Merry Christmas!

Hudson Composite

Yet another fantastic composite creation by designer John Grogan. This time he even managed to get me into the photo as Nurse Ratched watching over patients in the day room.

First Snow

The first snow of the year came last night and since I won't have to work again for quite some time (thanks to both the weather and the holiday), I hopped in the car and took a few snow shots.

Composite

A friend and very talented designer was going through some of my older work on my website and found this hallway shot I had taken of Kings Park a few years ago. We had been talking earlier this weekend about people who took photos of abandoned buildings and layered other images over them, resulting in an image that looked half abandoned, half original. In the end, John came up with this finished product on the right, showing an eerie, almost transparent vision of life in Kings Park.

It Was a Time

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a roll of film that had been sitting in my Pentax for months before I finally got around to developing it. I grabbed it from Hunts where they explained that the company that processed my E9 film wasn't able to scan the frames onto CD so I had to wait until today to scan the negatives myself. I have to say, it was like Christmas come early when I saw not just these fantastic shots of Nubble Light in Maine, but also a few shots of Worcester State Hospital, now long gone. So enjoy!









Worcester State Hospital just before construction began earlier this year. This round building, the Hooper Turret is one of the buildings that will be saved

Consistent with my typical moments of stupidity, it was either too cold for my film camera the day I shot this, or it could have been the hot tea I spilled on the camera...or I could have just loaded the film wrong. But this frame, despite being fuzzy and not quite what I originally had in mind, really came out great. The edges have an odd mist from the angle of the film when it fed through the camera and it looks like something I could possibly have found on the floor in the theater.



A doorway at Monson Developmental Center. Again, the frame didn't feed correctly but still created a pretty interesting vintage effect.

The View Through the Cemetery Trees

I apologize for overloading the number of shots on this set but for once I managed to process all of the photos I took the same day and I also figured out how to plug in the html direct from my Flickr account!

Mother nature ushered in the weekend under a shroud of rain and heavy fog. I decided to drive home to visit my parents and as I slowly made my way through the pea soup hanging over the town of Shutesbury, I took a detour to a beautiful old cemetery that had wisps of mist wrapped around every tree and every headstone.

The gate on the main road of Shutesbury is a beautiful old New England rock wall with a wrought iron gate in the middle. The town was so quiet that only one car passed me as I stood on the opposite side of the tiny two lane road, shooting away.








Rock walls are a hallmark of the New England landscape and this cemetery's boundaries are marked by low piles of stone that stretched back farther than I could see.



This obelisk caught my eye with the backdrop of fog and the bright red, white, and blue of the American Flag. With a little PhotoShopping I created what looks almost like a painting out of one of my favorite photos of the day.









Across the street from the main cemetery was another smaller "yard" with a mausoleum nestled in between a triangle of trees, almost perfectly symmetrical.

Insufficient Shelter

Another site that shall remain nameless, this massive structure is one that I'm not sure I would even risk going inside of. It's been a long time since I've seen this kind of damage on a building. And though it makes me sound very old, back in the day I might have risked this place for the perfect shot but on this particular day, I decided to simply settle for an exterior.

A Patient's Last Look

Sorry for the long absence but I haven't had much of a chance to just take off with my camera lately. This shot will remain unlabelled as my quick visit to this campus came complete with a police escort off the grounds. However, there was something about this shot that really spoke to me as I circled the one and only abandoned building at this hospital. Between the perspective of the fence and the open door, it just felt very surreal to me.

A Little Departure

This is just something a little different since I haven't gotten the chance to explore much lately. This is one of my mother's marigolds but I managed to PhotoShop a rather odd effect into the background and made the flower really pop. Enjoy!

Admin in Fall

Every time I shoot Belchertown I say it will most likely be my last set, yet for months each time I head to Western Mass to visit my parents, I drive onto the campus expecting something to have changed. Nothing has changed. And yet everything has changed.

Next Two Parts of Graffiti Article

Part 2 and Part 3 of The Art of Graffiti are posted on Associated Content. Many thanks to everyone who has already viewed Part 1. Thanks for making it a success!

New AC Article

It's official, part 1 of the three part series on graffiti is now available on Associated Content. Unfortunately it posted without the photos, but please go read it and pass it on to your friends!

For more info or to support graffiti artists around the world, check out ArtCrimes.

Nothing New

Since I have nothing new to post because I'm having one of those weekends, I'll leave you with perhaps one of the funniest pieces of Banksy graffiti I've come across lately. For those of you who don't know who Banksy is, I'll give you a little history lesson. Banksy appeared on the London underground scene in 1992 as a free hand graffiti artist who slowly graduated to using stencils to produce some of his greatest work. Most of his pieces have some sort of anti-establishment theme, many of them featuring rats delivering a political or social commentary. So enjoy!

The Great Blue Somewhere

I have to apologize for taking so long to post the rest of my Hudson shots. For some reason I processed a few and then filed the rest away. But at any rate, here is the rest of the set including this one which highlights one of my favorite features of the Kirkbride hospitals- the never ending hallway shot. The added bonus at Hudson is the light coming in from the patient rooms at either side of the hallway which throws the criss crossing shadows across the floor that alternate with pools of light.

Barrell Distortion

For those of you who don't speak "photo geek", barrell distortion is the rounding effect that is caused by the edges of the barrell on the lens of your camera. This shot happens to have just a slight barrell distortion which drives some photographers nuts but happens to be a favorite effect of mine when photographing patient rooms. It makes me think of the tunnel vision you might experience in the midst of a panic attack, which I would say is a common occurrence in a psych ward.

I Can See the Flames for Miles

Much of Hudson River Psychiatric was damaged by a fire late last year. Most of our buildings are easy targets for arson and vandalism but the damage caused by the Hudson fire is by far some of the worst I have ever seen. However, some of the damage made for this incredibly vivid shot.

Slipping Into the Unknown

This was the first thing I saw when I stepped into the women's ward at Hudson River. The stained glass was breathtaking but the collapse in front of it nearly stopped my heart. Everywhere I stepped the floor sagged almost imperceptably, causing me to feel mildly seasick while attempting to navigate the long hallways. Looking from side to side into the old patient rooms, all I could see was more disaster. She must have been beautiful at one time. Now she is a beauty in need of a face lift.

Looking Out at What's Left

I used to look out these windows to the laundry down at the bottom of the hill but it was one of the first out buildings to be torn down. Not long after that, two of the four alphabet buildings of the Memorial Complex were torn down, leaving the middle two buildings still standing, bricked up holes at the end of hallways the only signs that the buildings once continued. The last two buildings are for sale but somehow I believe they too will fall to the wrecking ball.

Irony

Every locked door, now open. Doors that once kept people in were one day unlocked to let all of them out into a world they had never seen before except on day trips to downtown Northampton. It feels like a building full of irony.

End of Days

This frame somehow got lost in the shuffle of the final set taken of the Kirkbride. Looking back and re-editing some of these photos to send to Forbes Library in Northampton made me regret the fact that I didn't spend nearly enough time photographing one of the most amazing buidlings I have ever seen.

In the Rolling Fog

The corner of the Kirkbride held the fog in a pocket and wisps of white air drifted in and out of the empty windows. With a little help from a friend, I resurrected this shot and managed to make the fog in this photo move, the way it did when I took this shot in January of 2006.

Through the Fence, Darkly

This was one of the first views I had ever seen of Northampton State Hospital. The first time I took this shot, I took it in color without the interference of the fence. Seeing the gated porches and gaping windows without their regulation red plywood boards, the fog rolling over the buildings, created the impression of Northampton State that I will never forget.

The Long Drive Home Take 2

This frame is a second take on the grainier version taken last year with my 35mm. This time I used my Sony a100 DSLR on a much brighter, clearer day. The result was a deeper shot that carried you farther down that road to the MacPherson Memorial Infirmary at Belchertown State School.

Saints and Sinners Redux

For the first time on this site I'm going to post a set of photos without the real name of the site. This particular building, while no longer in use, houses the offices for a local development company and was slated to become condominiums. However, the state of the economy and the housing market has forced the developers to put their plans on hold so the building will remain empty except for the offices. Here are a few exteriors that I took on my way home this afternoon. Please enjoy!

Ring Bell

"To Enter Please Ring Bell". So of course I rang the bell but unfortunately, no one answered even though there was a car parked outside the front door. I was hoping to get a glimpse of the inside of the building but no such luck!

A Riot of Color

A beautiful stained glass door on the front of the building.

Angels in the Shadows

The back of the building was by far the most beautiful, shady, and tranquil spot on this 180 acre campus. This perspective just offered some very interesting shadow and angles.

A Soak in the Light

Even after innumerable trips to this particular location, I'm still amazed each and every time I see a room like this. It was a perfect day and I was undisturbed for over three hours, just happily shooting away in one of my favorite spots.

Graf Set 2

This has to be one of my favorite graf pieces from yesterday's shoot. The colors practically assault you when you pull up to the wall and they just begged to be photographed. The fabulous talent behind this art is obvious in the glowing "III" off to the right of the piece that knows how to draw your eye just right.

Graf Set

Since it's now midnight and I've been out shooting all day, I'll make this brief and give you a quick preview of one of the crazy sick pieces of grafitti that I shot today. Watching the artists at work definitely gave me a newfound respect for the talent that these individuals have. This is the first of many as I took about 400 something frames today so check back soon to see the rest!

Numbered Doors, Numbered Days

Camp Columbia once served as a summer camp for engineering students from Columbia University, a member of the prestigious Ivy League. Historical photos of the camp show the inherent beauty in the location and the craftsmanship in each building, a portion of which is still alive and well in the details of this door surrounded by a beautiful stone wall. The interior of this cottage, in spite of having been completely stripped, pointed to a continued tradition of architectural beauty that made these buildings unique.

Class of 1902

The tower pictured here was built by the Columbia University class of 1902, presumably engineering students. The most disappointing part of the day was discovering that there is no way up into the tower as the entrance has been gated. I can only imagine what the view from the top of this tower would be like.

Looking In and Getting Out

I never got the opportunity to see Camp Columbia while it was still in tact, and it was disappointing to walk into this cottage and find the beds stacked up in the bathroom, the floors stripped, and very little of the building's original presence still existed. This set of windows was the only thing in this cottage that caught my eye and I took the time to not only shoot it in digital, but also in medium format 120 film and 35mm film.

What Lay in Store

The lockers in the bath house still had their originaly Yale locks on the handles, one of which may or may not have made its way into my bag...