A Nice Encounter

I returned to an abandoned farm in the middle of a small village in the south-west of Poland. While processing the pics I’ve taken there before, I  realized I’ve missed an important shot. This feeling kept bothering me. As a one way drive was only 400 km , I’ve decided to make this shot today. Yep, nothing comes for free.

I found my farm exactly as I had left it 6 months ago. Even the arrangement of bottles at the attic was untouched. I took advantage of the clouded sky and the soft shadows cast by that light and made my shot. And a couple more.

Even the arrangement of bottles was untouched

When I enter a place I usually make sure people don’t see me. When I leave, I care a bit less but better safe than sorry. This time I had no option other than just to get out because I had no view on my surroundings. I opened the stable door and waded through a former garden now full of weed. Coming closer to the road I saw a man approaching. Ignoring and acting as if you have all the right get in and out buildings is usually the best approach to avoid questions. I walked to my car that I’d parked on the other side of a small stream that ran through the village.

It appeared, the man I saw when leaving the farm, followed me and started to talk to me. “Here we go again”, I thought. And I couldn’t care less as I already had my pictures. I politely told him I don’t speak polish (People say I can say this sentence without an accent). It turned out the man also spoke German. “Sind Sie der Besitzer?”, he asked. “You see”, I thought. “He’s going to tell me I’ve no right to enter” How wrong could I be!

The shot I returned for.

He was visibly disappointed when I told him I’m not the owner. It appeared he was the self-appointed village historian, very interested in the German history of the village and area around it. He hoped he could learn from me about the history of the farm.

We started to have a nice conversation about former German influence in the region, he showed me a website about the village (it had a picture he had taken) and he told me more about the village and the farm. It was a big farm and several families lived there including his parents. His German was not fluent but that was largely compensated by the loud voice he used. People at the other side of the village could easily follow his part of the conversation. Assumed they understand German. He yelled at me where DER BÄCKER used to be and next to the farm I visited, was DIE METZGEREI.

We kept on chatting and shouting a bit and I asked him about several buildings I’d seen in the neighborhood and he enlightened me about the importance of the village before the second world war. After a handshake, some more chatting, 2 more handshakes and as many goodbyes he finally continued his walk.

It was a nice encounter...