By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
Lights, camera, action! The cameras roll as the actors say their lines, and the commercial is recorded. That’s a frequent occurrence in a Hollywood studio, but this filming took place in a rural Kansas barn.
Last week we met Kevin and Julie Kirkwood of Kirkwood Kreations Photography. Kevin and Julie are farmers and award-winning photographers who specialize in farm and ranch landscape scenes.
One day in 2013, Kevin learned of an unusual request. Marci Penner’s Kansas Sampler Foundation and the Kansas Barn Alliance sent the word that a New York film director was looking for a picturesque barn in which to film a Coca-Cola commercial. People were encouraged to submit photos of suitable barns.
Kevin realized that he and Julie had a photo of a barn which would be ideal. The photo had been taken when Kevin was out for a ride in Dickinson County with Julie and her father and stepmother, Larry and Donna Schlappi. “We were drivin’ down some road and as we drove by this barn, Larry said, ‘Hey Julie, your grandfather and your great-grandfather and I used to farm that land and we used that barn,’” Kevin said. Continue reading “Kevin and Julie Kirkwood, Kirkwood Kreations – Part 2”
