urban decay

New Life

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The more I look at this scene, the more I realize why it holds my attention. It’s the combination of my two favorite subjects: Urban Decay and Nature photography. I’m also happy with the composition. Allowing just enough depth of field to make obvious the foreground subject (shrooms) without loosing so much contextual detail in the background.

It’s beautiful to me, to see this new life; these mushrooms, growing amongst the discarded & forgotten in this decaying pile of rubble. Natural beauty. Happening.

1/60 sec at f/2.0, ISO 50, 28mm Leica Q2

Randomness

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With gloomy weather in the forecast today, I’d envisioned some dreary, misty, morning photos at Lake Nockamixon. I had a section of tall pines in mind that I’d hoped to catch towering up into the fog. Instead, the weather cleared up, and I had to adjust my sails. Today turned into a random photography day where I just got in the car and drove, pulling over to explore any sites that interested me.

Below are a few images I’m happy with from today’s meanderings. Maybe it’s just the “Leica look” put out by the Q2 but I love the details in these images. Especially with the leading image of the excavator, shot at f/1.7. It has a 3D pop to it, right? I feel the same way about the third image of the shiny corrugated steel sheet against the textured green brick wall. They just seem to pop.

1/3200 sec at f/1.7, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/500 sec at f/5.0, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/250 sec at f/4.5, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/640 sec at f/5.0, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/320 sec at f/4.5, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

Case 220

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I will forever love the combination of orange and blue. I saw this old Case tractor this weekend and just really liked it’s shape and colors. A little web research told me that this Case tractor is actually an old one-cylinder, 10 horse power lawn tractor, produced by Case in their Winneconne, Wisconsin Plant between 1968 and 1988.

HDR urban decay

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One thing I like about HDR photography is that it makes the impossible, possible. It allows your eye to see what you ordinarily wouldn’t be able to see. When you shoot HDR, you use a series of images to reveal details in the shadows and highlights which you just wouldn’t see in a single exposure. Adobe Lightroom makes it easy to stack and merge these images, resulting in images like mine below.

Linfield Industrial Park

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Currently under demolition.

The office

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Glad I had my asbestos mask and tripod with me for these images. The first image looking out the window, is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image compiled of five layered exposures. To do this, the scene is first properly exposed and captured. Next, the same scene is captured four more times, under and over exposing from -2 to +2 stops. Lastly, the images are stacked, aligned with each other, and processed. By using this technique I’m able to overexpose the scene to capture details in the shadows that the eye isn’t able detect, as well as underexpose the scene for those details in the highlights that are normally blown out (Tree branches against the sky). When the stacked files are carefully edited, the HDR image produced can have quite a surreal look.

HDR image.

30 seconds, at f/16, ISO 50, 14mm, Sony A7R IV

3.2 sec at f/9, ISO 50, 14mm, Sony A7R IV

Abandoned Camper

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I’ve been driving past this abandoned camper for months. Every time, I say to myself: Self, you should stop and make some images of that. But I never do. However, the other evening, as I was crossing the Burlington-Bristol Bridge entering into New Jersey, I had my friend Mr. Camper in mind and finally pulled over to take a few shots.

1/640 sec at f/5.0, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

1/500 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100, 28mm, Leica Q2

Morning gloom

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Determined to get out early with the camera, I had the Subi packed last night and was rolling towards Glendale, PA by 8:15, this dreary morning. I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for quite a while and wasn’t going to let some crumby weather stop me from getting out there and creating some images. I thought I’d try to use this morning gloominess to my advantage to amp up the drama in some of my shots. Following this thought, Sleighton Farm School came to mind. Sleighton Farm School is an abandoned reformatory school for delinquent children in Pennsylvania. Click here for the complete history on this dilapidated campus.

…Poor Mr.Groundhog.

1/160 sec at f/4.5, ISO 100, 16mm, Sony A7R IV

1/100 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100, 21mm, Sony A7R IV