This time I stopped

For the last three years I’ve been studying lutherie in a town about an hour’s drive from home. Sometimes I go the back roads but most of the time I don’t get myself moving early enough and end up taking the busy highway. I know that I’m coming up on the turnoff when I see a row of trees with some broken-down buildings in the foreground. Almost every time I pass them I think, ‘I really should stop and take some pictures of those,’ and I drive on, not wanting to spend the time at that moment.

As I drove up this morning I looked at the buildings and thought the familiar thought. The sky was grey and the light was flat and, even though, I might have been a minute or two ahead of schedule, I decided not to stop.

On my way home this afternoon the sun was sinking but there was still plenty of light: the golden hour. If not now when? I had no cameral other than my phone with me, but the light was good and the sky had cleared since the morning so, instead of taking my usual turn onto the highway, I crossed the overpass and turned onto a gravel road that parallels the highway. After about five minutes I pulled up across the road from the buildings. There was no fence along the road but there was a ditch harbouring a foot or two of snow. I took a few shots from the road and then decided to venture into the snow in an effort to get closer. I sank to mid-calf. It was above freezing and I suspected that there might be water at the bottom of the depression. I didn’t fancy driving the hour home with wet feet so I contented myself with sticking to the edge of the gravel.

The light was going through some loose boards in one of the structures and illuminating the back wall in a warm amber colour. I thought of all the angles I might get if I went closer or if I had a zoom lens. What I had was my phone and the buildings lit by the setting sun. I spent only five or six minutes walking up and down the road taking photos, varying the angle of my shots. I even tried the zoom feature on my phone. My experience with using this particular phone’s zoom is that the photos turn out pretty grainy and unattractive but the phone was in my hand and I had nothing to lose.

It didn’t take long for my hands to get cold so I pocketed the phone, hopped into the car, turned around and headed for the highway. I was treated to a lovely sunset. The photos won’t win any awards but I smiled all the way home having finally taken the time to stop and look at the scene through the lens. I want to go back to that spot, perhaps in spring when the fields are newly seeded, or perhaps in the fall when the crops are ripe. Maybe next time I’ll have a better camera with me and I’ll be able to get in closer. In the meantime, it was time well spent and I might even use one of these photos for the wallpaper on my phone.