"RIP Mom"; I Wonder What The Backstory Is?

This old abandoned farm house, at first glance, seemed rather ordinary.  At a distance it looks
like every other like structure.  But it turned out to be more interesting than first thought.
(click to enlarge)

Earlier this week, a photographer friend (www.twolanetouring.com) was in town visiting so I thought I would take Dave out to some places I had previously photographed as well as us wander the countryside and look for interesting subjects to also photograph.  But that morning looked abysmal.  The light was flat and not much good for photography.  It was a typical cold, dreary, gray winter day.  To top it off, the sky decided to adorn us with some rain and snow flurries.  The only redeeming quality was the sky had some nice texture.  But, as the two of us are not to be denied, we left about 7:15 a.m. anyway.

An hour or so into our explorations through the backroads of the nearby countryside, we spotted the old house pictured at the top of this post.  The house was obviously abandoned and the property was now surrounded by a rather large solar farm.  We decided this old, abandoned and partially dilapidated homestead would make the perfect subject on a day with light like we had.

You might just be able to see it to the left of the door.  The sign reads, "RIP MOM."
(click to enlarge)

I pulled my SUV into the end of the old dirt driveway.  We saw no "No Trespassing" signs, so we commenced to photograph.  As we walked closer to the front of the house, we both noticed a white board with RIP Mom written in quite large letters.  How odd is that?  We also noticed a small ramp up to the threshold of the double front door.

We speculated as to what the 'backstory' might have been.   What we surmised, and we may be way off, is that the elderly mom lived there, maybe alone, and getting more infirm as the years passed.  Her physical safety caused a ramp to be built to prevent her from potentially tripping over the step-up into the front door.  She may have finally passed away.  The homestead was abandoned and, years later, sold to a solar farm developer.  Or, maybe not.  We don't know.

However, later during out stop, looking closely at the white board, I can see old writings that has been erased and written over several times.  I now suspect that the white board was used as message board for those who had something to do with building the solar farm.  The old house may have been utilized temporarily as some sort of office.  The original structure, the front of the building, seems relatively structurally sound.  Again, speculation.

I've never seen a message such as this written on the outside of a house, occupied or otherwise.
(click to enlarge)

Is MOM resting in peace?  We'll never know. (click to enlarge)

We spent about 20-25 minutes walking around the property and looking for interesting compositions.  All in all, this little stop during our day out to photograph was quite satisfying.  I decided to photograph both using color raw files as well as black & white JPEG files.  After all, if anything is a black & white subject, this is.

As you can see from these images, this property is very isolated.  Across the small, country road
is nothing but a fallow field.  Behind the house, hundreds of solar panels on former farmland
that, years and years ago, most likely grew corn, soybeans or cotton. (click to enlarge)

The old, worn drapes still hang in the window. (click to enlarge)

This or potentially the image below, may be my favorite image of the set. 
From a black & white JPEG. (click to enlarge)

Solo outdoor eating?  (click to enlarge)

Room with a view! (click to enlarge)

Whatever the true backstory is, the two of us had a nice time exploring the property and photographing what seemed interesting to each of us.

Lesson learned:  Even though you think the light is horrible, the weather is dreary, you can never quite predict upon what you might accidentally stumble and end up making some satisfying photographs.

UPDATE:

Just for fun, I’ve now added the image below.  A little Photoshop fun.  Is this ghostly figure mom?

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

All content on this blog is © 2013-2024 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.