I majored in Visual Communication in college. I know; what is that, right?? It’s basically a fancy term for a degree that combines graphic design, art and art theory, and some marketing and advertising all in one. It may sound fun, but let me tell you, it was most certainly not. It was super-demanding, but I suppose it was all in preparation for the competitive advertising industry.
My escape from the pain was the array of photography classes I took as my art electives. There’s just something so calming and satisfying about spending hours alone in a pitch black darkroom, the only sound the trickling of the water in the rinse tank. Eventually I ran out of darkroom classes and began taking digital ones. When I ran out of those, I created independent studies just so I could keep taking photography. My favorite independent study course was one in which I spent the semester photographing old, abandoned houses in the rural, secluded county where I grew up. When I say secluded, I mean desolate beyond your wildest imagination. No other human beings for miles upon end. We’re talking serious boonies here. For my project, I spent hours driving around the countyside near my parents’ farm, gingerly tiptoeing my way through houses that were barely still standing. I even photographed the house that my parents brought me home to as a baby. Sadly, it’s in ruins today.
The project culminated in a coffeetable book filled with the images from the semester. Looking back now, of course, I wish I had the knowledge and experience I have today. The pictures could have been so much cooler. These are just a couple I found on an old hard drive.
I’m writing about this experience because for a couple years now, I’ve had a longing to go back to some of these places and photograph people there. A few weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity to make this happen. My initial plan had been to bring models out there, but what ended up happening was way better. My amazing photographer friend Lisa agreed to join me on an all-day shoot out in the country, and we would hit up just a couple of the old houses and sheds that I’d visited years earlier. Rather than photographing models, we’d photograph each other. Definitely extra-challenging that way, but so much fun!
I think we both thought a day would be more than enough time to shoot tons of different things, but we actually only had time to go to three different places. In fact, we spent the bulk of our day at an old shed on my dad’s property. So many cool houses to see, and we get stuck on the shed! It was a pretty sweet shed though, and some off-camera light added some nice drama to the place.
Stay tuned for the results from the shoot!
