Magic Light

Rock City Barn Ga-26.

I found this Rock City barn on U.S. Highway 19, just south of Butler, in Taylor County, Georgia. It was not on the list Rock City had given me -- in fact, I learned about it from the mechanic who worked on my car.

The light was bland, but I made a few photos anyway, in case I were unable to return to the site, and went on south on Highway 19 to look for other barns.

That evening, I wound up in Macon and spent the night. I had been thinking about the "Butler barn" all day and felt that if I could get there early enough there might be a good picture.

So I did. I drove the 40 miles to Butler and arrived just as the sun began to rise, illuminating the barn and fields with its magic light.

On a side note: a few years later the barn was scheduled to be destroyed to allow the four-laning of Highway 19. The Taylor County Agricultural Agent bought the barn and had it moved across the fields to his own property, where it remains to this day, as far as I know.

Sourwood Lane and the old entrance to Deer Run Farm.

The late afternoon sun casts a lazy, hazy backlight, gently illuminating the field and the old gravel farm road and gate, disclosing their forms and textures, evoking nostalgia for  summer days past.

Backlight is one of the most magical forms of light. James Ravilious used it very frequently in his photographs of Devon country life.

Behind me as I made this photo was the site of our first home in McLemore Cove, a 12 by 40-foot refurbished mobile home where we lived our first four years. 

Tech stuff: Both photographs were made on film -- the barn with Fujichrome 100D in a Canon EOS A2, and Sourwood Lane with Kodachrome 64 in an Olympus OM camera.

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    film photography    Olympus OM camera   Canon EOS A2 camera  Fujichrome 100D film   Kodachrome 64 film   Rock City barns    McLemore Cove    James Ravilious