Tag / trees

 

So it has been a while since i wrote anything for my blogg,

so i thought this would be a good time since i did something i do not normally do when it comes to photography a few days ago.

I had read in a newspaper a year ago, about this deserted ”Ghost town” not too long from where i live. And i decided i would make it a trip during my vacation.

So this week i had some time over and packed my chosen gear in a small bag that would fit on my back since i was going there with bicycle. I choose my Fuji X-T2 for the job and i snuck in two lenses, the 16mm 1,4 and the 56mm 1,2. I thought both of them would serve most of my needs since the 16 would be the main lens taking most pictures i needed and the 56 as the backup if i needed to shoot any details or animals in the forest around the Town.

So off i went on my bike. The ride there was around 25 minutes, i had only the street named in the article as a starting point and knew i probably had some scouting to do before i found the buildings in the forest. In one picture in the paper i had seen that a house had been closer to a newer building in the background. So that made it a little easier since i started out from the street with those newer houses around.

The weather was great, it was a sunny day and my spirits were quite high setting out. Only thing i had my doubts about was if the weather really suited the mood i thought i wanted to create in the pictures.

This was as much a fun side project as anything serious so in my mind that was not anything to worry about when it came down to it. Whatever i got it would be a great experience and a good way of testing my equipment out which is always a good thing. Anything that inspires you to take your camera out is a good thing in my opinion.

 

I wandered around in the forest nearby the street i set out from and ended up going back and forth between the smaller paths in the forest, finding nothing.

I soon after found a couple of bikes that were left by the street and the edge of the forest. I followed the path from those bikes and soon found  the kids with their mother. They were out picking blueberries and probably thought me an odd figure coming out from the same path as them and with my camera ready to shoot.

It was goo intuition following them though as i right after saw the roof of a structure in the woods just north of the kids and their mother. The first structure and ease around it was kind of a disappointment. A small partly destroyed yellow cabin with some old things randomly thrown around the cabin on the ground around it.

A foundation nearby told me that another building had been close to the cabin but was torched and not much was left to take any kind of pictures of.

I did not give up though but on intuition again started out from the cabin in another direction. That proved to be a success as i quite fast found yet another small but more intact cabin in yellow. An eerie feeling started creeping up inside me exploring the vicinity of that cabin. I started to see some more personal items like old shoes, stroller that was rusty and some other pieces of clothing.

I started to get images of the people living there, why they had left their things and the house and who they were. Questions that lead to more questions i did not have any answers to.

I also started to recall why i was there and got the X-T2 out and the 16mm lens. It was perfect for this kind of photography in my opinion. Small and light but still a very capable tool for pictures from outside but also for pictures inside the small and dark moody rooms in the cabins.
I shot a few frames then ended up going further along the forest paths deeper into the forest. I suddenly felt happy it was a bright sunny day, partly because i felt uneasy being there now in the first place but also because of how the pictures would have turned out. Some of the pictures inside the cabins would have been too dark and might not even have been possible without an external flash which i never brought one.

I found a few more houses strewn along the path. Different colors shapes and conditions . They became more intact though and had more interesting things to shoot so i was excited for that.

I found that the path was now also taken over totally by something living ( which was comforting in a weird way) even though the animals now living there were not the favorite of mine. Ants, bigger and and army of them. They seem to follow the path all the way now towards the small hill i ascended to get a better view of the area. I passed a small read house on that hill with a little mailbox outside. It must have been quite charming in its prime , but now it looked as somewhat of a mockery at the top of the hill, posing there with nothing but trash strewn around the building.

 

I had a look inside and passed it going towards the next hill that was even further up and a bit steeper.

The ants also followed that same path and i could never stop for long as the ants started crawling over my shoes at first sign of me stopping there to catch my breath and try to get a good look at the forest around me.

I found an old torn fence leading to a new area up on top of the hill. I went under and started walking into a new part of the forest up there where i had a good look to see if i could spot any more houses or anything else that was worth my interest.

I saw some trees nearby that really suited the rest of this scenery and that also gave me the ”creeps”. They were contorted and felt like some old vile spirit had taken control over them and now tried to guard the forest and the area around them from trespassers as myself.

From up there i suddenly saw something that piqued my interest.

It was a arg building down in a valley not too far down but in another direction than the rest of the houses i had seen. Was this part of the Ghost Town?

Only one way to find out. I started going downhill towards the larger structure. It was a red building with a few smaller buildings on the same property. I came closer and closer and could now see the yard around the structure clearly. It was eerily quiet. Here it was also much harder finding a clear path down to the buildings themselves as it was largely overgrown with weeds and smaller trees and high grass.
I tried going up on a few stones to get a better look inside the windows. It was indeed deserted houses, but much more intact and not as easy to see what was inside them. If something….or someone was still here these would be the houses they would be in. And i would have a harder time getting from here to civilisation if something happened.

Needless to say i was not too keen on jumping into that yard without having a better look from afar .

I was just about to leave and find  abetter path when i disturbed something huge in the trees inside the garden. My heart raced and i had a hard time not just running in panic from the place.

I tried to stay calm though and stay still to see if i could get a look on what it was that had moved. I saw some kind of big animal, maybe a deer or an elk. I was hoping for the former as the bigger Elks are not something to mess about with.

Especially not if they had kids with them…

I went back the way i came, went all the way down the hill and past the other houses and tried to find a path from the other side that would lead me closer to the bigger red house i almost had got closer to.

I did. It was a bigger path and looked like something humans had made and it lead me to a gate that marked the outside of the house i had seen from the other side..

I stopped just outside, looking into the house and the yard, i saw the grass was trampled byt either something big or several larger animals…or humans. That uneasiness came back and i had a hard time deciding if it was really worth going inside the yard and the house..

I decided to go closer, first of all to see if that big animal was still here. I appeared it had got scared of me as well and left for now. That was a relief!

So i dared into the yard…got closer to the house. I saw a stump from a tree and slowly climbed up upon it.

” BAAAAAAAMM!”  Something crashed inside the house with a large noise. My heart almost stopped, something was in there, and appeared moving now that i was close. i got chills and my heart was beating wildly now. I started down from the stump and moved fast backwards towards the gates to the yard.

I went outside, half running and half walking and then started running towards the bigger road outside in an as ”controlled” manner as i could without completely loosing face if i met someone from the houses that i now closed in on. I started to calm myself down and realized nothing followed me or was going to be able to catch up anyhow and started walking again.

I passed the neighborhoods i went past earlier and realized i was near my bike again. A feeling of calm and excitement came over me at the same time, and i was happy i went out today after all. Eager to get home and see what my camera held in store for me and for the excitement this day had given me. Sometimes venturing out can really be great, you never know what you will find or what opportunities you get to take some great photos. This si nothing i normally shoot or do, But it gave me an opportunity to tell a story with some of the pictures i got. Here are some of them, so enjoy. Both the photos but also the laugh at my expense, maybe after getting an image of me running in panic from that ”deserted” house. or was it deserted? Guess you will have to go there by yourselves to really know what was in there….;)

Over and out..