Winter Barn and out buildings

A fairly well-kept barn in winter with snow on the ground and the roofs with a moody, slightly cloudy sky.

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Historic Corron Farm, a wonderful place, important to preserve

The Historic Corron Farm sign from Corron Road

I stumbled across this wonderful place, and once I found out a bit of its history, I needed to share it. This is one of the many hidden jewels that you may not run across unless you know about it, or happen to drive by it. 

Corron Farm became the first of Campton Hills Township's Open Space projects. Campton Hills Township purchased the farm's 220 acres in 2002.

Here is the beautiful Dairy Barn, which is in need of repair. The beautiful blue color on top of the barn is, in fact, a tarp, protecting the leaky roof and the building from more water damage. The foundation also is in need of repair.

This storyboard shows the history of the barn, and how over time it fell into disrepair.

Today was a wonderful event; Winter Wonders at Historic Carron Farm. (See also Winter Wonders event for all ages at Corron Farm.) There was so much that I learned about the farm during this 3-hour visit, that I will break what I learned into several posts and share my photos with you.

Historic Corron Farm is in Campton Hills, and is now owned and managed by Campton Township. Farmland has been restored to open prairie and wetlands, and it is public land, although the house and buildings are not open to the public, they do have events like the Winter Wonders event throughout the year. Here is a link to the Daily Herald's article about Campton Prairie Fest from September, 2013. An article about a pig roast from June 2013. Here, LL Bean Meetup group talks about the Winter Wonders from today, January 24, 2015.

Briefly, in 1835, young 19-year-old Robert Corron came from Virginia and was one of the first settlers in Kane County, Illinois. It was a fully operational farm, which eventually raised hogs, dairy cows, chickens, and horses. At first they used horses to pull plows, and evolved from there. It was managed by his descendants for more than 160 years.

Goats and hog house (to the right) in front of the horse barn, showing 1930's and to the left of that, the 1860's corn crib. January, 2015.

Hired man's house, January, 2015.

Links:

Corron Farm Preservation Society

Campton Township Parks and Open Space

Corron Farm Preservation Society on Facebook

Save The Dairy Barn Go Fund Me by Tom Corron

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Composition for the Amateur

Perspective, the rule of 2/3, color and of course not cutting peoples' heads off in a shot are probably some good basics to bear in mind when putting together decent photos.

I've seen where some online photography instruction suggests that photographers not forget to take occasional portrait shots instead of always taking shots in landscape orientation, but it seems to me that landscape shots are more popular. But if you're putting together a photo book, some of those portrait-style shots will add interest to the layout.

When the shots are all taken and you're in the review process, sometimes a slight cropping can enhance the composition in a shot.

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