The other day I ventured out to west Champaign to take photos of a passing storm front from an empty field. After I was done, I kept driving in search of more photo opportunities. A few minutes later, I passed an abandoned farmhouse and decided to investigate. The two-story house did not have a single intact window and the exterior was tagged with graffiti. I approached the house and peered inside. The only noise I heard was the wind whistling through the open windows. I stepped inside and noticed that no one had lived there in quite some time. Initially, I was alarmed that I could see the ceiling of the second level through the floor above me. I hoped the floor I was standing on was as sturdy as it felt. I was more nervous, though, that someone from the Children of the Corn would appear out of nowhere and take me away, never to be seen again. There was also the possibility of rabid possums or raccoons. I took a couple shots and got the hell out of there. For some reason, I couldn’t shake the notion that I just didn’t belong.

A few days later, I returned to the house and gave it another try. This time around, I felt fairly confident about walking through it. In my head, I had visions of these grungy, desolate shots of an abandoned home, and I just knew I could capture them. In reality, I wasn’t able to compose much of anything worthwhile. I ended up with one photo that I felt was decent and posted it to the photoblog.

But let’s go back to that notion of me not belonging in the house. Was it permissible for me to go into the house? Surely the property belongs to someone, but they’re not doing anything with it and it’s obviously falling apart - not that their house maintenance or lack thereof gives me the right to do whatever I want. So, what’s the protocol on entering an abandoned house? Was this trespassing? Would you have done the same thing? I’d really be curious to know what others think about this.