Pete French Round Barn

It still hadn’t cleared up after I finished my morning drive through Malheur, so I decided it would be a good day to take a side trip that I’d never done before even though I’d wondered many times where the road that cuts the refuge in half goes to. I mainly went to see the lava beds, but as often turns out, they turned out to be the least interesting part of the drive, or, perhaps, just the least photographic of the attractions.

This huge crater seems remarkably flat when seen on the screen,

 Crater

though it’s really much more impressive when you look down into it. There were several other craters but they seemed even less impressive when seen through the lens.

Unexpectedly, I found the Pete French Round Barn, built in the 1870’s

 Pete French Round Barn

the most interesting part of the tour, even though I only stopped there originally to use the restroom.

Once inside, I was as hooked by the unique structure,

Interior of Pete French Round Barn

as I was dumbfounded by how to capture it’s beauty in a photograph.

I certainly wouldn’t drive all the way to southeast Oregon just to see Pete French’s Round Barn, but it was an enjoyable side trip, one I’m likely to take again while visiting Malheur.

And it took just long enough that blue skies finally emerged when I got back to the refuge.

Clearing

8 thoughts on “Pete French Round Barn”

  1. Hey Loren, Had a moment of panic when I didn’t espy any birds in these shots! 🙂
    Then I settled down and marveled not only at these structures but the skies, particularly the dark one with all that perspective, heading off to infinity…Very cool! Is that a camera technique or a lens that gives it that remarkable effect?

    1. I think most wide angle lenses create some of that effect, Andrew. It was shot at 17mm, so that’s about as wide of an angle as I can get.

      I didn’t do anything to manipulate it in Photoshop, but it was an HDR shot which uses three separate shots to capture the range of colors. So, it’s not straight out of the camera.

  2. Loren – that round barn is amazing and your photograph of the inside is absolutely fascinating. I have seen many interesting barns on my trips round the US but never a round one. Presumably it would be used to house cattle in Winter would it – or would it be to store crops?

    1. Actually, they used it to train horses. Horses were kept in the middle and then there was a covered outer track where they walked and trained horses.

      It was pretty fascinating and seemed awfully clever.

      1. I would never have thought of that Loren – the farmer is fascinated too. Thanks for increasing our knowledge of your wonderful country and its farming.

  3. Fabulous pictures! The skies above the round barn were dramatic and so were the clearer skies later on… and the barn itself too.

Comments are closed.