I had a Tennessee farmer invite me out to photograph his old barn. This is, still, a working farm with cows to feed in the evening… so, I helped get the cows on the other side of the fence while I photographed the barn. Cows are, often, curious… and they lined up at the fence to watch me work. Of course, there was some “cow pies” to step around… but, the smells and the sounds took me back to my time growing up in Kentucky… where I was surrounded by farms and barns. When I was a boy, I never dreamed about a time when countrysides full of farms, barns, cattle, horses, and crops would be replaced by subdivisions, 4 lane highways, stoplights, and retail stores.As I worked through the barn, opening gates and doors with squeaky hinges… climbing well worn, hand-made steps and ladders… smelling the hay… and feeling wood boards squeak beneath my feet — I could feel the presence of another time and another world. When this barn was built, there were no cell phones or big screen TVs. There were no personal computers, and people paid cash for groceries and gas. People worked hard, but there was always time to lean against a fence and talk to your neighbor… or bring a hot meal over when someone was sick. Dogs ran free in big yards… and barn cats kept the mouse and rat populations under control.It was simpler time when families sat down and had meals together at the dinner table. Telephones hung on the kitchen wall, and when they rang, they were answered if someone happened to be at home… otherwise, they were not… and the world, somehow, functioned without voice messages, text, and emails. The “internet” was still off in the future.Each time I step into an old barn, like this one, it’s like stepping into a time machine. For a little while, I’m transported back to another time… that is fading away so quickly…As I was finishing up… the farmer asked if I had time to shoot his old milk barn that hadn’t been used in years. It was getting late, so I told him I would be back… because I could see there were more precious memories that needed to be preserved… and these old buildings are not going to be around forever.I look at little children, today, and it pains my heart to think that many of them will never, ever, know the sights, sounds, and smells of farms and barns… and many will never even realize what they missed.
