As I am going through my photos of almost 90 barns that Jeff Clow and I scouted in the Palouse this past August, I can't help but have mixed emotions about looking at all of the barns that are no longer functioning for what they were built for. On one side, abandoned barns can often make great photography subjects and allow for the documenting of the history of a place. On the other hand, I am sure that the state of these barns more than likely have caused its current or past owners a lot of emotional angst and pain. In a perfect world, these barns would be in great shape and be part of a functioning farm. Of course, that is wishful thinking, as technological advances and capitalism have forced many small farmers out of business. Farming is not the only industry that has seen this happen, with most industries going through the same type of transitions. Many people just refer to this as progress, but they often don't consider the personal impact on those who came before.