Shelburne based photographer Jim Westphalen revels in “the beauty in decay,” finding art in the patina of a dilapidated barn’s roof or a snow-covered grain elevator. Westphalen’s body of work "visually preserves" structures that hold histories of rural America, as they slowly crumble to rubble. For the past four years, though, he has been exploring a new medium: film.

Westphalen’s documentary Vanish: Disappearing Icons of a Rural America, is premiering at Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival on Thursday, Aug. 24 at 11:30 a.m. in Middlebury College's Dana Auditorium in Middlebury. In the film, Westphalen tells the stories behind the structures he photographs – too large to fit onto gallery placards – as well as his processes in capturing them.

The official poster for Vanish: Disappearing Icons of Rural America which premieres at Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival on August 24th.

“The film is equal parts history, photography, anthropology and storm chasing. It's very much these stories about these people and these vanishing cultures, you know," Westphalen said. "That culture of the mom-and-pop farmer is disappearing along with the structures.”

Capturing the test of time

Beginning with an epigraph from the late A. Hale Johnson, a painter, close-friend and inspiration to Westphalen, the opening shots of the documentary depict Westphalen stalking through a snow-covered field in Sheldon. He heads for an old cow-barn, lugging his vintage 4x5 field camera over his shoulder.

Photographer Jim Westphalen captures old structures around America to preserve the history of rural America using a vintage 4x5 field camera.

Westphalen jokes that he resembles the old-timey photographer with a black cloth over his head – and he really does.

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“There’s something about using this time-tested tool to capture the souls of these time worn buildings that just feels right,” he says in the documentary voice over.

The old cow barn was once part of a larger farm complex, the rest of which burned down in a 1910 fire – a common, tragic end for many of Vermont’s wooden structures. If not by fire or developers – as is the case for a three-story chicken coop demolished in the matter of a few months – it’s weather that puts structures to the test.

“You won’t find me out too many days shooting on a blue-sky sunny day because I like to photograph in difficult elements whether it be a snowstorm or if lightning and thunder hits all around me because, you know, that conveys what these structures have withstood for decades and sometimes centuries,” Westphalen said.

“It’s that vulnerability, because they’re exposed to the unrelenting elements continuously.”

Vermont to Montana and back again

The film takes viewers from the historic Glen Dale Farms in Cornwall to a powder house in Pony, Montana, to a hunt down dirt roads for a prairie church in Kremlin, Montana, and back to Vermont, through windstorms, thunderstorms, snowstorms, and baking sun.

A powder house in Pony, Montana. Powder houses were used for storing gun powder and explosives.

Montana and Vermont are fundamentally different landscapes, yet Westphalen quickly found similarities in the phenomenon of "vanishing," in the way a specific cultural heritage fades on the various faces of these old structures.

“The vernacular of the structures is very unique to the landscape of the West," he said. "The grain elevator or the prairie church, you don’t find those kinds of structures here.”

The Pink Church in Harlem, Montana built circa 1931.

Regardless of place, the sentiment remains that there is a deep and inherent loss within these degrading structures that thrived in a different time, were once the backbone of communities.

The film begs the question of why these structures seem to disappear with no one batting an eye.

“After all, weren’t all these structures once someone’s dream?” Westphalen said.

Westphalen not only captures loss, but hope as well as the documentary chronicles heart-filled preservation efforts.

The making of the movie

From photography to filmmaking, Westphalen focuses on the same principles of composition and prioritizes aesthetic choice. His photographs are woven throughout the film, with still shots fading into live action.

Laggis Farmstead in Hardwick, Vermont built between 1790s and 1810.

“It’s all about telling the story. As you tell this element of the story, well, how do I get from this element to the next element? And what does it look like visually?” Westphalen said.

He runs his fine art photography business with the help of full time employee Bill Killon, and two part time employees, who serendipitously all had some background in filmmaking and stepped into all different roles for the documentary– from pre-production, to editing, to cinematography, to post-production.

Local composer Christopher Hawthorn created an original score to accompany the visual beauty of the film, enlisting the help of Vermont Symphony Orchestra, leading to an artful collaboration between the two mediums.

More of Westphalen's work

The Vanish body of work – the film and collection of photos – follows his portfolios entitled Somewhere in America and Coastline, which call on similar aesthetics and traditions.

Images from Vanish are on display at Edgewater Gallery in Middlebury and Robert Paul galleries in Stowe. Westphalen hopes to continue making art from fading treasures as long as he can.

“As long as I’m able to carry my 40 pound camera out into the field, because it’s a passion," he said "It’s really this labor of love. I call it my love song to the faded, to the crumbling, to the peeling, and the rusted.”

If you go:

WHAT: Vanish: Disappearing Icons of a Rural America premiere at Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival.

WHEN: 11:30 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 24.

WHERE: Dana Auditorium, 365 College St., Middlebury.

If you miss the premiere at Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, the film will play at Stowe Cinema 3plex on Sept. 2 at 6 p.m. and at Pentangle Arts in Woodstock on Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Contact Kate Sadoff at ksadoff@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Film shows photographer Westphalen's work on vanishing rural America