Sunday, February 16, 2025
It has been something like four or five months in the making, but I finally got my one shot. I wish that it was a bit more climactic, but it was a total of six minutes from the first shot to the last, with a lens change, to get eight frames. Of course, the drive out there was roughly an hour from home, so at least there was that. There were actually no plans for going out today since there was still heavy rain in the forecast through mid-morning with the clouds clearing quickly once the rain left. The afternoon was forecasted to be full sun, warmer, and very windy. It was a good day to stay home in my opinion.
However, when I woke up, I saw that the rain had slacked off from what I had been hearing earlier in the morning. I checked out the weather and there was a break in the rain for about two hours starting within the next thirty minutes or so. I started to ponder where I might want to go while I was eating breakfast. I could head back out to the area of Traphill once again as I have been having some fantastic fortunes out that way, but I didn’t really have a plan of action out that way just yet. The only other place that I have been wanting to go was down South past Taylorsville where I had spotted an old sedan in a small shelter sometime back in the Fall, last year. I had been out to this property roughly a half dozen times since first spotting it. What I had learned about this property was, not only was there an early 50’s Ford in the shelter, there were several other old cars scattered between the three houses which were linked together by a driveway system. None of these three houses appeared to be occupied, though I had found the last one to have an active Ring doorbell which allowed me to talk with the owner of that house. He did not own the property where the cars were located, but he had advised me to leave a couple of business cards on the doors for the owner so that he could call me.
I happily left the cards in the hopes that I would eventually make contact with the owner. That was during the holiday season and I wasn’t sure what his schedule was for checking the property, so I just kind of let things hang there for a while. I didn’t really give the location much thought through the month of January as there were a lot of other things going on in addition to a trip to the beach for some new coastal landscapes. By the time February rolled around, I was starting to wonder why I had not heard from the owner and started to wonder if it would be worth going back out and making contact with the other owner again. I hated to be a bother, and I really didn’t know what I might be able to get at the property anyway, so it might have all been for nothing. All I knew was that there was an interesting composition with the car in the shed which I had seen reasonably close up from the driveway that lead to the first two houses.
Now that I was looking at a window of about two hours with no rain, but still clouds, I thought that location might make sense. Considering the hour travel time out there, I wouldn’t have long to work it before the rain came back. There was always the chance that I would not be able to make contact with anyone anyway which would kill the location. I was about to scrub that plan and just stay home until Toni mentioned that there were a few things that she needed picked up at Walmart if I happened to go out. Since she was working till late, I figured I could go pick those things up and I might as well go down to check out that location. It would also give me a reason to fill up the tank of the truck in preparation for the nearly seven inches of snow that could “possibly” be hitting us on Wednesday.
I had a plan of action for the morning, so I got dressed and grabbed my gear. As I was pulling out of the garage, I noticed that the rain had stopped which made me happy. I just hoped that the clouds would remain while I had a bit of a dry window before the winds hit.
Well, as I was traveling through Taylorsville, I noticed that the wind was picking up which was going to limit a lot of what I would want to do with the camera. At least the rain was holding off. By the time I was in Newton, the weather was holding with cloudy, windy, and dry which was great. I pulled off the road right by the driveway to the house. I looked down the property the best that I could and saw no new vehicles out there. I could have gone to the last house and talked on the Ring doorbell, but that would have just resulted in another round of leave a business card. This was a scenario that I had gone through in my head several times knowing that the property owner did not live at the property.
This was not the situation that I enjoy being in because there is nothing at all clear cut about it. However, I had looked each time I had been out here for signs indicating “No Trespassing” and had seen none. There was no purple paint around the property which would indicate the same thing. While I had no intention of going deep in the property for the several cars out in the open, I knew that I could get a shot of the one in the shed while standing in the driveway. This is the Girl Scout exception that I feel comfortable with in situations like this. Essentially, if I can get a photo while on a customary travel path for a Girl Scout selling cookies, then I feel comfortable being on the property for a brief amount of time. Essentially, I would be using the public access to the front door of the residence. Had there been any indication that anyone lived here, I would not have done this, but with the property being vacant, and after due diligence to make contact with the owner, I decided that I would go in and grab a photo really quick from the driveway.
I left my truck on the shoulder of the road in plain view as I walked up the driveway with my bag and tripod. I walked back and forth for about 30 seconds to determine the best angle for the composition. When I decided where that would be, I planted the tripod right at the edge of the driveway and fitted the 24-70mm lens to the camera. I added the polarizer, even though it was going to slow my shutter down and possibly introduce some wind motion. With the wetness on the ground, I needed that glare reduction, and would be able to speed the shutter by boosting the ISO easy enough. I started making exposures with slight changes to the framing to work two trees into the frame. I wanted these here to give me a little foreground interest as well as framing the car within the shelter.
After four frames, I decided to swap out my lens for the 70-200mm since I was staying pretty much at the 50-70mm range and wanted to see what a bit more reach would get me. I ended up shooting another four frames with a couple being isolations on the car in the shelter. Looking at the back of the camera, I was thinking that I was going to like one of the last shots the best which was similar to what I had started out with, but framed a bit differently and including less of the background.
Not wanting to overstay my welcome, I packed the camera up and headed back to the truck. Looking back at the timestamps on the photographs, I had been there for six minutes taking photos. There were probably an additional three between finding the composition and building the camera as well as breaking it down afterwards. More than likely the truck was parked a total of ten minutes though as it was a very quick stop indeed. I hated that I didn’t get the chance to capture the other cars that were deeper into the property, but that would have been well beyond what I was comfortable doing while on somebody else’s property. I was satisfied that I had this image because it was the one that had prompted me to stop in the first place many months ago. The shed gave the old car character and helped to tell much more of the story than the other cars which were out in the open.
As I was leaving, I could see the clouds breaking up and the sun was starting to shine. This was my clue to call it a day and head home. However, as I ended up back near Alexander County, I spotted a potential photograph around a barn. I pulled down that road and found the composition to be lacking. There was also some rain starting to fall, but I kept going for a bit longer looking for a good place to get turned around. I ended up on another road and saw a large gravel patch that I could get turned around in. When I pulled off the road, I was met by several old Pontiacs which caught my eye. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do anything with them as far as overall shots, but I knew that I could do some good isolations with them. The rain was falling heavier now which convinced me not to waste an ask today. I just put it in my phone as a future location and headed back towards home once again.
It turned out to be rather fortunate that I passed this opportunity up because within the next few minutes, the bottom dropped and it was raining heavily. I was thankful I didn’t have the camera out and getting it set up for a shot only to have to throw it in the truck real quick and drive away, only to have to return and ask permission again.
It might not have been an epic day with lots of photos, but I can say without hesitation that I am happy that I went and am very satisfied with the single photo that I came back with. It was the photo that I have had in my mind for months now, and with it finally in the bag, I can relax on that location for a bit longer. I am still going to try and get out there for the other cars, but I think that they will look better with more foliage on the trees, so I’ll plan to head back in the Spring for another try.
I hope that you have enjoyed this trek and the resulting photograph. If this is a photograph that speaks to you, I would love to talk about matching you up with a print of your very own. Despite the high winds, everything turned out tack sharp and I am very happy with the quality of the image. I know that anyone who decided to get a print will share in my enjoyment of the scene. If you happen to recognize the scene and know the owner, I would very much appreciate an opportunity to speak with them. I don’t want to be done with this property just yet. There is still a lot of potential here for more photos.
Until next time….
