Finally posted a barn

An old barn in a wheat field
Originally uploaded by Mr. 0

Ever since the barn category came about, I've had a tough time getting one Waymarked. It's not that there aren't any around or anything. I mean this is rural central Ohio. There are tons of barns around here. As a matter of fact you can see probably 10-15 of them from the barn I Waymarked. The problem has been finding something interesting enough to Waymark. Maybe because there are so many of them around, and I've lived in the area for most of my 30 years, I've become somewhat jaded about them. A lot of the barns are scenic, and historic, but they're just like another one right beside it.

The barn I W'marked is right on a busy road, and one that I've passed probably thousands of times in my life. I've always known it was there, but I never paid much attention to it...until this year. I happened to be going by when the farmer was planting his crops, and I noticed that he was putting in wheat. So I knew it was going to be a good year to shoot the barn

Most area farms rotate between corn and soybeans, but will occasionally throw some winter wheat into the mix too. This year it seems that more farmers than normal have switched to wheat. I imagine this is because there were so many problems with corn last year.

Last year many farmers planted corn because it was expected that it would be very profitable. There was talk of at least two Ethanol plants being built in Ohio, and regardless of that corn was supposed to sell at huge profits due to the Ethanol "boom." As many probably remember, Ethanol was suddenly touted as the answer to all of our fuel worries. Even though it has been mixed with regular gasoline for many years, and used exclusively in some vehicles since the late 90's, it was being talked about as though it was a brand new idea. Unfortunately this really didn't pan out, it seems. There is little buzz about it, at least locally, and Ethanol has dropped back to the status quo. It's still slightly less expensive than the dino-fuels, but it still provides less fuel efficiency. In addition there are worries about diminishing world food supplies.

This year I think many had the same idea to plant wheat. It is easily planted using no-till techniques, and it can go in right after the corn is harvested in the fall. Plus it's something different than normal which could prove profitable in the long run, and it adds additional nutrients to the soil for next year's planting.

I waited until just the right time to take some pictures. I knew that it would need to be a week or so before they would harvest the wheat, it needed to be sunny, late in the afternoon, with a few clouds in the sky. Given Ohio's weather, this is a lot to expect in the short time between the wheat turning from green to brown, and the harvest.

Luckily I got just such a day. I drove out here not expecting much as it was actually a little stormy and very overcast during the 10 minute drive up. I was going to settle for it though since I knew I didn't have much time. Many of the other wheat fields had already been harvested. Just as I pulled into the adjacent elementary school, the clouds broke a little bit and gave me exactly the sky that I was looking for, and the quality of light I wanted to highlight the barn and field.

The picture posted here was taken with the Kodak V570. It's actually an HDR image. Essentially a blend of 5 different exposures taken at 5 different exposure values. Basically normal, a little lighter, a little lighter than that, darker than normal, and darker than that. This allows a for more contrast, and an image that is supposed to appear more like how the scene looked in real life. I don't like to use HDR images for most purposes as it feels a little like cheating to me. I guess I'm somewhat of a purist when it comes to photography. I don't like a lot of post-processing personally. But I made an exception for this one.

I went with the intent of posting the Waymark, but once I got home, I decided against it. Once again, I looked at the photos and said to myself, "This is just like any other barn." I finally did post it though, partially because Hikenutty commented that I should post it. I guess it just took an unfamiliar eye.

In addition there are several other barns around that I have in mind to Waymark. They, like this one, will require a specific light though, so I've not gone out to shoot them yet. One in particular is going to be rather tricky. There is a very short period of time during which the sun will be high enough to clear some trees and hit the barn, and when the sun will be directly overhead, or behind the barn.