Photographing and Preserving the Moulton Barns in Grand Teton National Park
After photographing the Moulton barns in Grand Teton National Park this July, I became fascinated with these iconic pieces of American history and the landscape that inspires so many photos. It turns out this year is the 100th anniversary of the T.A. Moulton barn (pictured is the John Moulton barn, available today in my Tetons gallery).
John and Thomas Alma Moulton built two barns on Mormon Row around the turn of the 20th century as settlers on a new homestead. The early Moulton family has become known as figures of the settlement lifestyle, and for their network of irrigation ditches. And of course, weathered over a century, the barns are one of the most photographed scenes in the American West because of their idyllic character, iconic shapes and setting in front of the Grand Teton mountains.
The T.A. Moulton barn, the southernmost barn with the pointy roof, is probably the most photographed. Just up the road north is the John Moulton barn, which you see pictured with a slightly more dome shaped roof.
I was somewhat surprised and pleased to learn that members of the Moulton family are active in helping preserve the barns and lead occasional restoration efforts, particularly recently. "The barn" -- T.A. Moulton barn -- particularly has undergone a couple of rounds of restoration and is in need of more. Two surviving Moultons in particular still own one acre of land in the park. You can find out more about their efforts and donate to the restoration fund at www.themoultonbarn.com, the website run mostly by Moultons.
Apparently, Clark Moulton, now passed, son of Thomas Alma, was known to say, "If I had a nickel for every picture that was taken of that barn, I’d be rich." He's probably right. I alone took over 50 frames of the T.A. Moulton barn in one morning. I was so appreciative of the barns and efforts to restore them that when I discovered the restoration fund when I got home I made a donation, so I did my small part.
Inspired by the scenery and a light painting technique that photographer Dave Black teaches, I planned to create my own light painting of one of the barns, namely the John Moulton barn, since it's probably not as heavily photographed as the T.A. barn, but pretty close. It's my own special way of putting a stamp on history. I carried my Brinkmann Q-Beam 2-million candlepower spotlight with me about 2,000 miles from home so that I could make this image.
We happened to have a good sky, so I just needed to get that exposure correct and add in the Q-Beam. It took about 10 tries to achieve an image that I thought would work. But I didn't have enough time or energy to keep running around trying to get every part perfect in one exposure. If one thing isn't right, you have to do another 15-second exposure. So I lit the front, side and foreground in separate exposures and composited them in Photoshop CS6. Exposure ended up being trickier than I'd imagined, and I ended up shooting at ISO 200, f/5.6 @ 15 sec. with the Nikon D200. Enjoy the result.
Finding the barns is easy if you have a park map. Turn onto Antelope Flats road from the main park road (89) and go about 1.5 miles to a gravel road. To the left on that road is a dirt parking area, and the road gives you access to the barns both ways. You may walk around the property, but stay out of other photographers' ways. There's almost always some there, especially at sunrise and sunset. If you go out and photograph these barns, please be respectful of the legacy of these barns and leave the property in better condition than when you found it.
How to photograph the barns is up to you. I can only tell you that there's no one correct lens or perspective. However, I do recommend using the lowest ISO possible and a tripod for best image quality. At sunrise or sunset, my recommended photo times, a polarizer filter won't do much good, but you could experiment with color or warming filters to enhance the colors. I would recommend leaving filters off the lens completely and if you must use an ND, which is unlikely, do it in software. Lightroom and Color Efex Pro 4 have ND filters that are plenty capable of doing better than any physical split grad, and you can also experiment with color filters in software. I do recommend using a hand-held light meter for precise creative exposure.
If you would like me to light paint your homestead, please contact me. Wisconsin has a rich history of farmsteads and a lot of pride in the land, and I'd be happy to help preserve that in a distinct way for you. Imagine having an image like this to preserve and hand down for generations. Light paintings are one of a kind because the light becomes a brush stroke, and no two are alike.
To learn more about photography, please sign up for one of my workshops or just send me an email.
The Thomas Alma Moulton barn is pictured above. It was an interesting coincidence that we unknowingly photographed the Moulton barns the very month of the T.A. Moulton barn's 100th anniversary. I knew nothing about the history of the barns prior to photographing them. In July 2013 there had apparently been a string of publicity and fundraising events that we missed, but it's nice knowing we photographed the barns during this time.
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