Barns and other outbuildings

Guessin' Aunt Owwee will recognize this one.... Last April 26 I went into town for breakfast & took along m' camera. The big farm machinery was out in the fields and I was hoping to get a good picture of--well, anything. That didn't work out. What did work out mostly was barns. The partially-collapsed place I used for 366 Snaps is a testament to the power of gravity to reshape mankind's best efforts to hold off entropy. ========== Got home and started cleaning cameras and lenses. Then I dug out the tripod and experimented with the D300/300mm setup I knew would be my May camera. Besides, I'd put a new head on the tripod and wanted just to play.... ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 22 Title of " roll :" Eaton County Barns Other photos taken on 4/26/2012: The Daily Flower Census kept the Nikon 1 busy for a few minutes and 20 photographs. Two sessions with the big camera netted 57 photos, mostly of a Grackle and a Chipper.

I explained about this silo on February 3 of this year, and posted a very similar photo on July 30 of last year. I wandered into Grand Ledge a year ago as I needed to pick up my monthly prescriptions. I had a specific photo in mind. That photo, of the gas station across from the drug store, turned out nicely. I'd taken a similar shot with m' Droid-- another February 3 photo , I see--which you'll perhaps recall seeing in an earlier outtake. Returning, I pulled off the road across from the remains of this barn, and waited for a break in the traffic to shoot the photo above. Joan had told me they'd knocked the old barn and sheds down; this was my first chance to photograph the ruins. Then I headed home, and spent the day working in the yard . ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 9 Title of " roll :" Miscellany Other photos taken on 6/2/2012: The Daily Flower Census--just a couple dozen shots--captured some of the yardwork; I also took a few photos of a camera-shy Grosbeak, none of which worked out. We went out for supper, and I attempted to capture the impressive sunset sky with my Droid.

Where the road bends to parallel the tracks....

Built from the collapsed/torn down granary.

North of town, on Tupper Lake Road near Charlotte Highway. It collapsed over a decade ago, and most of the ruin's been cleared away. The thing is that this barn, one of the prettier ones nearby, looked (from the outside) like it was well maintained. Then one day it fell in. Sometimes you can't trust your eyes. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion and stats for July 21 .

Since I only took four photographs last July 30, I've decided to post a color version of the 366 Snaps picture. Besides the black & white version of this photo I posted a year ago, the outtakes contain two other photographs with this silo: a very similar pic I took on June 2, and a before-they-removed-the-barns pic I took on February 3. See those for further discussion about these structures. ========== This photograph is an outtake--actually, a differently processed version of the original photo--from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 4 Title of " roll :" Silo Other photos taken on 7/30/2012: none.

This barn photograph hardly seems to require explanation. I found it on a back road that's nearby but not a place I'd normally travel. ========== 366 Snaps: Some mornings you wake up with a photograph in your head. A year ago was one of those days; the photo's below.... I knew there'd be a place on Benton Road where I could point the camera east and show off the local farmland. And I knew that this lens could capture the detail the photograph needed. So I found that place, got out of the car, and took my photograph. Then I changed the focal length and shot a differently-framed version. The silo-- that silo--was part of the plan. The ghostly electrical tower, not so much, but I didn't object to it. The trick was to find a useful pattern of openings in the woodlots. And the haze--the layers work partly because of the haze. ========== This is land I know well. When I lived in Lansing I bicycled this area several times a week. After I moved to Mulliken these fields were just off my route to and from work. Last August 3rd's drive didn't follow my work route; instead I sought out some photogenic farm equipment on my way out, and came back on country roads I rarely travel. You could have called it a scouting trip, except I'd return to these backroads only one more time, again with a very specific photograph in mind. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 20 Title of " roll :" Eaton County Backroads Other photos taken on 8/3/2012: On my daily trip to the post office I sought out and photographed a Rose of Sharon that lives downtown. And late in the day I noticed some neat reflections off a bicycle in the basement, and had to photograph those.

Playing catch up again on the outtakes project.... Last August 28 featured a "pre-release" meeting for my sister at the nursing home (rehab center). I deliberately arrived in the Kalamazoo area early because I had an idea for a photo. Actually, I had two, neither of which worked out: * I tried to find something I liked in Kalamazoo's Spring Valley Park, but couldn't see a useful photograph. I'm pretty sure this was a day-specific problem, and that if I tried again things would work out. * That failing, I went looking for the pond (lake?) at the corner of 30th & DE, near Richland. Except I got distracted and never made it to that corner. Thus: I'm pretty sure this pic's on 28th Street--this, too, is near Richland--but I can't be real specific about the location. ========== The 366 Snaps pic, of power lines along C Avenue (also near Richland), was overexposed. Thus the fairly obvious processing manipulations. I'm still happy with the resulting photo, but that's outside my normal practice. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 34 Title of " roll :" Richland Area Other photos taken on 8/28/2012: none.

A year ago today I took a few pix in the house, then followed an odd route to Grand Ledge where I ran some errands (likely those included a haircut). This shed could be said to be between Mulliken and Grand Ledge, but few would take Eaton Highway to travel between the towns. It's kind of a minimalist building, but interesting anyway. ========== The 366 Snaps photo is of the CSX (formerly Pere Marquette) mainline, about half-way between the two towns. The complex of buildings to the right is the former Hamill Homes lumberyard, which I've shown you before . ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 19 Title of " roll :" Around the House - Grand Ledge Other photos taken on 9/17/2012: none.

Last year's 366 Snaps photo was taken a few miles south of Mulliken, as was this photo. Pretty sharp for 3.1 megapixels, I'd say. ========== Back in January I described my photographic geography as concentric areas . As the daily photo project progressed I became less and less inclined to photograph the house, the yard, or the village; more and more I'd wander the local farms in the morning until I'd found a photograph I was willing to publish. Boyer Road, where this photo was taken, and Strange Highway, the subject of the 366 Snaps pic, were both named after families who settled in Eaton County in the late 1830s. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 10 Title of " roll :" Mulliken Library [yes; it's true] Other photos taken on 9/19/2012: I found the first indications of autumn, approaching ....

More or less at Sebewa.... ========== A year ago was a get-ready-for-vacation day, taken up mostly with laundry and lawn mowing. So I didn't devote much effort to the daily photo shoot. Shot a few pics around the yard, none of which seemed satisfactory, then two or three at the post office which were outright awful. So I made a quick excursion to Sebewa, intending to capture the downtown barn, with the photo above as an opportunity shot on my way out. ========== Unloading the camera and checking 'em in Bibble Pro, I decided the best image was a busy garden view, with our porch in the background. So I went with that for 366 Snaps . 'Twas the right decision. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 14 Title of " roll :" Around the Area Other photos taken on 9/21/2012: none.

I've shown you this farm before , although that was from another direction. This time I stopped the car, got out, and took proper photographs. Don't see any need to repeat the story I told with the other pic. ========== I wandered around the township a year ago, shooting pix pretty much at random. The sunrise shot I posted to 366 Snaps was taken south of town, from Mulliken Road, at perhaps my favorite local photo location. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 29 Title of " roll :" Around Roxand Other photos taken on 9/29/2012: none.

A year ago today. The beans look about the same today, but there's less color in the trees.

When this barn was built, apparently in 1923, it was widely acclaimed as the world's first all-steel barn. A couple years ago I discovered this 1926 Popular Science article about John Cole and his barn while I was looking for something else. What I didn't know was Cole's barn's location, except that it was "near Mulliken." Then two or three weeks ago I stumbled on Historic Map Works -- where I found this map , and was able to locate Cole's farm at the corner of Mt. Hope and Mulliken--three miles due south of my house. From there it was just a matter of comparing the Pop Sci photo with the actual barn. Turns out I've known the barn for decades , but hadn't recognized its significance. Neat, no?

Two versions of the same photo for today's outtakes. This is my preferred version, but the JPG conversion does bad things to that sky, even if I don't sharpen the photo with unsharp mask. I got the photo-a-day pix in fairly early a year ago. I didn't really have anything in mind, just "wander around the local farms and photograph something." By this point in the year, that was pretty much my default method when I didn't have a specific photograph planned. This is one of my favorite local farms. A few days earlier I'd taken a similarly-framed photo, but before the soybeans were harvested. I posted that last week . In monochrome, with a wider perspective, there's a stark look to the scene that the earlier photo doesn't have. ========== I also posted two versions of the 366 Snaps shot. Since the color version offers an explanation I don't see any need to repeat that. ========== This photograph is a non-outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 23 Title of " roll :" Around Roxand Other photos taken on 10/20/2012: I shot nearly 50 early-morning pix of birds at the feeders. None seemed worth publishing.

A second crop of the day's outtake, with most of the sky removed. Explanation here . This version shows the strength of the Sigma 50mm as a general-purpose lens. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion and stats for October 20 .

Not my best picture. The light was odd, so it's partly overexposed and partly way too dark. I'm posting the pic because the barn in the photo collapsed a few weeks back, and I want to memorialize it. It's not really relevant to the photo, but forty years ago this stretch of road would flood with very little provocation. Coming around that curve at speed could be an adventure. Yes, I've improved both lighting issues, but I'm not particularly happy with the result.

Most days I got the 366 Snaps photo done early, and only shot a few pictures. A year ago it didn't work like that. I had an idea for the day 300 photograph for 366 Snaps. I wanted to do a selfie featuring my D300. But I didn't get an acceptable photo. So I shot a few pix of a blue jay , and one or two of the neighbor's cat on the birdbath. Then I hit the road and wandered around the area, photographing barns and houses. These barns are on St. Joe Highway but were photographed from Cochran Road. The house on the corner, which doesn't show in this pic, would burn down a few weeks later. As I said in the caption to that photo, I was hoping the fire was one of these structures. No such luck. ========== The driveway in the 366 Snaps photo is down M-43 a bit, and leads to an attractive farmyard in the middle of a field. In the photo the field's covered with corn stubble; today that same field's all winter wheat, and the field seems a large extension of the farmyard. A neat effect. ========== This photograph is a non-outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 47 Title of " roll :" Birds & Barns Other photos taken on 10/26/2012: none.