Don Miller

Still Life with Barn

There is something intriguing about photographing an old, dilapidated shed, or a barn still in use. . . mainly for storage: the alternating stripes of darkness from light squeezing through gaps between worn wood siding; the hand-hewn timbers (fastened into place with wood pegs) shifting, sagging, giving into time. . . and the prevailing wind; long strands of rusted wire twisted between a gate post and gate; a freeze-frame of busted hay bales tumbling down the stack and spilling through the hole in the floor where my brother pushed me when we were kids. I hung on for as long as I could before falling to the ground level and landing next to the disc with its steel blades used for slicing through clods of dirt. . .

cornering
memories
gathering shadows
into pens
long since empty