Driving home from the British Sea Power show last night, I had an inexplicable urge to drive through Carrollton. Being that it was one in the morning, I decided it wasn’t the safest thing to do. So I waited until this cold and rainy afternoon to see if there is anything going on… and shocked to see my new favorite home now only half-remains.
I spent some time photographing at 12752 Lonsdale on Friday, March 28. I photographed the interior of this home for the first time about a week or two ago, and I found it to be a beautiful place for pictures… the rooms were spacious, the wallpaper was interesting, and my favorite part was the dancing blinds off a sliding glass door in the back with all the glass broken out… with any breeze, the blinds would pick up and dance rhythmically in the wind, fluttering in opposite movements to one another, spiraling and twisting about. I’ve photographed the exterior many times, but because it sat boarded up for many years, I had no desire to enter. Places that are boarded up obviously do not afford good lighting for pictures. However, the boards started coming down once the weather became slightly warmer… and its visual treasures were finally revealed
Friday was the first time I had seen any sun all this past week and I wanted to get some decent interior shots. The last time I went in this house, it was cloudy and I struggled trying to get good color. I was looking to capture the patterns of light reflected from the shards of broken glass everywhere in this house. The original pictures of the half door (see flickr) were cool in tone, and I wanted to see if I could get some warmer, more colorful hues. I also loved the pattern of the lattice wall in the foyer and wanted to get some closeups. Now, I am very thankful that I had the little time I did and got the shots I wanted.
This house also had a very interesting mural painted in the basement… it was like an Italian street at night, with a cafe and awnings, and people playing games and laughing. Again, the mural was done by amateur artists, but worth appreciating nevertheless. No good light came into the basement windows no matter how sunny it was outside, so the pictures of this mural is too blurred to make out any clear images. I didn’t stick around long enough to play with my shutter speed once I noticed the dead cat in the corner of the basement.
Fresh graffiti on a freshly charred house is a telling tale of stupidity at its height. Although there were two old drawings that had been there for months, the latest graffiti was so new that none of it was in any of the shots I got on Friday afternoon. Though I am no forensics expert, it would seem to me that the fire started sometime soon after the graffiti was done. The morons behind this act scribbled out racial slurs, crude drawings of human organs, and stars and other shapes found in a box of Lucky Charms. These brainchildren even sprayed out people’s names. Whether the names are of friend or foe, its shows how dumb they are. Much of the new graffiti here fits the same manner of intelligence you would expect from people who rode the short bus to school, and I am sure the idiots will get caught. They left the spray cans, they practically signed their own names, and they only managed to burn down half the house (if it was them; in all fairness it could have been someone else or lightning from last night’s storm). So remember kids, when you want to graffiti, 1. do not write real names… you’re already being stupid in the first place, don’t be THAT moronic. 2. Take your spray cans with you when you leave… men in blue shirts with shiny stars call it “evidence.” 3. Don’t do graffiti on the same night that they call for storms in case lightning does burn down your work and you get charged with arson anyway. 4. Don’t burn down the house you just tagged… there are no erasers in tagging. 5. Give it up if you’re that stupid. Really.
J. Desy Schoenewies
56 Houses Left 
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