House of Couch. (Weekly photo challenge – Home)
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/photo-challenge-home/
I love it when you just stumble across something like this. I have passed the end of this private road a few times and from the end you can just see a little bit of the brown couch and nothing else. Today curiosity got the better of me and I had to go and have a better look. What a great scene. I love everything about it and the cat sat at the doorstep looking at me is the icing on the cake.
It looks abandoned, but once it must have been someone’s home. The place did not feel spooky, it had a nice feel about it and I have a feeling that once it was a happy home where you could hear the laughter of children playing carelessly on a summer’s day.
I took a few quick snaps because it is a private road and I wasn’t sure if somebody was about to run out brandishing a brush to chase me away.
Once I got home I did a bit of research and it would appear that at present the properly is empty. I am going to go back with my tripod and remote release and have a good think about my settings so I can get some better photographs of it. As much as I really like the scene I am not overly happy with the sharpness of the shot and would like to try some different compositions of it. If I am feeling brave enough I might try to get around the back to see what is there.
One of my favorite things about photography is happening across a really interesting subject. Hopefully I will post some better ones of this little cottage at a later date.
To me the image has more of a story as the monochrome. While the house looks abandoned, there is a black-and-white cat in the doorway–wonder what it knows that we do not.
I know exactly what you mean. I wonder if the cat used to live there? I know my cat still goes and sits on top of the garage of the house where she used to live. It didn’t move from that doorway the whole time I was there.
Great shots. There is something about crumbling/abondoned homes that always makes me sad – especially the black and white photo: the disuse seems especially poignant, especially devastating because it lacks the greens of life and hope in the color photo.
Yes the mono is more emotive I think. I am going to keep visiting it in the hope that someone has bought it and takes it back to it’s former glory.
I love the cat sitting outside the door, that really, makes the picture stand out more. It looks like it’s waiting to be let in! I can feel this picture inspiring my mind, (I get that with pictures sometimes, other times it’s a song or a video.) I can feel a story coming on! I think I’ve got an obsession with old empty houses, I could write about them all the time, but I won’t write too many, because that would bore the pants off the readers!!
I can’t wait to see the story you write Suzy
I hear that! sometimes I get that inspiration for a story or that “video in my head” from a picture or hearing a song. I’ve not been confident enough to transfer this to my blog yet though.
You should do, it is a great platform for getting all your thoughts into place. I look forward to reading more of your blog later on Me. School run soon though.
Jo, of the three compositions, I like the long focal length the most. It made my eye wander the lane and was then surprised by the chairs and possibly a sofa. The black and white cat sunning itself on the step was the last thing I noticed and quite a warm surprise!
Thanks Cheryl, I like that one the most as well. x
What a great photograph, I have to ask (because I would have been as pleased as punch with the sharpness but what bit of the photo did you not like? Also have you done any post processing through photoshop (or similar). For me my favourite is actually the 1st picture more out of the three shown, I think the added width increases the sense of mystery about the place, almost as if you were at the end of a long drive and I think the modern windows of the house next door take a little of the mystery away from it. Regardless though they are all excellent photographs.
I am not sure what it is that is lacking for me. I think because I took the photographs quickly and didn’t have the chance to think about what I wanted to do I have something that tells me I could have done better. I have to do an element of post processing as I shoot in Raw so you have to convert them. All I did was bring some of the detail back via highlights and shadows in photoshop, corrected the white balance a bit and tweaked the curves a little bit. I do like editing on my more Arty stuff but I try these days to largely leave everything else alone
I may have to practice more… hell I WILL have to practice more. I tend to shoot in JPG which I know is not as good, but then I am too lazy to fire up adobe bridge each time to just view this pics, but with stunning results like that I think that I may have to.
Honestly, I can say to you that the extra work is well worth the results. I still shoot in jpeg too if it say a party or just point and shoot but honestly the difference between Raw and Jpeg is massive to shots like this. I do a lot of seascapes and so much of the detail that you see with the eye is easily lost and cannot be recovered with jpeg, just those little dark areas that will always remain dark, or a blown out highlight can be so easily recovered with raw. My post processing on these is probably ten minute tops. I just recover detail from the shadows, sort out any over exposed areas and tweak the curves. Sometimes I may increase saturation or convert to black and white and really that is all.
ps, thank you for your comment.
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Like the third one!!!
Thank you SeniSilat
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Loved this photo – and it inspired me to get on and enter the challenge ago – and to think a little more laterally about what a home could be!
Jo,
I really like the black and white one.
Thank you Sue. I always lean more towards Black and White.
I love this house too.
Fantastic subject and beautiful photos. As one who loves B&W as much as I do, I find myself a bit surprised that I like the color version more. The colors are very pastel and the softness seems to lend to the “decaying” aspect – the colors faded as life faded away. The cat in the doorway, oh my, could it be any more perfect??? Very, nice.
Thank you so much for your comment. Even though this place is decaying so much it still feels as though it has much love to give. I am glad I put the colour one in as well as the B&W.