The house next door

My family has lived next door to this house for the past 12 years. Phyllis lived there for many years before we came. She was an eccentric and unique person. With her cane she shuffled around the house and yard, watering the few pots out front, leaving out bird seed and food scraps that she said fed the birds and squirrels, as well as a few rats. She passed 5 years ago and the house has been empty since. It now feels quiet and still, as if waiting–alone and abandoned but not forgotten.

 

I began simply documenting her house from my own, and then moved onto the property. I shot during different times of day and in all kinds of weather. I peered through windows, my own and the house’s. I played with various lighting techniques and shutter speeds, and used various focal lengths. The house was sometimes the main subject, sometimes it wasn’t. It became a vehicle through which to explore my own ways of seeing.

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View the book: The house next door