Serendipity Is an Early Riser

Rock City Barn

U.S. Highway 165, Morehouse Parrish, Louisiana

Canon EOS-A2, 28-105 f3.5-4.5 Canon EF lens, Fujichrome 100 film.

One of my longest expeditions to make photographs for the Rock City Barns book was an eight-day slog under gray and dripping March skies to 30 locations scattered around Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi,and Texas. I found only six barns still standing. One of the most attractive was this small "mule barn" on U.S. Highway 165 in northeast Louisiana's Morehouse Parrish, which I first photographed under a leaden sky.

I knew there was a good picture here and I did my best to find it. The two pictures above are the best of the many variations I tried. But the light was poor and time was tight, so I pushed ahead on a two-day zig-zag across Mississippi which brought me empty-handed to nightfall at Greenville, 60 miles from the Louisiana barn. With the forecast still not looking good, I decided that if there were a visible sunrise, it would find me back at that barn. 

Blackberry vines, barn wood, and slanting sunlight.

The end papers of the Rock City Barns book.

 I really hate to get up early, so I was a little behind schedule. But not the sunrise, which beat me to the spot by ten minutes and radiantly blessed my efforts, including the close-up of sun-streaked blackberry leaves and weathered boards which grace the end papers of the Rock City Barns book. As I was making that photograph, I heard a rumble. I knew what was coming and dashed to get into position as it all came together -- barn, sky, and yellow locomotive.

Serendipity is an early riser. She loves to make good things happen, but you have to work on her schedule.

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(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone