The first time I stepped into this school bus, I feared for my safety.

A friend of mine who I do a lot of exploring with told me about an abandoned elementary school he found way out on some county road off of Savannah Highway and said we had to check it out. Naturally, I was interested.

We went out there with a couple of friends in the middle of the night, as not to get caught, and roamed its campus. The building was completely dilapidated.

The pastel painted walls were chipping away and falling down, the wooden floors were caving in, and there were, for some odd reason, piles upon piles of carpet squares stacked to the ceiling. It was crazy.

But the craziest thing came when we walked out the back of the school into this giant yard with one old, rusted yellow school bus parked in the center. We walked up to it cautiously, wondering if homeless people could be living inside of it.

The tail lights were all busted and most of the windows and mirrors were gone and the door was half opened. I pulled at the door and stepped up the stairs to find a couch, a bunk bed and stove all where bus seats should have been. This is where the fear set in.

Thankfully, no one was attacked by a squatter and we all escaped unharmed–just a little dusty. I couldn’t wait to get back there in the daylight to take pictures.

When I went back a couple days later, the bus changed from spooky to beautiful in the new light. The grass around it had begun to grow over the tires and in through the seams of the yellow metal and all the tiny fragments of shattered glass gleamed brightly.

I think I may have spent an hour photographing the bus alone. I tend to be fascinated by the little things.

This location is still one of my favorite places to photograph and I go back there all the time. It’s been the source of quite a few class projects and fun nights exploring.