Forgotten Memories

[DeadlyNova]

Hi guys! I'm not dead.....just went MIA for a while. 

But I got a new camera! So I thought I would test it out today!

I'm going to try to work on a doll a day some more, but just make it a doll whenever I can post one...which might be kind of hard, almost all of my non-Pullip dolls and figures are packed now as I am in the process of moving. So we'll see what happens!

It took me a while to decide where I wanted to go to test my camera, so I decided on something special. I visited my childhood home for the last time. It was abandoned 20 years ago, and lost in the woods. My family still owned the land(we at one point owned 90% of the land in my town), and I finally visited it for the first time about a year and a half ago. I've visited a handful of times since then, but hadn't gotten around to taking a doll up there, which I thought would be fun, until now. Sadly we have finally sold off the land, so this will probably be the last time I get to visit. We left this house when I was five years old, and I do have many fond memories there. Most of our stuff that we abandoned along with the house was stolen, but I have taken a handful of things with me during my visits, and found some other interesting things. Like a childhood shoe with my name on the bottom, sitting right in the living room, as if lost in time. 

We had to leave the house because the deer hunters we allowed to hunt on the land started poisoning us after my mom slashed their tents for shooting our dogs, and my mom was getting deathly ill. We brought some things with us, but left the majority of our things there. We came back for our pets the next day to find most of them dead or missing.


I couldn't take as many photos as I wanted today, as I went alone, and I was scared, as I was in the middle of nowhere in the woods, and now I am technically tresspassing unlike the other times.



I brought Piper with me, because her bright colors stand out nicely in this dark, abandoned world!

Forgotten Memories by Haley, on Flickr
Forgotten Memories by Haley, on Flickr
Forgotten Memories by Haley, on Flickr
Forgotten Memories by Haley, on Flickr
Forgotten Memories by Haley, on Flickr
Forgotten Memories by Haley, on Flickr

Thanks for looking! I hope I can start posting more often again!

[davidd]

An abandoned house makes a great setting for doll photos! I always love UrbEx type photos.

But... having the abandoned house be a place you used to live, with an unpleasant moving-out story, would be... emotionally strange.

Definitely cool photos, though.

What kind of camera did you get?

And are you staying in the area, or moving to a different city or state?

[Alliecat]

Oh wow. What a horrible ex-perience... the memories would be such a jumble of emotions. It must have been surreal and bittersweet to return. I hope going back a final time led you to feel you could say goodbye to it in the 'right' way for you. (I hate "closure" as a cliche word, but, you know...)
I think you really captured the mood with Piper. Especially the first photo, with her arms wrapped around herself; one can imagine all these thoughts going through her mind. Then I like the last two; in the second-last one she looks like she's going to tell you "this is how it used to be..." and in the last like she's ready to leave, "well, that's it then."
I think this is a terrific photo essay.
And good luck with the move. I hope you love your new home.

[DeadlyNova]

Thank you guys so much for your comments! <3 I think I have more fond memories of this place than bad ones, so it's pretty pleasant to go there, moreso than negative. It almost feels like a different house, because it looks so different now. I wish I could have taken a photo in my childhood bedroom, but that room was too dark.

I LOVE abandoned places, so having one I could legally go to was really fun. I spent a while being completely addicted to watching UrbEx videos on youtube. I'm kind of in the mood to watch some more now, actually......

I'm moving to a different city! I'll be moving in with one of my best friends, and in the same town as my sister. It's about an hour away from where I live now, so it's not that far, but I have a LOT of stuff to move, and now I'm having to take care of everything left behind by my family...my mother, grandfather, and grandmother were ALL hoarders, and now I'm having to clean up after all three of them....it's very time consuming. I don't know when I'm moving yet, but I have a LOT to take care of before I do.

I got a Panasonic Lumix FZ80! It's a lot nicer than my last camera, but not quite as nice as the one before that. I can't afford to upgrade any higher, though. I'm giving my niece my old one, as she's gotten quite into photography lately and I want her to have something better to use than her phone.

[Elfy]

They’re some good shots. Both the location and the doll herself give them an edge.

[davidd]

 I got a Panasonic Lumix FZ80! It's a lot nicer than my last camera, but not quite as nice as the one before that. 

That sounds like a great camera! I just read through some reviews. I have been using an older Panasonic Lumix point-n-shoot (DMC-TS5) as my primary camera for... gosh, more than three years now. It is probably my favorite camera ever. I hope your new "bridge camera" Lumix serves you equally well.

I take it by "hoarders" you don't mean "collectors of cool stuff," but more... well, like the TV show. I hope you find some unex.pected treasures during the clean-out, to hold on to and share with family members as keepsakes, and other surprises that will be worth the big bucks to make the clean-up worthwhile. It certainly sounds like you will have a lot of work ahead of you, not even counting your own move!

[*NatTheCat*]

I'm glad you have lots of fond memories, but the reason you left sounds like a nightmare that just reminds me why I'm sometimes scared of people. Good thing we have dolls for company.

Good luck with your move! Piper's bright colors are quite the contrast to the scenery. She really commands your attention with her vibrance. :3

[Aijo]

Wow! What a story! Piper is definitely a great contrast to the darkness and loneliness of that abandoned world.

It's good to see you again, Nova! I'm also back from super long MIA/hiatus/vacation thing.

[Offgenemi]

The photos are absolutely beautiful. I would have never thought to take photos in there but I understand the history and it made the photos even more beautiful for me. You always choose very elegant angles.
I am so sorry about how you left this home. It sounds traumatic. What awful people.

I hope you can get packed and move soon. Good luck with all the work.

[GreysPrincess]

Yikes! That story about having to abandon your childhood home is a doozy! It’s awful that you had to leave it!

Sounds like this move will be a good one for you, albeit a lot of work. Best of luck!!

[fishy]

>:( *in rage because of the dogs*