Upde Designs

I have a funny Ash Wednesday story that I would like to tell you.  I would like to but Jeanne always tells me that I shouldn’t tell it so I won’t.  I will wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day and hope that you are someone’s special Valentine.

I don’t know what it is about barns.  I really don’t.  I just enjoy shooting them and looking at them.  I rarely drive by a barn without giving it a glance.  I have my favorite type of barns.  Original type roof (shingles not metal) and actually the more deteriorated the building is the better I like it.  I also like the barns that have the high stone foundation.  I do like them to be red although it is not absolutely mandatory.

I have hundreds of barns in my photo files.  Most of them you have not seen.  If I were to do barns correctly I would pull into the farm driveway.  Get out  of the car, (brave the ubiquitous dog) approach the owner of the barn, ask permission to photograph the barn and then get what history I could about the barn.  Then I could publish a picture book about the “Barns of Eastern Iowa” and become a famous photographer and book author.

Of course there are a few problems for me.  One happens to be the ubiquitous dog.  They usually are big and sometimes not friendly.  Sometimes they are too friendly (remember I usually wear a suit.)  Farmers typically don’t like guys in suits coming to their door.  They think they are trying to sell them something.  🙂   Then I’m also usually late for where I’m suppose to be so all that walking, talking and dog avoiding takes time.  Time that I usually do not have.  There is also the mud thing.  This time of year most of the area around the farm buildings is muddy.  Let’s face it I’m never going to be a famous barn photographer.  😦

I was coming back from Cedar Rapids yesterday and the sun was shining and it was mild.  About 41 degrees.  Pretty nice day and I kept seeing barns.  Many of them I have photographed before and a couple of these are barns I’ve photographed before.  Maybe it was the red paint and Valentine’s day and the red paint (I already said that didn’t I.)  I really don’t know why I photographed three barns yesterday but I did.  I hope you enjoy them.  I know Betty does.  🙂

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Valentine’s Day and be careful who you give flowers to.  Well just be careful.