Steampunk wonderland

schmoo · July 24, 2007

The location o' the week (as it is starting to feel like to me)....

This weekend was a bit of a road trip. After a veritable marathon of photography I present my new favorite building. I don't think this place could ever be topped. I've waited years to see this place and I was not disappointed!

It was built in 1919 in a neo-classical style, a leader in power generation for a new electric age. The turbine hall is the arguably the most majestic in the country. I know that I was completely awed, and the job of capturing it in photos was a very humbling and frustrating experience.

The hallmark turbine, looking rather Lovecraftian:

Another view, with people to give it some scale:

The rusted clock that oversees the floor. The sight of it makes the imagination go wild!

Turbine #2 resembling some kind of industrial sea creature. I am proud of the IS on the lens, as this was taken hanging over the wooden rail of the catwalk, handheld:

The beautiful, rusted Victorian arches of the ceiling. Concrete that once spanned them is falling to the floor every day, and poses quite a threat to wanderers:

Looking for a roommate. This little guy/gal's web spanned a space at least 8 feet wide. S/he almost caught a photographer that day:

The control room is, in contrast to the turbine hall, the epitome of the nuclear age:

And the view was nice enough to actually take a pano -- plus I recently upgraded my computer so for once my hardware could handle a real photomerge!

I have actually had a few requests for prints of this, but from what I see my best option to do this is order directly from EZPrints, am I correct?

I have several more in a gallery here, too. Comments, feedback, rotten tomatoes are all welcome.

ShutterMuse · July 24, 2007

*puts the rotten tomatoes back in the box* Great photos of an oft forgotten age. You did a wonderful job capturing these.

Richard · July 24, 2007

Great set.

clap

I just love old industrial stuff. There were even knife switches in the control room! One expected to see Dr. Zarkov leering from a doorway. B&W was the right choice for these, and you did a good job on the conversions. Well done.

Regards,

pjb923 · July 24, 2007

Another great set as expected.

I don't know how you manage to find such amazing shooting locations every week.

I love them all, but the ceiling arches and the 2nd turbine shot are my favorites.

schmoo · July 24, 2007

You are all too kind! I'm pink over here

I know that at times it seems a bit excessive... I do go out most weekends to shoot these places, though not necessarily every week. It's also time for me to start slowing down, what with me wanting to branch out and do more landscapes/portraits/traveling as well as the fall semester starting again at the end of August. But not yet.

I really could not put into words what i was feeling looking at this place. They sure don't make 'em like that anymore, which is a huge shame. I wish I could take the world with me when I am struck like that, because it's almost unfair to keep such beauty locked up and hidden. I hope that the photos go at least a little bit towards that cause.

Thank you, all.

ShutterMuse · July 24, 2007

schmooo wrote:

You are all too kind! I'm pink over here

I know that at times it seems a bit excessive... I do go out most weekends to shoot these places, though not necessarily every week. It's also time for me to start slowing down, what with me wanting to branch out and do more landscapes/portraits/traveling as well as the fall semester starting again at the end of August. But not yet.

I really could not put into words what i was feeling looking at this place. They sure don't make 'em like that anymore, which is a huge shame. I wish I could take the world with me when I am struck like that, because it's almost unfair to keep such beauty locked up and hidden. I hope that the photos go at least a little bit towards that cause.

Thank you, all.

Wish I could find places like that to explore and shoot... I've got plenty of things to shoot in the way of mountain landscapes, and nature though.

Awais Yaqub · July 24, 2007

Wonderful photography ! loved them that will be one fantastic print

Skippy · July 24, 2007

schmooo wrote:

The location o' the week (as it is starting to feel like to me)....
This weekend was a bit of a road trip. After a veritable marathon of photography I present my new favorite building. I don't think this place could ever be topped. I've waited years to see this place and I was not disappointed!
It was built in 1919 in a neo-classical style, a leader in power generation for a new electric age. The turbine hall is the arguably the most majestic in the country. I know that I was completely awed, and the job of capturing it in photos was a very humbling and frustrating experience.
The hallmark turbine, looking rather Lovecraftian:
Another view, with people to give it some scale:
The rusted clock that oversees the floor. The sight of it makes the imagination go wild!
Turbine #2 resembling some kind of industrial sea creature. I am proud of the IS on the lens, as this was taken hanging over the wooden rail of the catwalk, handheld:
The beautiful, rusted Victorian arches of the ceiling. Concrete that once spanned them is falling to the floor every day, and poses quite a threat to wanderers:
Looking for a roommate. This little guy/gal's web spanned a space at least 8 feet wide. S/he almost caught a photographer that day:
The control room is, in contrast to the turbine hall, the epitome of the nuclear age:
And the view was nice enough to actually take a pano -- plus I recently upgraded my computer so for once my hardware could handle a real photomerge! I have actually had a few requests for prints of this, but from what I see my best option to do this is order directly from EZPrints, am I correct?
I have several more in a gallery here, too. Comments, feedback, rotten tomatoes are all welcome.

Hi there Schmooo, I must say I am really surprised that your allowed in these places your shooting in, most places in that condition here would be blocked off, like the old cement works in Geelong it is surrounded by huge cyclone fences and a security company watches over it.
I would imagine one would be charged with Trespassing if you attempted to climb the fence?

Your images are amazing I love these old places you find to explore

B&W goes well for these shots, you have a great eye for capturing the feel of a place Schmooo

Another Excellent Series from you

.... Skippy
.

DavidTO · July 24, 2007

Nice series, Schmoo. Love that last one.

What kind of computer upgrade did you get?

pathfinder · July 24, 2007

schmooo wrote:

............I really could not put into words what i was feeling looking at this place. They sure don't make 'em like that anymore, which is a huge shame. I wish I could take the world with me when I am struck like that, because it's almost unfair to keep such beauty locked up and hidden. I hope that the photos go at least a little bit towards that cause.

Thank you, all.

Stephanie, you must be an old engineer at heart. Your admiration for the attractiveness of large, old, rusted, industrial scale terrain, is quite unique.

Good conversions to B&W - I love B&W also.

You might evaluate this kind of terrain, specifically, for color images, as well. That will be harder, I suspect, but you might be surprised what you find, from to time. I sse you have a couple in your gallery that are nicely done in color.

I do envy you your choice of terrain also.

Llywellyn · July 24, 2007

Yowza!!

I stumbled upon some of your other photos earlier this week, and now these... Incredible work.

Hm, you're not that far from me. I may have to start shadowing you to these awesome places.

They look like they'd be just as much fun to simply explore as to photograph.

Again, amazing shots.

I'd also be interested to hear about the upgrades that made that photomerge easy-peasy (or at least easier-peasier).

schmoo · July 24, 2007

Skippy wrote:

Hi there Schmooo, I must say I am really surprised that your allowed in these places your shooting in, most places in that condition here would be blocked off, like the old cement works in Geelong it is surrounded by huge cyclone fences and a security company watches over it.
I would imagine one would be charged with Trespassing if you attempted to climb the fence?

Your images are amazing I love these old places you find to explore
B&W goes well for these shots, you have a great eye for capturing the feel of a place Schmooo

Another Excellent Series from you .... Skippy
.

Hi Skippy! Thanks for your comment.. you always make me smile!

I don't discuss this part of it much because here at Dgrin it is about the photos, but I knew at some point it would come up so I might as well address it! Yes it would be trespassing if one jumped the fence. Most abandoned buildings have private owners - some of them are even not-so-private. There is a serious liability issue if visitors are injured on their property, not to mention damage to the structure itself can cost them a lot of valuable money if they have renovation plans for the site (which most do.)

Fortunately, over the years I have gotten to know some very good people who have either the gift of gab, legitimate business connections, or just have really good luck with contacting the right folks. As one example, there is a famous historic hotel downtown that has been off-limits to outsiders forever, but we got a private tour of the place -- alarms deactivated and all. It was a very sweet deal! You never know what you can do until you ask. This is not to say that you still don't run the risk of getting hurt or injured, but I think to be nuts enough to want to go into an unstable place you also have to have a minimum threshold for common sense.

schmoo · July 24, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

Nice series, Schmoo. Love that last one.

What kind of computer upgrade did you get?

Thanks! As an afterthought I played around with Shay's Magic 10:4 Crop Ratio (tm) and came up with this... but I lose the walkway on either side! :cry

As for the upgrade: MAC PRO, bay bee! I am happy as a.... as an Apple user with a shiny new desktop, I guess. I could use a gig or two (or three) more of RAM but already the processor in this thing is ~16x faster than my old setup. I'm happy. I can do photomerges. And run multiple programs at once. It's all good.

Jim - you're sweet! I am a science nerd, I admit, but far from an engineer. I have trouble doing maths.

I did start to process these in color but everything was so amazingly brown (rust) I couldn't make them pop. I did have at least two people ask me "What does the pano look like in color?" which makes me laugh out loud. If it looked better in color, maybe I would have processed it like that in the first place?

But I see your point... it would definitely be a technical challenge to do a set like this in color. I guess it boils down to: What motivates us to process something in black/white? I'm sure everyone has their own answer, but I'm not entirely sure I have worked that out yet.

Llewllyn, wow thanks for remembering me! That is very kind of you.

I love the photos you have in your galleries and your sense of humor, too. It looks like I'm taking a couple of weeks off from places like this but you do appear to be fairly local. I'm always up to go shooting!

Justiceiro · July 24, 2007

Schmoo, we really must shoot together. I can see we dig the same stuff.

See if you can use your connections to get into the Jersey City Powerhouse.

It's difficult, I've been tempted to go "over the fence."

Bayer-Z28 · July 25, 2007

wow! I'm really diggin the 3rd and last pic! NICE! I had to stare at the last one for a second...

DavidTO · July 25, 2007

Congrats on the Mac Pro!!! Yeah, beautiful machine. I love mine.

Re: the 10:4 crop. I think it's really cool, you've got a central 10:4 image, and the walkways are this added bonus. I think it's part of what works so well in the original crop. It's a nice, interesting image in the center, and these extras at no charge on the sides. Normally you'd want to crop something like that off, but I think in this case it just adds to the scale and sense of place wonderfully.

David_S85 · July 25, 2007

Schmoo, I am envious of your access to such a wonderful old relic like this. Great set of shots here.

I agree with Jim that you should try more color in situations like this, but B&W is still a good choice since tone and subject dominate the frames.

schmoo · July 25, 2007

Justiceiro wrote:

Schmoo, we really must shoot together. I can see we dig the same stuff.

See if you can use your connections to get into the Jersey City Powerhouse.

It's difficult, I've been tempted to go "over the fence."

DEFINITELY! We will be soon (in Glacier), but I know what you mean.

I'll start working on that power plant. I have seen it on one of my many visits to JC but haven't focused on it yet. Let's see what I can come up with...

Thanks, all!