125/365 - Skate Jam

My day started out like any other normal day. Woke up, edited some images, ate some breakfast while editing some more images and in the afternoon, I photographed an event for Cotixan Mexican Food and Kiss FM. I took pictures of some prize winner and got free food. Not too shabby.

My friend Oreo and I  proceeded to go location scouting for future photoshoots and ended up in one of my favorite places for creepy abandoned places, Jamul. There was a house that I would always pass by that looked extremely haunted and abandoned from afar and thought that today was finally the day to find out what it was all about since I wanted to film my final project for class there. When we got there, the gate was locked so we parked the car and walked the rest of the way. I took pictures from the outside first to show my friend that is going to help me film it, how crazy the house was. We noticed that there was an opened door on the back of the house and I went in first since Oreo is scared of anything that looks haunted haha :P

























The next room is the dining room that had part of the ceiling missing (pull up to the scene with ma' ceiling missin'). The lighting in there looked awesome because of it. It was pretty dark in there so I had to boost that ISO.


I walked by crossing the middle of the dining room like nothing and got to where the door was of the house. I looked around and before I could take a picture, Oreo told me to pose for a few pictures by it.



He then told me to stand in the middle of the dining room (the one I had previously crossed like no ones business) but something told me to check for things that could potentially hurt me like broken glass. Never in a million years would I think that a rattle snake would be waiting for me less than 5 feet away from me. Before the snake rattled, my eyes were adjusting to the darkness and then I saw a rattle. At first I thought that it might have been what was left over of a snake that was killed, but then I saw the entire thing still intact. Then i thought that it was probably fake since I had just walked no more than three feet of it when I crossed the room. But THEN, it started rattling. You know when Sherlock goes into super detective mode and everything goes slow motion and macro mode? Well that's what I felt happen. Everything went silent for me, I looked to my right and saw the front door was boarded up. I then remembered the two windows I came across when I was taking pictures of the outside of the house. There was one side that still had broken glass around it and the other one that had close to none. I immediately walked calmly towards the window as I told Oreo, "Get out right now!", and got on it somehow and jumped about 5 feet down to land on tons of broken glass. It was either that or get bit by a snake. Luckily, I landed on my feet. Apparently the whole time that I was doing this, Oreo was calling my name over and over again but I did not hear him. After I got out, I walked around the house to see if Oreo had gotten out safe but didn't see any sign of him. As I walked some more, I saw him walk towards me and thank God he didn't get bit. As we got to the car, safe and sound, I noticed I had a few splinters on my hand from the window. We had planned to go explore a nearby abandoned farm but decided that it was enough adventuring for one day. I got home, and treated my hand and still couldn't believe what had happened to us.

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Later I had called my boyfriend Jason after he got off work and told him the story with details. He then gave me some info on what to do next if I ever encounter that situation again.

1.) Get a pile of rocks and throw them into the house/room before stepping in. Make sure they bounce around because snakes feel the vibrations and make themselves known.

2.) He mentioned that snakes can strike half their length so judging from their size, do the math, carry the one, just stay calm because they can sense fear.

I also read that rattlesnakes won't follow you so that's a win!

Jason and I were just talking on the phone about snakes a few days ago and I was talking to Oreo before getting to the location about buying hiking boots in case I ran into a snake during a photoshoot.

Anywho, I'm glad we're alive and thankful everyday that I'm being watched and protected on every adventure of life I take. To lighten up the mood a bit, here are some more pictures I took today! I was also featured on AUX's website today and they ran an article on my Band Name Project! Check that out :D