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I will bet that a week doesn't go
by that I don't get an e-mail from someone who brings up the
photographer that was arrested on the Shireland grounds for taking
"porno pictures". After considerable searching, I was
able to track that photographer down to obtain the other side of the
story. The photographer wishes to remain anonymous, but provided
me with some of the pictures taken and this narrative of what really
happened:
I am the photographer who was involved in
the incident that now seems to have become an urban legend. I feel no
need to defend myself or justify what we did. It is actually quite
amusing to me how this story has been exaggerated. At the request of the
owner of this site, I have relaying the actual facts of the incident.
I used to go out to Rockford quite a bit
from the Chicago area, and I use to pass Shireland all the time. About 4
years ago, I actually stopped by and explored the land. This was before
"No Trespassing" signs were posted. I found the land not only
fascinating with it's dilapidated buildings and remnants of Shireland,
but I also thought the land itself was very eye catching. I have been a
photographer for 30 years (glamour, fashion, artistic, and figure
photography - not porn) and realized this would be a great location to
do a shoot at. I am always looking for locations to do unique nude
shoots at, and the land and buildings at Shireland presented a very
interesting contrast to the beauty of the nude female.
I told a model I had worked with before
about my idea, and she was immediately interested. I went out about a
week before the shoot to scope it out again. The land now had "No
Trespassing" signs on it, but it was still easily accessible simply
by stepping through the gates.
We went out on a Saturday afternoon and
freely walked around and shot in just about every corner and accessible
building on the land. We shot very beautiful artistic photos and did
some work with light and shadows - nothing that could be construed in
any way as porn. We were pretty much doing our very last shots when 2
troopers drove up. It turns out someone that leases the land from the
owners was fishing in a pond there and saw us and called the sheriff's
office. It was about an hour from the time the call came in and the time
they arrived. The troopers were actually very nice once they learned
what we doing and that were not vandalizing anything. They explained
they get called out regularly to the site and that there had been a
great deal of vandalism recently. They actually attempted to talk the
man into not pressing charges but he insisted to, as he put it,
"Make an example out of us."
We were charged with Criminal Trespassing,
and nothing else. We made a first court appearance to enter a plea,
which was not guilty. At our second appearance, the complaining witness
didn't show up, and the state's attorney asked for a continuance because
the witness was in Wisconsin working and couldn't get back for the court
date. The attorney stated the witness was definitely interested in
pressing the charges. At our third appearance, he was a no show again,
and the charges were dropped. This was about 6 months after our arrest.
I have no problem admitting we broke the law
by trespassing and have no malice against the troopers who arrested us.
They did what they had to do and were very nice to us. They actually
seemed a little annoyed that the guy wanted to pursue the charges. I
feel pretty confident that the witness never intended to show up, and
just pressed the charges to try to scare us. All in all, it was a minor
nuisance, we have great story to tell, and we got some amazing
photos.
That is pretty much it - no porn shots,
no porn movies, no snuff films, no Satanic cults. It is actually quite
amusing to me how much this relatively uninteresting and quite harmless
incident has grown into the widely exaggerated stories it has. It's
actually kind of fun to be part of an urban legend.
(After reviewing the dozen pictures I was sent, I tend to agree with the
description of "tasteful nudes". It is just like playing
"telephone" when we are kids: start a story and wait long
enough and it can turn into just about anything we want it to be. Ed)
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