Ready....Set......Shoot!

I finally felt like taking my camera in hand and getting out there and snapping off a few rolls of film starring... Ole Man Winter. Now I wish I would of done this sooner........:(

Last summer while out for a ride in the older rural areas of where I live (still can't believe they existed just an hour or so west of Chicago) I found this field with 4 old white washed barns on fieldstone walls of varying shapes and sizes. I thought what a wonderful winter scene this would be with the flat gold color of the winter grass peeking through a thin blanket of new fallen snow. So I bundled myself up and set out with my camera's in hand and a few rolls of APS film and took a ride.  As the road to this old farm approached I felt my heart sink there was a rather large sign for a new subdivision going up and as I made my turn off the road, there in the field, sat a bulldozer and the only thing that remained standing was one of the old fieldstone walls, that had supported a barn for all those years. Now I only have the picture left in my mind of that shot never taken.

 I was saddened but determined so I decided I would find some other old farms to try and capture their rustic beauty. I found plenty of farms and barns with various shades of barn yard red and one that was done in a deep hunter green, but before I could get a few shots off their dog sent me running! lol So many of these old farms are left abandoned and they look so sad to me know with their broken art glass windows, and cracking foundations and paint peeling front porches. I love the old country porches, many held Old Glory and rocking chairs. How sad and lonely a porch looks when not occupied. I find a lot of things sad when I see they are no longer being used for what they intended for.....old factories...old store fronts....old boats and such.

The stories that must be held inside those walls, especially the old farm houses, a family lived and loved there once and now it's left vacant to either weather away with Mother Nature or the bulldozer. I found one still filled with family belongings and the doors wide open and the windows all broken out of their once Victorian painted frames. I was tempted to go in and look around, take a few shots of what life looked like on the inside looking out, but only God knows what I might of ran into in there! My devil may care attitude of my youth is nothing but a fleeting memory, where I never missed a chance to try anything once!

I hope to have at least a few worth posting shots, so if I do I promise to post in another series of Americana at it's best.....Our old and weathered farms.