365 Project Day 12: Winter Barn

Canon 5D Mark 2, 24-70 L, 9.0 aperture, 6 second shutter, 1600 ISO, Camera was placed on a tripod

I love my barn. It has brought me and my horses much joy and relief over the years. Our neighbors helped us build and paint it when we built our house. I have spent much time inside it, doctoring horses, shoveling stalls, or just sitting on the sweet-smelling hay, thinking and dreaming. In the summer when magic hour hits, light streams in the windows and if you are inside it when that time comes, it is sublime. In the winter… well, in the winter you get this. A place of safety and warmth for my horses when the ground is too hard for their hooves, and they can have hay and fresh water all night.

Barns have long been a place of happiness for me, because horses lived in them, and kittens and puppies were born in them. I have always been an animal-loving girl. In barns I have spent hours on my stomach trying to find where mama cat has hidden her kittens, only to giggle with delight upon hearing their little mewing from their secret sanctuary. I have chatted with horses endlessly while they munched and crunched on their hay, sighing and snorting in between bites. I love all those sounds!

The light is almost always just right in a barn, soft and hazy or angled and striking. I love the light in a barn. Dreamy.

This one is mine, on this side of heaven, and this grown-up girl is so grateful. Good night horses. I will see you in the morning light.