Playing by the Rules

The last weekend of June is spent on the border of Idaho and Montana, a special place in the world and US history - Lolo Pass. This is the place where Lewis & Clark crossed the Bitteroot Mountains. Here lie meadows filled with camas, meandering streams between forests of dark green seemingly at the top of the world. My organization sponsors a race on the forest roads behind the visitor center and I look forward to photographing the event every year. This year was no different I was even going to do a little backpacking on the way home, but snow levels on my intended route sent me home early.

So as I drove the Palouse in southeast Washington, I thought why not take my time heading home? Stop take some pictures. Afterall, I do have a new camera and I'm ready to make it pay for itself. I passed one picturesque barn because I needed to find the restroom. Passed another because it came & went before I had a chance to "see" it. Then along a stretch of highway I saw this little beauty. The clouds? Perfect. The greens? Perfect. The barn? Perfect. (Except a friend says it needs to be red - I like the grey.) I quickly pulled over, hopped out with my camera. The composition already in mind.

This scene is perfect for the Rule of Thirds where an image can be separated into a tic-tac-toe grid and the  important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. I knew I wanted the cloud-filled sky to dominate, so I placed the horizon line along the lower third of the frame. The face of the barn seemed to be looking left so I put it into the lower right corner so that it would "look" into the frame. I also had to be concerned where the peak of the roof fell - i didn't want it to intersect with the horizon - and wanted it to rise above the horizon to connect the sky & fields.

I only needed to shoot off one or two shots. I knew before I even lifted the camera to my eye that this would be a great image. Previsualize, and follow the rules at least until they need to be broken.