Barns and farms

Barns, granaries, and farmyards give the prairie its sense of scale. A single red roof in a canola field or a lone grain bin on the horizon turns an empty landscape into one with a story, because someone chose that spot, built something there, and worked the land around it.

In colour, these buildings tell you about the season as much as the structure. Canola yellow in July, hoarfrost in January, and stubble under a hazy sunset each change what a barn looks like, so I keep going back to the same ones. Some are working farms with fresh paint and full bins, and others have turned grey and are leaning.

I photograph from the road or the edge of the property, and I never go in. The abandoned buildings especially will not be around much longer, so these frames are a record of the farms as I found them.

Red barn on the prairie under a wide sky of altocumulus

Photos

  • Weathered grey farmhouse with empty windows under a blue prairie sky
  • Leaning abandoned farmhouse with a collapsed roof beside a ploughed field
  • Derelict farmhouse with a broken roof and open windows beside a tree
  • Collapsed shingled barn tilted over in a field of stubble
  • Tilted old barn in a blooming canola field with an aspen bluff behind
  • Old log outbuilding among autumn trees
  • Gambrel-roofed barn in a bare aspen grove in fall
  • Sagging old barn in a green field under broken cloud
  • Weathered barn roof at the edge of a field under patterned cloud
  • Dark old barn beneath a storm sky
  • Old shed in a wildflower meadow under a stormy sky
  • Weathered granary beneath a dark shelf cloud
  • Red barn on the prairie under a wide sky of altocumulus
  • Red arched-roof barn beside a leafy tree in green pasture
  • Large red barn with open doors under blue sky and cloud
  • Two small granaries in a harvested field under wispy blue sky
  • Three old granaries in a canola field under a blue sky
  • Small red shed at the edge of a canola field in front of trees
  • Red barn and outbuildings beyond a canola field
  • Red arched barn and silo beyond a canola field
  • Old sheds, a grain auger, and a bin behind a canola field
  • Row of grain bins on the horizon at sunset
  • Round hay bale in a green field with grain bins in the distance
  • Close view of a round bale under towering cumulus clouds
  • Old red swather in a hayfield under towering cumulus
  • Hazy sun above a round bale in a hayfield
  • Grain bin and auger silhouetted under a night sky with the moon
  • Round bale in a field under an orange sunset sky
  • Combine harvesting in a field through golden haze
  • Metal grain bin under a dark stormy sky with autumn colour behind
  • Prairie windmill silhouetted against a red and purple sunset
  • Collapsing barn in snow beside farm machinery
  • Weathered shed standing alone in a snowy field
  • Old farm shed and red truck among hoarfrost-covered trees
  • Old swather abandoned in a snowy field
  • Round bales in a blowing snowstorm
  • Old log shed among hoarfrost-covered trees at sunrise
  • Snow-covered arched barn roof with birds along the peak
  • Red barn behind hoarfrost-covered trees
  • Old grain truck with a snow-covered cab
  • Small red shed in a snowy clearing beside frosted trees
  • Small red shed in snow with evergreens behind
  • Tractor and round bales at sunrise with the sun starred over the field
  • Large round bale in a misty field with Canada geese below
  • Farm buildings among autumn trees behind a golden field

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