I took this one with my iPhone back in October of 2011 while riding around exploring the mountain roads of the Franklin, NC area. I drove around a curve and automatically went to hitting my breaks as this barn came into view. Turns out, I was maybe 15 minutes later than I needed to be to catch the evening sunlight completely flooding the field it sat in. I did stop to catch the little bit of sunlight that was still hitting the barn and old Pepsi sign hanging on that side of it, but wasn’t that happy with the shot, knowing I wasn’t there at the right time with the right light to do it justice. I got back in my truck and continued driving towards it falling more in love the closer I got to. There were these great tattered old signs hanging on the side, and on its front was a great old Texaco sign, which can be seen here in this shot.

I pulled over on the side of the road again to get this shot, but wanted to capture the texture in some of the signs. I wanted to get closer to the barn.

It’s not too wise to wonder onto somebody’s property without permission. I didn’t want to, and there was a house right across the road from the barn. I thought its owners likely owned the property with the barn as well, so I went and knocked on their door to ask for permission. Turns out they didn’t own the property, but knew the owner. They told me the owner himself was an Atlanta based photographer. They talked of him as if he was a very successful, but couldn’t remember his name when I asked. They did insure me that it would be fine if I went on the property. So I did.

Well, fast forward to this past year, and one of Atlanta’s most well known and respected commercial shooters, Jerry Burns, closed the doors of his studio and decided to retire. Not long after that he posted a photo to Facebook of him laying back in the grass with his head propped up – enjoying the serenity of his beautiful property in the North Carolina mountains. Well, there was a really familiar red barn in his shot. This barn.

Small world.

Hats off to Jerry for having been successful enough – in a grueling business like commercial photography – to buy such a beautiful property, and then comfortably retire there. I admire him for it, and hope to one day be as successful as he has been in this crazy business I’m in.