Inside the Old House

On April 21st I took a day trip north of Edmonton, with my friends Arturo and Fred.  We had arranged permission to photograph the interior of an old house.  On a previous trip, back in the winter, we had met up with the owner, and asked if we could return in milder weather.  The arrangements were all made, and we headed out first thing in the morning.

This stately old home dates back about a century.  In recent years it was fully overgrown with brush.  But, in the past year or so, the owner cleaned up the yard and now the old home is right out in the open.  The yard has another newer house adjacent to it, which is occupied, and we entered the property with permission.  The old house was unlocked and opened up for us, and we were provided the luxury of a couple of hours for photography.  In exchange for this courtesy we committed to providing the owner and his family with some prints.

The home has been unoccupied for many years.  Calendars on the wall were dated from the 1960's and 1970's.  The one hanging on the wall beside the bedroom window was from 1960... three years before I was born.  I had to kind of wrap my head around that one, considering the fact that I just turned 58 a few days ago.

There was an old copy of the Edmonton Journal in one of the bedrooms.  It was dated Wednesday January 27th 1971.  I was in Grade Three when this paper was published.  It was the old Broad Sheet size of newspaper.  There was an editorial written by Art Evans, who I still remember.  There was also an advertisement from the Johnston Walker Department Store.  I vividly remember that store being in the Bonnie Doon Shopping Center in Edmonton.  They had a large sunken area just inside the store, and a big staircase leading up to their upper level.  It was quite the classy place... back in the day.  I can't remember exactly when they disappeared, but it was quite some time ago....

After a couple of hours the owner had to leave, so he locked up the place and went on his way.  But we were permitted to remain on the property and photograph the exterior.  We stayed for a while longer and continued to take photographs before eventually moving on.  The same landowner also had two other properties nearby that we had permission to explore on this day.

Twenty years ago when I started out in photography you could just wander in to old places at your whim and photograph, without issue.  Nowadays things have changed a lot.  Mostly the modern photographers show no respect.  Properties are vandalized and things are stolen.  Most places are locked up, or posted No Trespassing.  In a worst case scenario, some landowners choose to knock down old buildings, to keep unwanted people away.  It is so nice to have permission to get in to places like this and visually explore.  The landowner was appreciative of our respect and gratitude.  In return we are showing our appreciation by not disclosing the location, and not bringing any other photographers to the property.