“Big Red Barn” by Robin Conover,
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, 24-70mm, ƒ2.8 L USM
lens at 24 mm, ISO 12,800,
ƒ2.8 at 1/13 second, handheld
I love images such as this one that sneak up on you. I recently spent some time in Beersheba Springs, presenting at the Trails and Trilliums conference. On the closing evening of the conference, we were treated to dinner and bluegrass music at the Big Red Barn. We gathered just before sunset at the rustic event center.
Before entering, as twilight set in and the music began, I stepped back out and walked behind the barn to a bonfire that had just been ignited. Had I not gone out to the bonfire, I would have never seen the beautiful light streaming through the slats of red siding, creating an entirely different look and feel than I had captured just an hour before.
I remember just staring at the scene for a few minutes, trying to decide how to capture the moment. The red, green and blue palette perfectly represents the RGB color model upon which conventional photography is based. I thought the noise in the image, created from using a high ISO, would add a vintage look of the grain as seen in higher speed films I used “back in the day.” And, last but not least, the streaming light brought life and an entirely new look and spirit to the barn.
I used both my iPhone and DSLR to capture the scene. My DSLR rendered more detail, but the iPhone wasn’t far behind.
The happenstance of this image proves the old photography saying — ƒ8 and be there.
