Western Illinois winter

Desolation is the word that sprung to mind when I saw this old red barn along Route 150  during a recent trip through Western Illinois. The spindly, barren trees, grey skies and snow sprinkled field made this old barn look lonelier than it would have looked surrounded by lush trees, crops in the field and a bright blue sky. Yet many old barns I've come across have a lonely look to them, as if they've seen better days and now they're cast aside.

Hay rolls in winter

Finding new and interesting settings to photograph a barn can be challenging, especially when winter is whipping across the farmland of western Illinois. We discovered these rolls of hay in a field along Illinois Route 150. Conveniently, a farmhouse and a barn were nearby, so we put 'em together and viola! Something a little different. I might take a different perspective if I had it to do over again, but hey, like I said, it was c-c-cold outside and I feel fortunate to have captured this image before my fingers froze!