These portraits are of Kayla (the ones after the house), a senior in high school and a student who found me on Facebook and asked would I be her senior project facilitator. It’s been great to spend time working on her project together and helping her learn basics of photography. She is a very sweet person, full of life and is a joy to be around. She also asked could I shoot her senior casuals. Looking at some photos I took in an abandoned house, knew that was the location she wanted to start with. So we ventured out to it and then drove around the local back roads looking for spots to capture some great moments.
Creepy place. It does look like the residents just left. It reminds me of the movies where people just vanish and things have just sat for years. They took the furniture, well, except for a work bench, sofa and I think a chair in the basement. And the creepy chair at the window in the attic.
There was so much stuff just laying around that it made for a fun exploration into a life this house once held. Shoes, clothes (children’s included), a pillow if you needed a nap were included in the find. The floor was also littered with school papers, books, notebooks, magazines, checks, prescription, bank statements, and a few family photos of a rafting trip.
And you could find some lingerie too; bras, panties, stockings and some things you couldn’t tell what it was. At least they were nice enough to provide a hanger for my use.
Looking back to both times I’ve been here, I had a completely different mind set for shooting. The first time I didn’t think much about the life this house once had. I wanted to show the state that it was in and make it as foreboding as possible. The second time gave me the opportunity to bring the life back and make it look like there was more than just deterioration.
But enough of the portraits of the house...on to the portraits of Kayla.
Just think, at one time a family went up and down these stairs. There were coats, shirts, maybe toys in this bedroom closet. And this fireplace once warmed the living room. Someone was, maybe still is, a Korn fan.
Once I was able to get the front door open, the ambient light through it and setting sun light that filtered directly through a bedroom to the left made the shots on the stairs just beautiful. It makes this house look like a home again.
Like I said, a joy to be around.
Then we went upstairs, in the attic, where the chair had been moved to face the window overlooking a long since functioning pool. Once again, coming through this window was the best light. It made for some beautiful portraits of her sitting in the chair.
Once we left the house abandoned again, we headed out to drive around some of the local back roads. Our first find was an abandoned (see a theme here?) subdivision that only had a paved road and plumbing stubbed up where houses were to stand. It gave us the perfect place to shoot with the sunset behind the camera, it’s last rays of light shinning on the hills in the background.
The only non-abandoned place we stopped. Although that could be debated with as little that was actually around at this location. We made a quick stop at this three rail fence we found while driving around.
On our way back, thinking we were finished, we saw this gorgeous field of yellow flowers on the side of the road in an abandoned lot where only the foundation remained (told you there was a theme). We pulled in, and spent what time we could with the last light of the day fading very quickly. Being so late it did make the yellow flowers standout from the darker surroundings and made for a incredible place to complete the session that day.
