A Nebraska Barn Journey
Preserving a piece of Nebraska History, One Barn at a Time
Give in to your childhood memories: smell the hay, find the baby kittens and the fresh chicken eggs, see the stalls for the new babies—perhaps a colt or a calf; observe the bridles and saddles and feel the sunlight streaming through the cracks in the barn wood, climb the ladder to the hay loft. The Story behind the
Journey
My husband, Dave ,and I are from Fremont, Nebraska and have always loved road trips. After our three daughters were grown and our nest was empty, we hit the road often. I received a new Canon DSLR camera from Dave and began photographing everything in sight. It wasn’t long before the old rustic Nebraska barns began to catch my eye and inspire my heart. Dave quickly joined in and used his eagle eye to find many barns I had overlooked. After a few more outings, I realized that God was awakening in me a creativity and passion previously unknown to me. In 2013 I was forced to leave my job of 18 years due to the pain and fatigue of post-polio syndrome, knowing that I needed more rest. One day I said to Dave, “I think we should photograph at least one barn in each of Nebraska's 93 counties!” …...and "A Nebraska Barn Journey" began. I photographed the first one in Greeley County in January of 2012 and I was hooked! After that, I never left home without my camera and a map with the Nebraska counties clearly marked. It was difficult to find a barn in some counties and we had to drive up and down a lot of roads to find one. We realized that we would have the best chance to spot the barns hidden by the trees or cornfields in the late fall or winter. Due to the constraints of the post-polio syndrome, I usually shoot photos from our truck window or from a position of standing on the running board. We always took photos from public roads so we didn’t need permission to take them. It would have been very difficult to track down the owners of the barns since many barns appeared to be deserted, though we would have loved to hear their barn stories. :(
Five years and thousands of miles later we shot our last Nebraska county barn in Kimball County in January 2017! My plan had always been to create a coffee table book of our barn collection. (And by now we had photographed over 500 barns, numerous windmills, old country churches, and vintage cars and trucks among other things.) However, the plan changed when I saw a Nebraska composite and realized it would be the perfect way to display and enjoy the whole journey in a beautiful and unique way! The book is still something I plan to do. Timothy Wright, owner of Timmy's Treehouse Printing in Omaha, took the time to instruct me in using Photoshop to place the barns in each county of the Nebraska template he had designed. Seven hours later it was finished. He then artistically fashioned and printed the acrylic Nebraska composite. The composite is also available in print, e-mount, canvas and puzzle form. See it on my website along with all my Gallery's and Nebraska Calendars and Cards:
kathychase.smugmug.com
contact me to order on:
FB Messenger or [email protected] or call or text 308-940-0264
I originally thought this was just a personal journey for Dave and me, but along the way we have been blessed by hearing many of your childhood memories of barns and the joy that seeing them brought to you. God bless you and be sure to remember that just because life changes, it doesn’t mean God doesn’t have something new and exciting out there for you! Dave and Kathy Chase
Galatians 2:20
10% of my profits will go to fight Human Trafficking in Nebraska
