Every photographer has different opportunities present to them everyday of their lives as each are immersed in the environment that he or she lives in. If I were to be living by the ocean, I would be photographing shore birds and the waves all the time. If I was in a city it would be the buildings, the people and the street life. In Montana, it’s the sights and sounds that are left from the old west. Big critters and gorgeous mountains are the sights. The one thing that I have been constantly working on over the years is finding and photographing barns across the state. I literally have a file of places with great barns. Why? Because they are one of the symbols of the west.
Thankfully barns are still common in todays world and many continue on with the traditional look and feel. Several in fact are made out of recycled lumber that has been salvaged from old buildings that were structurally unstable. Over at the Gafke’s ranch, the traditional red barn is used today with the old family homestead barn remains in the back. Both have made great subjects in the past.
On my list of barns was this particular beauty. I found it last year driving around and wanted really badly to photograph it then. Unfortunately it’s location made it a very difficult subject to work. Because the barn is situated at the base of the hillside the light was either behind it or not there at all. This shot was made with the D4 and 70-200 VRII as there was no need to go wide with the limited landscape available. While this one shot is a step up from previous renditions I’ve taken, it’s still not the shot I’m looking for, which means I’ll have to go back again.