Who’s Studying Whom?

Photo Information

Taken:	22 May 2007 12:23 at the family farm near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Olympus C200Z
Exposure:	ISO 100
	9.1mm, 0 EV
	f3.7
	1/650

Backstory

I think this may have been Kynan’s first exposure to cattle. I know it was the first time these cows ever saw him. Makes you wonder who’s studying whom. I also like how the dark brown cow is watching me.

In the background you can see Dad’s old fuel tank and the house that was.

–26 April 2012

The House That Was

Photo Information

Taken:	13 June 2004 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Olympus C200Z
Exposure:	ISO 141
	12.5mm, 0 EV
	f4.1
	1/500

Photo Information

Taken:	18 August 2006 13:52 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Cannon Rebel XT / EF-S 18-55mm lens
Exposure:	ISO 100
	5.6mm, 0 EV
	f5.6
	1/400

Backstory

Long ago—before there was rural electric distribution—people used to live in this house. I never knew them, but Dad grew up on the farm “next door.” This house was the “Gus Turk Place,” named after the landowner. Dad tells stories of how he thought Mrs. Turk was his aunt. When he mentioned it to her one day, she replied, “I’m not?”

The Turks planted those walnut trees to give some shade in the summer. Dad was just a kid then. Now look how tall they are. I’m not sure when the water tank was added. It collected rainwater from the roof that the Turks used for bathing and drinking. Now, it’s a rusted-out hulk, too.

Anyway, I pleaded with him for years after he bought the place to preserve the house. But all he wanted to use it for was a barn. So deferred maintenance eventually took its toll. First, the roof started leaking. Then a large hole collapsed. Finally, the house was no longer usable even as just a barn.

Last year, Chris pushed the house down and buried it.

—25 March 2012

Red Roofed Barn

Photo Information

Taken:	13 June 2004 18:36 near Yorktown, Texas
Camera:	Olympus C200Z
Exposure:	ISO 100
	12.1mm, 0 EV
	f8.1
	1/250

Backstory

I have always been fascinated by these old barns and their doomed struggle to stand against time. I love the color the wood turns as it ages unprotected from the elements, the differences between the sunlit and shaded sides. The metal roofs rust to dried blood. Their cool interiors beckon in the heat of the day. “Trust me,” they whisper. “I won’t crush you. Not today.”

And, indeed, it usually takes more than one pass of the bulldozer before they give up their ghosts. Eventually, someone offered to tear this old warrior down in return for salvaging the wood, which is in great demand for restaurants. So the next time you eat BBQ, you may be sitting next to the bones of this old barn.