• Journey's,  Schoolhouses

    Old Stone Schoolhouse, Farmington CT

    The Old Stone Schoolhouse in Farmington, Connecticut, has quite a history. It was built around 1790 to serve students in Farmington and Unionville CT. It originally served the West District as a schoolhouse. The brownstone used for its construction was sourced from a local quarry and transported by ox-drawn wagons. The schoolhouse operated until 1872, when enrollment exceeded 40 students, leading to the construction of a new frame schoolhouse nearby. After its time as a school, the building had several uses—it was briefly owned by Simon Manus, a former slave and Civil War veteran, before being repurposed as a religious and social center. Over the years, it was known as…

  • Abandoned,  Bridges,  Journey's

    Abandoned mill, Woonsocket RI

    Molly, (my dog), and I were driving around Woonsocket RI with camera in hand looking for a picture of an abandoned building. We only had about a half an hour of free time before we had to be somewhere so when we stumbled upon this old abandoned factory I took the picture. In my research I couldn’t actually ascertain what business was in here. I presume because this area was rich in textile mills that this was probably one of them. The height and length of this building was pretty typical of woolen mills. If you ever saw the inside of one you’d understand why. If any readers themselves or…

  • Barns,  Featured Pictures,  Journey's

    Beautiful old barn & silo, East Windsor CT

    This barn and silo served two functions. The silo held some type of granular food which must have been for the farmers animals or potential storage and sale of whatever was inside. When I zoomed into the image, in hi-resolution, I could see a series of vertical boards in the upper half of the side wall that were obviously opened at times to allow for the drying of tobacco. So I would think this resourceful farm had more than one crop and possibly livestock as well. Either way to me it’s a beautiful site! I photographed this image with a Sony Nex-7, 24.3mp mirrorless camera and a Sony 18-55 f3.5-5.6…

  • Journey's,  Schoolhouses

    Center School, Middlebury CT (circa 1897)

    This blog entry is part of an ongoing project called “One Room Schoolhouses in CT”).  If you’re interested in the history of one room schoolhouses in CT I suggest you purchase CONNECTICUT SCHOOLHOUSES THROUGH TIME by Melinda K. Elliott. This book was has been a very helpful resource for me as I did my research. At time of writing this book was available on AMAZON. Cheryl, myself and our dog Molloy headed over to Middlebury CT to photograph this absolutely gorgeous two room schoolhouse. It is currently the home of the Middlebury Historical Society. The town hired a professional architectural firm back in the late 1800’s to design this building and…

  • Abandoned,  Journey's

    Abandoned Silo in Oxford

    I was travelling through Oxford CT with Cheryl and our dog Molloy when we came upon this cool old abandoned Silo. There was an industrial park built all around it which is not really visible from the picture. In fact I was standing on the property of a company while taking these pictures. This seems to be all that remains of what was once a working farm. Photographed with a Sony Nex 7,APS-C 24.3 mp mirrorless camera and a Sony 18-55 lens at 18mm (APS-C equiv. = 27mm). Handheld 1/20th, f11, ISO 100, APERTURE PRIORITY

  • Barns,  Journey's,  Video,  Vido

    Diecast Miniature truck in real world farm scene

    This 1950 Chevy 3100 pickup is a 6″ diecast replica was photographed with a  Sony A7RV, 61mp, full frame mirrorless camera and a Sony 90 mm F2.8 maco lens on a turntable in my studio with 3 lights and reflectors. The barn had been photographed years earlier in Bethlehem CT with a Sony Nex 7, 24.3 mp , APS-C camera and a Sony 18-55 lens.. For the original photo go here: https://www.journeysthrumylens.com/staging/8726/barn-in-bethlehem-ct-2/ The stack of hay was also photographed years earlier in Litchfield CT with a Fujifilm 100fd 12mp pocket camera..  I inserted the hay stack, the truck and the hay in the back of the truck all in photoshop to…

  • Miniature Photography,  Table Top

    Miniature Truck in a Big World

    For this shot I photographed a 6″ metal diecast model of a 1940 Ford Pickup truck that I bought new for $23.00 at a flea market. I video taped it on a 360 deg. turnstile and also shot still photography images. I then inserted the tabletop shot of the truck into a previous picture of a tobacco barn that I had taken. I did add the signage on the side of the truck from an image I found on google images (garageartsigns.com). The barn is located somewhere in north central CT which is rich in tobacco barns. I didn’t record where the picture was taken. Settings for the diecast model…