A Little Adventure

"Abandoned?"

Back before summer temperatures got out of hand, I spent two or three mornings each week traveling farm-country highways near home. On one hand, I love getting out and driving slow through the countryside with my window rolled down.  On the other, I like finding old or abandoned buildings to photograph.

One morning, while working my way down one of these roads, the old house in the above picture caught my eye.  I parked across the road from it and hopped out with my camera.  Behind the house were two or three chicken barns, so I walked back and forth on the highway to find the best perspective in order to not include them.  Since it was mid-morning, there was no traffic.  It was peaceful.  A couple of brown mutts crawled from under a fence, saw me, and trotted out to see what I was up to. I'm glad they were friendly.

I first took some practice shots with my 55-200mm lens.  Not happy with those, I swapped back to my 18-55mm lens and crossed the road. 

One thing I want to make clear at this point is, I never go on a property without permission.  Not only was I raised to respect other people's property but there are safety issues to consider as well.  You will understand why I brought this up shortly. 

I wish I could have gotten inside the fence to work my way around the entire house to find the best shot.  But I stayed either on the road or just outside the fence to get all of my photographs.  I did walk, squat, sit and lean every which way to get the pictures I took.  Had anyone looked out their windows at the time, they probably wondered what the heck I was doing. 

I spent about 15-20 minutes photographing the old house.  Satisfied I'd done all I could to capture the essence of the building, I hopped back in my truck, tucked my equipment safely away and headed off.  As I passed what evidently was the currently inhabited house of the farm, I heard a gunshot.  That's right--GUNSHOT!

I ducked and looked back toward the farmhouse.  Remember how the brothers in Second Hand Lions prepared for 'company'?  That's what I saw when I looked toward that farmhouse:  Two older men, sitting in rocking chairs on the front porch, one with a shotgun pointed my direction.  You better believe I floored my truck to get out of there fast!

The experience serves as a reminder to always check my surroundings when out photographing.  It isn't just snakes and dogs I have to look out for, it's also making triple sure I'm not putting myself in harm's way with people either, just for the sake of a cool picture.  I don't have to have every photograph but I do have a family to take care of.

And that's exactly what I was thinking when I blew past that old house in order to get back home...

No photographers or trucks were harmed in the pursuit of cool pictures on this trip.