Monday, May 4, 2020

No Springfest 2020

The first weekend of May is always the weekend of the Springfest in East Coulee.  I've attended for several years in a row now, and was looking forward to this year.  But, like so many other events, the Springfest was cancelled due to the Corona virus pandemic.
Instead, Hailey and I headed out for a daytrip the morning of the first Saturday in May.  It was beautiful day, with clear blue skies, and the temperature eventually peaked at about 20C.  We left the city at about 9:30AM, loaded down with camera gear and headed to the northeast.
Our first stop was at this old stone farmhouse.  We shot it from the road... me with my big view camera and Hailey with the Hasselblad.  We weren't there long and a lady bombed out in a little car to check on what we were up to.  She complained that this house on her land had recently been posted on social media and there had been a steady stream of visitors.  They didn't respect private property, and wandered all over the place, even stealing the door knobs.  She seemed OK with the fact that Hailey and I were showing respect and shot it from the road.  I've heard that this has become a common problem, particularly now that so many people have so much time on their hands as a result of the virus situation.  I suspect that access to old abandoned buildings will become very difficult in the years ahead.
If it is not obvious enough, I am not sharing the location of this building, and have always attempted to be very vague about where I travel.  I think this just shows respect for the owners of these old properties.  It is very important to shoot from a distance, or request permission.
After we finished here we packed up our gear and continued on our way.  This would just be the first of several stops on this beautiful day.






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