns

Yes, there was no shortage of barns to shoot in the Palouse.  Although most of the time when we stopped to shoot a barn it wasn't in the best of light, we made the best of it and just tried to create good compositions.  The barns all seemed to be unique, either because of their shapes, color, condition or location.
 

This one on the left was different because of its round shaped roofline and because there were a couple of llamas in front of it.

  This one on the right was another of the many barns that had seen better days.

Go figure another "red" barn.  Which did beg the question as to why red became the default color for barns.  I was thinking it had to do with the availability of red pigments for paints back in the day.  Anybody have any other ideas?

The Leaning Barn

This is one of many old barns in the Palouse.  We called this one the Leaning Barn because it is about ready to fall down under it's own weight.  To give credit where it is deserved, my composition was inspired by seeing a similar image from John Barclay.  I have other images that included the whole barn, but this one seems to emphasize the frailty of this structure. 

A Palouse Barn

I should mention that I am in the Palouse as part of a group photo tour with professional photographers John Barclay and Dan Sniffin.  They are a great couple of guys and it has been a lot of fun so far.  We have been doing a lot of photography.  In fact, I don't remember ever having spent so much time during a single day doing this much photography.  The first day alone I took close to 650 photographs.  Now I'm not saying they're all going to be keepers, but being around the professionals, as well as, the other photographers in our group has already helped me in how I am approaching my photography.  I am confident that this will only help me improve.  

On Day 1 in the late afternoon we went to this spectacular red barn.  Barns don't get any better than this, as far as, photography subjects.  This property was gorgeous.  Anyway the above photo was one of my takes on the subject.