BUSTED

I'm alive. Yes, still here. Still breathing. Were you beginning to assume that I was in the county lock-up for trespassing again with "Razzi" in tow? HA! No, but close. I knew it would happen sooner or later. I guess it happened "sooner" rather than later though. I've heard horror stories about photographers who are run off properties because they are trespassing while trying to capture the perfect shot. And today...I - for a split second - maybe for like all of 3 minutes or so - thought that I was going to be shot - or arrested. One of the two. :)

Let me explain...

I pass this old abandoned house almost everyday out in the country. It's the gorgeous and oh so disheveled home you see in the picture above. Each time I pass it, I swear that I'm going to go back and visit the property with "Razzi." The house offers so much character and has so much to give to a photographer craving a backdrop. It's an old - vintage- worn out - memory infested -backdrop. Well today, we had pure sunshine and blue skies. The weather was stunning outdoors. So...after a meeting I had with a new friend interested in blogging, I headed out with Razzi in tow to the property I'd been dying to set foot on.

5 minutes into my shoot, a car comes barreling around the corner of this old home and scares the living daylights out of me. I never saw it coming - never heard it coming. The vehicle and its driver were a HUGE surprise to me. At that moment, I start preparing in my head what I'm about to say in regard to why I'm on this property - unauthorized. The driver pulls up and its an elderly lady. AND.SHE.AIN'T.HAPPY! She hauls butt around that corner and pulls right up to my feet - inches from my precious toes. Rolls down her window - looks square at me in the face and says - word for word - "What do you think you are doing?"

Immediately I think - "Oh crap Razzi - we are doomed. Dead. Goners. We goin' to jaaaiilll! It's been nice shootin' with ya but we are in deep doo doo now." I, with my voice shaking, explain to this older woman that I'm involved in a photography class where we are required to come up with assignments. I told her that I pass by the home each day but never realized it was occupied. I thought it was abandoned. Had I known someone lived there, I would have knocked on the door and gotten permission to shoot there first. She was initially very rough, abrasive, and ticked off at me for being there. Clearly! She told me that she didn't live in that home but that she still owns it. Apparently she bought the lot and now lives in a newer home next door to this property but I had no idea. I realized that I needed to "change her state." You know...just like I attempt to do when I'm on the side of the road being chewed out by police officers for speeding or not pulling over for a traffic stop fast enough??? Yeah, attempting to change their state.

I begin telling this woman that I love her property and that it is truly a photographer's dream. I compliment the "red" door on her beloved old home. She quickly corrects me and tells me that "it isn't RED, it's rust young child!" Loved that. Red or rust, it is the one beautiful flaw that has repeatedly drawn me to the property itself. You can see a closer shot of this gorgeous door over HERE on my Angie Seaman Photography blog.

By the time I was done, I had learned that this elderly ladies name was "Mary Lynn." She was a widow and her husband had passed away 11 years ago. She told me stories and memories about living in that old house. She divuldged how she went through 2 propane gas tanks in just one month during her first winter alone in that home while attempting to heat it. She talked about how she and her husband lived there together but once he passed, she built the home on the property next door and now lives there. She asked me my name - asked me about my sweatshirt I was wearing and what it said. It just so happened to be a sweatshirt from my kids elementary school. During our conversation, she became insistent that I get a photograph of the "gingerbread siding" on the homes upper half. She drove in a circle around the old home as I walked along side her moving car - all while being shown the vintage "gingerbread siding" that she said she was sure I wanted pictures of.I.obeyed.her.So did Razzi.We got pictures of the old vintage gingerbread siding on her stunning old home.

At one point, I felt myself wanting to ask for a picture of her too. Just like her old home, she offered so much character as well. However, I thought the request of a photograph of her might really be pushing it in her eyes. She proceeded to point out other directions I could drive to find older houses that she thought would be good portrait spots. I listened intently with every intention of finding those spots she turned me on to. She even went so far as to offer me into her old barn to photograph her horses in the back. She told me not to worry about the big yellow lab that was back there with the horses and that he wouldn't hurt me. However, I ultimately opted to sit that trip out. I've watched too many forensic file and FBI shows to get that comfortable with her. Just last week I watched one where an old lady had buried like 7 bodies in her back yard. No joke! Therefore, my visions of possibly being chopped up into a million little pieces by an old lady out in a really old barn who was ticked off at me for trespassing - kept me from meandering back to photograph the horses.

HA! Just kidding. Although she had me shakin' in my boots, I knew Razzi and I could take her if we needed too. Yellow lab and all. Hee hee! I'm being bad. Bad Angie. The best part to the story was when she eventually fessed up and told me she thought I was with the "Tax People." HA! I said - "Nope, not me. Not with the Tax People!" Mary Lynn then went into a rant about how we better be seeing some "hope and change" after all the hoop-la and promises she has heard with the new president-elect about change coming. Oh yeah...she was clearly a McCain/Palin fan/voter and I totally "heart that." I knew right then that Mary Lynn and I could be life long friends. ;) Wink Wink!

As I pulled away and began to catch my breath after shaking from horror and fear, I thanked God for not having the police show up during my lil' trespassing escapade and I also thanked him for my new friend. Mary Lynn. She was a great lady. Just protecting her property - her memories - just as any of us would and should do too. Once I got my nerves calmed down enough to laugh...I laughed.

While laughing, my cell phone rang. I looked down and saw that it was Brennen and Kenidi's school calling. I lost my breath again as I remembered that I was wearing the school sweatshirt when trespassing on Mary Lynn's property. Remember, she asked me what my sweatshirt said? I soooooo panicked. I asked God if this was his sick sense of humor kicking in as punishment for my trespassing. I then said to myself..."Oh snap Razzi...she's busted us. Totally through us under the bus. I bet she called the school and turned us in."

Nahhhhhh...she didn't! It was all good - it was just Kenidi's teacher calling to tell me something about Kenidi and a mishap she had in class today. I laughed out loud and told her teacher why I was worried when I saw the school phone number pop up on my cell. Razzi and I sooooooo thought we were going to be havin' to have a sit down with the principal for trespassing while sporting our school spirit wear. HA HA! Great day - one that kept me on my toes.

Here's to turkey's, blessings, gratitude, family, new friends, old homes, treasured memories, vintage gingerbread siding, trespassing and to being thankful that I wasn't with "the tax people" today.

Happy Thanksgiving eve everyone! I'm so thankful and extremely grateful for all of you.

xoxoxo, Angie