The Barn Series- Day 4 - Maker's Mark

Every barn tells a story. This story began as Burks Distillery way back in 1953, in the tiny town of Loretto, Kentucky. However, in 1953 the story changed when a Kentucky gentleman, Bill Samuels, bought the distillery.

Five years and much ado later in 1958, the first run of bourbon was bottled at Maker's Mark Distillery, complete with the dipped red wax seal, and a star was born. Maker's Mark is a global brand renowned as one of the best bourbons bottled. Having visited Maker's Mark multiple times, I have to say the one thing I love, almost as much as the barrel laden vintage wagon that sits in the yard, has to be this stark black barn with its distinctive red shutters that lends a hand to the Maker's Mark brand.

The story doesn't end there though. My father, Joseph Mattingly, was born right up the road from Maker's Mark, before it even became the renowned distillery it is today. Furthermore, if you were to travel the back roads surrounding Loretto, Springfield or Bardstown, Kentucky, you couldn't throw a stone without hitting one of my ancestors.

As vintage barns go, the barn at Maker's Mark is definitely one of my favorites for obvious reasons. Seriously, one minute we were in the heart of the Bluegrass State and the 'Horse Capital of the World' and nary a minute later we are in the 'Bourbon Capital of the World' and we didn't leave the state of Kentucky. Amazing!

It's Day 4 of The Barn Series and we are still traveling in Kentucky. If thoroughbreds and horse barns didn't peak your interest, I hope this little splash of spirits from Maker's Mark did. Let's get back in the car and head on down the road. Hey, you suppose we'll make it out of Kentucky? ENJOY!

Linking to Metamorphosis Monday

Composition in Photography!

It's 2012. No disputing that. This is a new year and one of my best images from this new year is this image I chose to share with you on this Sunday. This beautiful black barn that sits adjacent to the gardens at Shaker Village. You've seen this barn in a previous post. There's nothing new there, but that isn't why I'm showing you this particular image today.

You see there are countless ways for a photographer to share their photographs. I've used a number of them recently to show how one might posterize it, stylize it, ink sketch it. Yet when you have the right composition and the greatest clarity, you need nothing more. Nothing. Every time I would cursor past this image in my database, one thought kept springing to mind. Composition.

So walk through that open gate. It's welcoming you into the gardens and step inside. Step inside this composition because that's what this photographer hopes you'll find yourself doing in your mind's eye. Because if a photographer can get you to engage in the scene and participate in the setting, then the composition is perfect and you need nothing more. There's that word again, nothing. And keep something in mind today as you read this, I'm not being egotistical at all. I'm being a good photographer. ENJOY!