Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Jones Family Farm


Handbook
Paint it Black
Abandoned Jones Farm

Tucked back in the woods, in a secluded location of Lake Ray Roberts (just outside Sanger Texas) is an old farm house built in 1850 by Jackson Carroll Jones and his wife.  Common in those days were large families and at one time it is said there were 12 people living in this small four room house.  I can only imagine how cramped life there must have been.  But I suppose when you're living on the frontier, running a farm, the more the merrier.  This land was purchased in 1984 by the Corps of Engineers, which soon built Lake Ray Roberts.  Thankfully they kept this old farm house intact and even fenced it off from public access.  This has kept the house, barn and work shed in practically untouched condition!  While there is no furniture inside the house, it still has all the little details like door knobs, sinks and kitchen fixtures.  The barn and shed are still chocked full of rusted farm equipment and all the "junk" they seemed to save up over the years living there.  All this makes for some great photo opportunities.  

I was lucky enough to get this opportunity about a month ago when the Denton Camera Club took a field trip to this old farm.  About 20 of us were given access early in the morning.   We fanned out with our cameras and began to create our photos and document our findings.  It would be an amazing place to do a portrait photo shoot at.  But we kept it to just shooting the farm itself on this trip.  Although I did take a moment to use myself as a model (2nd photo above).  Like most old farm homes, they do have a certain amount of creepiness about them.  This one is no exception.  While alone in the house for a few minutes, you do get odd feelings of how much has taken place over the years, right where you're standing.  It's a very cool place to explore and it hasn't been vandalized with graffiti or looted clean like most abandoned farms.  I really hope it stays this way.  The place really is a photographic gold mine!   

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