Captured in time

Published 8:00 am Monday, August 15, 2011

Terry Turner never dreamed that his photo of a little girl sitting in a barn loft would someday grace the walls of art galleries in Connecticut and New York. Turner, an amateur hobby photographer, has perfected his pastime into what most people would definitely consider professional quality.

Some of his favorite subjects are old barns — the older the better. He has photographed barns all over the Southeast, but the one that shows up most frequently in his portfolio is, or was, just down the road from his home in Crane Hill. The barn was another of many tragic losses to the April 27, tornadoes.

Turner gets his hair cut at Textures By Jody. Jody and her husband, John Williams, owned the barn. Turner had photographed it in all kinds of light, weather and in every season. He likes to turn the mood from familiar and nostalgic to pensive and mysterious with the help of Photoshop, by capturing different colors and tints in the landscape, or by adding or taking away shadows.

“I have probably photographed that barn at least 15 times, maybe more,” he said. “Every time I bought a new lens for my camera I would ‘test’ it against previous shots I had taken of the barn,” Turner explained. “Also, if I happened to be passing by when there was a pretty sunset or threatening storm, I would stop and capture the scene with the barn as the main subject.”

After photographing the barn from the outside, Turner was intrigued to see the inside of the old farm building. He and Jody decided to do some photographs in the loft of the barn. “Now that I think back on that day, I am sad that I did not take more photos. I guess I thought the barn would always be there,” he said pensively. “Owls lived in the barn and there were tale-tale signs of mouse remains strewn haphazardly about the loft the day we took the pictures. It was a great place to shoot interesting pictures because of the light coming through the old boards.”

“I loved that barn. When I saw the tornado had taken it away, I had tears in my eyes, but rejoiced in the knowledge I had captured it in digital form. I have seen a lot of barns around Cullman County and surrounding counties and have found none like this magnificent structure.”

The barn was about two miles from Turner’s home, on the route that he takes whenever he goes anywhere toward Cullman or the freeway. Any visitors to his house from I-65 would pass by the barn. It was a landmark, “’When you see the big barn, take the next left,’ he would always say.”

The property was acquired in the late 1800s, by Jim Glenn, who came here from Georgia. The barn was originally built in 1939 by J.P. Glenn, Jim’s son. The Glenn family farmed there until 1944. The barn was built of oak timber harvested from the property, and then hauled by mule to the Jordan’s sawmill in Trimble, then brought back to the site where it was constructed. Jack Glenn (J.P’s son) has many fond memories of playing in the hay loft as a child. “That was a modern barn back in ’39. It had an overhang on top with a hook for getting the hay into the loft with pulleys,” Glenn explained. He and his siblings left their handprints in the cornerstone of the barn, “People used to do that,” said Glenn. “It had the date on it, along with our names.” Sadly, that memento was accidentally buried with the rubble from the tornado.

John and Jody Williams bought the property from John’s parents, David and June Williams. John and Jody moved there when his parents moved across the road about ten years ago. Jody kept an American flag in the loft door. It was hanging there on the day of storm. “As far as I know, the flag has never been recovered,” Turner said. The Williams’ were able to salvage a lot of the wood from the barn. Jody thoughtfully gave Turner several pieces of it as a gift. He will use them to frame some of his shots of the barn.

“A lot of people have stopped and given me photos that they had made of the barn,” said Jody. “One lady who had brought an art class out to paint it presented me with her painting of it. Another lady brought me a copy of ‘The Lightning Bug’, a movie that was filmed in and around Cullman. There was a shot of the barn in some of the opening scenes.”

On the day Turner photographed the barn with the owner, he just happened to snap a candid photo of Jody’s daughter, five-year-old, Marlee, as she sat in the loft. It was hot that day, and Marlee had plopped down on the floor. Tired and bored with the adults, Marlee found some sticks to play with. Her mom had kicked off her boots, which are in the background. The photo turned out exceptionally well, so he sent it to an email pal in England, who in turn sent it to her sister, who just happens to be an artist. Pat Morgan, who lives in Ocean County, New Jersey, fell in love with the photo  and decided to paint it, with Turner’s permission. Turner had titled his photo “The Little Cowgirl.” Pat titled her painting, “Alabama Cowgirl.”

“I was attracted to the photo for several reasons,” said Morgan. “I am very much drawn to painting a figure with a gesture that says what the figure is doing and a sense of place. Our ‘Alabama Cowgirl’ is perfect in that it is a quiet scene; the child seems pensive and has a lot of emotion — a child just sitting quietly in a quiet place.”

Recently, she sent Turner a message that she was having a show in her local library. “The ‘Alabama Cowgirl’ painting is in it and everyone just loves it,” she wrote. “I wanted to share with you that everyone felt it was a very emotional piece and of course that came from your photography. Also, it was just accepted into the North East Watercolor Society’s International Exhibit in October, in Kent, CT. So my friend, your little gal is ‘on the road’.  I can’t  thank you enough again for sharing this beautiful photo for so many people to enjoy. Everyone who visited the exhibit commented on the emotional aspect of the subject,” Pat said after the initial viewing. “People always comment that there must be a story to this, and then I tell them how Turner and I got together through my sister.”

Morgan only does original paintings — very rarely does she produce prints. This time she made an exception, sending both Turner and Jody a print in appreciation, and as a keepsake.