To the Barn - gonefishinstories.format.com

My fondness for barns started when I lived in New England, where the landscape is full of old barns in use, some in disrepair, others refusing to fall, and barns that date back to 1632.

A few years ago, I shot a feature called 17 Yaks at the Rockin' K Bar C Ranch, formally Arvie and Ingrid Kooskie's West Family Ranch. The barn was built in the early 1900s, which I always photographed at a distance.

John Piper, in his book, Buildings, and Prospects, writes," A building in a state of decay should be looked at in three ways, to be sure; first, it has no virtues in itself that will be sadly missed; second, that will not be overlooked as an enrichment of its present surroundings; third, that it might be a useful point of focus, whether by agreement or by way of contrast in the future surrounding."

For a closer look, I snowshoed across the snow-covered pasture this February 2023.

I saw the beauty of wood in decay, raised grain, nail pops, and the grey and brown shades of weathered wood carved by decades of sun and wind, rusted hardware, and how the light strikes the exterior on a winter day and probes the dark interior.

While I explored the barn snapping photos, I imagined the life of barn days from long ago. I took pleasure that the barn will continue to be an "enrichment of its present surroundings," especially when the Yaks are back out in the pasture.

Early Barns and Families -Valley County, Idaho. -Guy R (Bob) Fairbrother

-David Gallipoli

Thank you, Anna and Kelly Clark