Its funny how the time of the year really impacts a photo more than you'd ever expect. I have been to the Thomas Moulton Barn many times and have posted a lot of early morning photos of it in different conditions. The barn is perhaps the most photographed barn in the world. All of my previous visits had been during June and July. On this trip, it was late September. We had performed what I refer to as the Mormon Row ritual that almost every serious photographer follows. The first step is to get up well before dawn, drive to the barn's location, park and set up their tripods in the dark. The second step is to look to the east to see if there are any clouds that might block the early morning sun. The last step is to patiently wait until the sun gets high enough to start lighting the face of the barn. At some point, the whole front of the barn glows in the golden light. You have about five minutes to get your shot before the light loses its magic for the day.
During the last step on the morning I took this shot, I was surprised to see a shadow on the front of the barn. In all of my visits there, I had never experienced that. Turns out that the sun is in a different position in September and, as a result, the top of a tall tree's shadow appears on the barn doors. In addition, you can see the long shadows of all of the photographers there taking photos. I originally planned to crop this photo to a panorama to eliminate them but I kind of like them there as it is different from many of the photos of the barn that I have seen.