My holiday fun: helping my dad move from his suburban Cincinnati house to a condo in the far suburbs. The photos with this post were taken in the approximately three minutes I had between cleaning up the place and handing the keys to the new owners.
We were the first and only occupants of the house, which was completed in 1977 and was a pretty typical two-story, four bedroom home for its time (think Brady Bunch). I was hoping to have more time to take some photos before leaving, but if you've never packed a house filled with 37 years of stuff, then you're in for a real treat. If you consider a treat to be a big shit sandwich.
The pics were taken with my Nikon DSLR with me and a 50mm lens -- the only one I had with me and a little too tight for interior shots. I tried to stand as far back as possible in a few places and capture a few images that reminded what the house looks like.
Even though the photos are kind of tight, I actually kind of like them. The color photo is nice because it captures the pink paint of the living room and the wallpaper in the living room. But I think I like the black and white photos better -- B&W is my preferred format for photos intended to serve primarily as old memories.
One prevailing memory of the house is how utterly quiet and empty it could feel, especially on weekday winter afternoons when the adults were working, kids were in school and the subdivision felt completely deserted. As a teenager it felt stifling. As an adult with a suburban home of his own, it still actually feels kind of stifling :)
Of the three, the bottom is my favorite -- that's looking down the upstairs hall at the room that served me well enough from sixth grade through high school through a bunch of visits home over the last quarter century (I left Cincy for good in 1990).
Here's the black-and-white version of the top image of the dining room taken from the living room:
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--S.H.
The above photos are ©Steve Hymon and may not be used elsewhere without my advanced written permission. All rights reserved.