More from Abandoned

Yesterday I went to Johnstown to do some shooting for "Abandoned". The weather was terrible, but I needed to do some shooting in the city because a publication from Johnstown is going to be interviewing me next week and I needed something to talk about. While there, I found an amazing house that I'll blog about later today, but there were lots of other cool ones too.

More from Abandoned

Over the past 2 weeks I've found a few new houses and buildings to photograph for Abandoned. Here are some of my favorites.

Abandoned & Alone

Yesterday the sky was filled with clouds, the kind of clouds that make for great photographs. Having clouds in the sky always makes for better photos than a crystal clear sky or (worst case scenario) a dismal overcast sky.

When I noticed the great sky, I had to stop and take some photos of a tree that stands alone in a field. I always thought the tree was interesting in its solitude and the dramatic sky lent itself to a nice composition.

Today the sky was pretty much crystal clear when I was driving around, but when I spotted an old, rusted out truck standing beside an abandoned house, I knew I had to photograph the scene and I think it turned out pretty nice.

Abandoned - North Star Inn

I read in the Daily American last week that the owner of the North Star Inn in Hooversville is going to have the building torn down. Now, I admit that I never heard of the place before reading the article, but apparently it's a "blight" on the town and residents have been wanting it down for years. The idea of an abandoned hotel was pretty darn cool so I figured I'd better get my butt over to Hooversville before the wrecking ball arrived and the hotel was turned into a pile of rubble.

The old hotel was pretty impressive. Signs on the outside walls read "Condemned" and "No Trespassing", which actually just fueled my desire to climb inside via one of the many broken windows on the first floor. But seeing as how a dozen or so residents were chilling outside and within view, I relegated myself to taking photos of the exterior.

Abandoned - Color or B&W?

The past few weeks I've photographed several new buildings for the Abandoned project. This weekend I was processing the newest shots and I ran into a bit of a mental stumbling block. I'm torn between whether to keep the images in color or convert them to black and white.

As a photographer, I've always loved black & white images. To me, they just feel more like art. But viewing these photographs in color, I realized that the color images sometimes do more to tell the story of the buildings. I'm almost leaning toward keeping everything in color. I guess it's really not a big deal at this point in the process, as I keep the originals of every shot, but I always tend to get caught up in the minutia. I'm posting this set in color to show some variety. I have also realized that I really, really hate stray power lines that are impossible to shoot around.

Anyway, here are a bunch of shots from the past couple weeks. Leave me a comment and let me know whether you prefer color or black & white.

The house in the last shot was especially interesting to me. I remember the house from years ago. We used to see it from the highway when we took my grandmother to the shopping mall in Lavale, Maryland. From the road, you could clearly see that it was abandoned but it was in pretty good condition. The windows were intact and I would always see cats sitting by them, soaking up the sun. I sort of imaged the house to be a feline version of Watership Down and assumed there must have been dozens of cats roaming around inside the giant, old house. When I went to photograph it, it had been years since I passed by. I was sad to see the house is now, quite literally, falling down. It was a beautiful building. And I wonder where all the cats have gone...

Limited Edition Prints now available

For a limited time, I'm offering prints of two of my favorite abandoned buildings for sale.

16x20 Prints of "The Homestead" and "The Clubhouse" are available for $100 each. This is the first edition for both pieces and they will be signed and numbered with a limited edition of 50 of each print. The pieces are printed on fine grade Kodak Professional Endura Supra Luster Photo Paper. The pieces are unframed and as you will see on the images below, there is room to have them matted before being framed. The pieces will appear exactly as they do on the below images (minus the copyright notice, of course).

Either piece can be ordered by visiting the Prints page on my Fine Art Site. Please contact me with any questions.

Abandoned - The Clubhouse

My longtime blog readers will remember the first time I visited The Clubhouse, way back in December of 2006. Back then, the building was in far from good condition. A fire had burned out much of the upper floor and water ran through to the first floor. But, aside from that, it was a gorgeous building and one that appeared to be structurally sound.

I made another trip to The Clubhouse on Thursday and was saddened to find it in terrible condition. The entire front roof had collapsed inwards and the left side of the upper floor had also fallen in. I don't know whether it was the strain from a winter's worth of snow or if the old building was simply nearing it's end, but finding it like that really bummed me out. I guess for all of these glorious, forgotten structures are on borrowed time.

Abandoned Places - 4

I found some great, new abandoned places today. I'm always fascinated at the variety of places left to rot under the strain of the elements. I've seen a lot of very large homes, and today also found a community center. On the other end of the spectrum was a "house" that was one of the strangest structures I've ever seen. I think, at one time, it was the "trailer" part of a tractor trailer, but someone converted it into a house of sorts. Windows were cut in the sides and a ramshackle roof was weighted down with old tires. It's definitely one of a kind.

Abandoned Places - 3

Yesterday I visited a few more abandoned buildings. Later in the day the sunlight was pretty harsh and gave some wicked shadows, so I have 3 spots I need to shoot in the morning light, but some of the places turned out pretty good. I'm especially in love with the first house in this blog entry. The shots aren't necessarily the best, but the structure of this house is just stunning. The stone walls are so thick! I swear, you could take the walls and build a new house there if you wanted to and had the money. If it's still there in a few years, maybe I'll do just that. I need to find out who, if anyone, owns it though...

Much to my delight, several blog readers have comments on the "Abandoned" photos and many have contacted me asking if I was going to offer prints for sale. I actually am, and those prints will soon be listed on my art page. I'm unsure what sizes people are interested in, so feel free to comment with ideas and/or suggestions. I might do signed, limited editions of larger print sizes
if there's a call for it. I'm also planning on pitching the collection to book publishers when I feel it's "finished". That won't be for several months, but I just thought I'd mention it.

Anyway, here are the most recent photos.

New abandoned buildings

Yesterday I decided to hit some back roads in search of more abandoned buildings and was lucky enough to find a few. I don't think any are quite as cool as the farmhouse, but they're still pretty neat.

I've decided to make a collection of these images and will be pursuing it throughout the year. I think it'll be a really cool project.

Abandoned Farmhouse

This afternoon Sharon and I were driving down some of the back roads and enjoying the sunny weather. We've both got a bad case of spring fever and just wanted to spend some time outside. I had taken my cameras and new wide angle lens with me, hoping for the chance to take some photos.

As we drove, I realized that we were close to an abandoned farmhouse that I'd seen a few times over the years. I decided to head in that direction and as we reached it I pulled the Jeep to the side of the road and switched on the four ways.

The old farmhouse loomed ominously on the small hillside. Five leafless trees stood in front of it but in the barren days of winter they did nothing to conceal the houses' presence. At one point in time, someone had wrapped the front porch in plastic. Over the years, the steady whipping of the wind saw the plastic become tattered, almost shredded and the result was a facade that looked almost like giant sharp teeth. The entire house leaned slightly to one side, sinking askew into the soft ground.

The rear of the house wasn't as ominous - or impressive. Layers of siding peeled away in places, almost like rings in a tree stump revealing it's age. Behind the house, a pool of water, filled with muck and mud, hollowed out the ground. The brick chimney could be seen easier from here, crumbling from years of exposure to the weather. The back door was gone, in its place a sheet of plywood in surprisingly good condition. The water made approaching the rear of the building impossible.

I circled around to the front of the house. I didn't bring my flashes with me so I knew going inside would be pointless. I started back to the Jeep, but noticed the very loud sound of running water, seeming to come from inside the house. I somewhat tentatively approached the red basement door and pushed it slightly with my boot. A scared rabbit bounced away, startling me a bit. I pushed the door a bit further with no result. Satisfied that I wasn't two seconds away from becoming the victim of a hockey mask wearing, machete wielding madman (or more realistically a wild animal), I kicked the door open the rest of the way.

Peering into the darkness, it looked like a normal enough basement from what I could see. I didn't step inside, but far in the distance I could see daylight shining through the rear wall of the foundation. Water was gushing inside, the water from the pond in the back. The water was filling the basement floor, at least an inch or two deep. Hopefully I'll make it back in the coming weeks and I'll remember to bring a flashlight and a flash for the camera so I can explore and photograph the interiors of this dwelling that time forgot.