The Beauty of Decay Part II

In my last post I mentioned my love of decaying old cars and trucks.   Another powerful subject is abandoned and decaying buildings.   The shot above is from the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, WV.  If you desire to photograph this type of subject, the Asylum is a great way to do so.   You get to explore several buildings and the photo opportunities are almost limitless. 

The panorama above is taken in the Women’s Auxiliary Building.  The only way to see this building is to sign up for a phototour.   The regular asylum visitors are not taken to this one.  

The Beauty of Decay

I’m a car guy, not the type that spends his weekends working on a hot-rod in the garage, but someone who has spent his entire adult life either working on cars or working with them.   Automobiles are part of the American lifestyle and I admit I’m hooked.  I love to drive and have a real appreciation for the engineering that goes into everything from the new hybrids to cars that you see on the racetrack.  But as a photographer there is nothing I love more than old cars and trucks that have been forgotten.  The gradual decay and the body lines of days gone by add up to irresistible  subject matter.

The Big House

Who knew that so many people wanted to spend time behind bars.  A couple of weeks ago the Maryland Department of Corrections held an open house at Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, MD.  Over a thousand people attended on the first of two days.   Upon arrival I was a bit disappointed as it became quickly apparent these were going to be  a quick tour with groups of 50 people taking about 45 minutes each.  So back to the car to unload the backpack and tripod.  I did some handheld shooting but overall things were a bit rushed and as a result the quality and quantity of work was not quite what I hoped for. 

MHC was one of the nation’s oldest prisons when it was shut down in 2007.  The prison site also houses an active prison and inmate labor is being used to deconstruct, rather than demolish the facility. 

Click here for a link to a brochure on this facility. 

Making It Your Own

As photographers we often photograph things that others created.   Be it a bridge, building or statue just to name a few.  The designer of the item in question may or may not have had a creative motivation or inspiration.   A sculptor would most definitely qualify as an artist, but perhaps a bridge designer might be motivated more by structural demands than creative ones.   As photographers we have a choice, we can take a documentary photograph or one that is motivated by our artistic vision.   

This past weekend I was doing a little exploration and came across this graffiti.   I took a few straight shots, but after that I decided to do an in camera multiple exposure refocusing on the teeth between each shot as I zoomed in.  In my opinion, this allows me to capture my interpretation of this art work rather than just reproducing someone else’s on a different medium.