After spending four hours in one of James Roberts’ flue-cured tobacco barns, I was ill-prepared to encounter the rest of his wonderful farm in Madison County, North Carolina; but the tack room, just inside his main stock barn, was the epitome of expression of what it means to be a thoughtful agricultural steward. It was as if order had taken the chaos of a thousand things and transformed it into the simplicity of a well-kept room. I saw my task as simply re-expressing what Mr. Roberts had so thoughtfully constructed; so I knelt in the middle of the opening in order to be at eye-level with the primary shapes. This allowed me to tilt up so that part of the ceiling – the joists and flooring of the floor above – could be included. The sun was directly overhead and it was a mostly sunny day, so I let the outside ambient light become essentially featureless in order to give the earth-toned objects in the room a warm, golden tonality. I considered HDR, but decided to go with a single image. A 27mm focal length allowed me to reach from wall to wall so that all of the contents could be included. An aperture of f/20 gave depth of field and a shutter speed of 8.0 seconds at ISO 100 gave me an overall somewhat lighter than medium exposure.
I love this photo – I can smell the hay, straw and horse scent. Beautiful.
I love it! My immediate emotional reaction was a memory of my grandfather’s work shed, off limits to us kids, that was a jumble of drawing supplies and tools. Completely different subject matter, but the same feeling. Thanks, Don.
I like your choice of the warm, ambient light. The chair says come sit a while. Without the chair the scene is not nearly as inviting.
Hi Dee and Don. Thank you both for joining me in this conversation. Dee, I could ask for nothing more from an image than for you or any viewer to say, “I can feel as if I were there.” To take the two-dimensional abstractions of an image and through them encourage someone to evoke the sensual underpinnings in such a way as to find themselves present in the scene is as much as any photographer can ask. I am really glad this image allowed you to be present in it. Don, I am really looking forward to sharing this farm with you in September, and I really appreciate your kind comments. I think the other thing I wish for in my images is to evoke, if not the sense of being present, a feeling of analogy, of saying, “This image makes me think of an experience of my own which was pleasant or meaningful or enlightening.” Thank you for sharing that story from your life experience.
Hey Dorsey. I agree with your observation on the chair. I think it would work without it, but having it adds a special element – an invitation. I can just imaging James Roberts sitting in that chair while he works on harness or plow. Thanks for pointing out that significant feature of this composition.
LOVE IT! Love the context…. the harnesses, the Western saddles and blanket, the English saddle under the white pad, the old plow, the barrels that probably stored the grain for the horses, the pitch fork…. everything I’m so familiar with. So glad you chose one image rather than HDR. It looks so natural and peaceful.
Hi Judy,thanks for joining us. Coming from my favorite horse person, those are some mighty nice words. Thank you; I’m glad you like it. If only you had been there to tell me all of this “horse stuff” I was looking at, it would have had a lot more meaning. You would really appreciate this wonderful place, and the Roberts, too. Thanks, again. Give my best to my Geology Buddy.
I can smell it and it smells wonderful! What more can possibly be said about this photo.
So beautiful. It merges the past and present. If I could sit in that chair and close my eyes and listen to the walls I would hear happy stories from years gone by and smell the fragrance of the hay and wood that has not changed for many years. The natural light captures all the years in one photo. The fact that it is so tidy makes me want to stay for a while. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Nancy T. and Michael. It’s good to have both of you with us in this conversation. Nancy T. somehow I think that chair could serve a multitude of functions and listening to walls would certainly be one of them. If you sat there you would not wish to get up for a while. I’m going to ask James Roberts about that chair just to see what he would tell me, because I agree with you; you would come away with a lifetime of stories. Michael, it’s good to have you with us. I hope all is well in Hillsborough. As I said to Dee earlier, if this image can evoke such sensual responses, it has done its creative job very well. Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
Don,
All I can add to this conversation is a mighty “WOW!” You nailed it good, guy!
Hey Pat; thank you for being with us. I think that means you like this image, and I am honored. Thanks for your kind words. Sometimes there is so much clutter that it has a special character all its own; and when someone bothers to give enough organization to that clutter, it only awaits some photographer to come along and notice it.
the colors of the tack room look like the amber of the catherine palace amber room although much more inviting to mw with the beautifully aged and ordered tack etc. just stunning.
Hi Robin, thank you for joining us. What a lovely observation. Having not had the privilege of touring the Catherine Palace, I can only defer to your experience. I have seen images of the interior, and the Amber Room is truly ornate in the extreme. If James Roberts heard that his tack room had been compared to a room in the Catherine Palace, he would probably blush profusely, but he would certainly appreciate the reference to “stunning,” and so do I. Thanks for adding another level to our discussion.