Beware of Rattlesnakes
During my trip to Alberta in 2012 I had some goals I wanted to accomplish. For this shot, I accomplished 3 of them: 1) photograph a beautiful old abandoned building on the prairies; 2) photograph a storm building on the prairies; 3) Found a rattlesnake (ideally photograph it).
I was meandering down some roads in the prairies in Alberta that were definitely qualified to have the title of 'The Road Less Traveled', and this was one of them. With zero no cell reception, few people driving the road, long hike to any where makes it a tough spot should you get stuck. I did see more traffic on most of the trails I visited in Banf and Kananaskis.
To me I hadn't discovered a derelict and abandoned old farm house, but a beautiful old building that was a window to the past. This building was different than some of the others I had seen. It was smaller, had more character and definitely looked like an early building that may have occupied someones homestead a few years after they got things up and running.
The storm in the background to me was perfect. This house must have bared witness to years of struggle, hardships, and potentially strife.
I almost always take a quick first shot. Just in case. Then proceed to plan the scene I want, and start experimenting with the shots after. I was enjoying the sense of depth the two remaining walls were creating by overlapping each other. I wanted to build on that. I wanted to show how it was missing 2 walls, and to do so I was going to change angles. As I was wandering through the long grass at the side of the road to get a better angle... thats when I heard it. I heard the tell tale warning of a rattle in the grass a head of me. So quickly retracing my steps, I leapt into the awaiting car. The old signage I had seen on the road for miles was 'Please Break for our Rattlesnakes.' It did warn me, it didn't strike, and it probably left as soon as I did. But I really didn't want to go back down and check.
