Strange place for me to be shooting...

rwells

I shoot sports, but tonight I must have felt creepy :dunno


I stopped by an old run down cemetery not far from my house. It is actually a historic site, as it was donated by the original land owners that also gave several thousand acres to become Tarrant County. This is half of the D/FW area. Were talking lots and lots of land here folks...

It also sits along the "border" of this land and the "Indian Territory".

I got there too late, but I decided to stay and see if I could come up with anything interesting.

Some were shot with the dying sun, but most were shot in near darkness (30 - 45 minutes after sundown) handheld without IS.-- 50mm f/1.4

As always, C&C welcome!


1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


Also the pic straight out of camera for comparison


9


10


11


12



Thanks for looking...

Cantfeelmyfingers

I'm a sucker for cemeteries!
I really like the pp you've done for the most part!
My faves have gotta be #1, #3 & #9

rwells

Cantfeelmyfingers wrote:

I'm a sucker for cemeteries!
I really like the pp you've done for the most part!
My faves have gotta be #1, #3 & #9

Thanks for the comments

schmoo

Randy, it's always great to think outside of our traditional boxes. You done good! I find it difficult to keep cemetaries fresh (no pun intended) but I love what you've done here. The first few shots in particular have great texture and strong colors. They really show their age.

Great work

dmmattix

Randy, I just love #10. Very strong composition.

I seem to find myself in cemetaries a lot as my wife is a genealogy nut and librarian. I normally find myself there documenting. This is a nice new viewpoint for me.

Thanks for posting and giving me a new perspective.

Mike

rwells

Steph, Mike...

Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed them.

pathfinder

Are we just feeling our mortality, Randy? I enjoy looking at old gravestones also, and just wondering who the people were and what they did with their lives.

I liked 1, 10 and 11 a lot.
Some of the other images just have too much noise for my taste. Noise on the cover a rock album seems "right," but almost disrespectful of a gravestone to me.

I have always been intrigued by just how difficult it is to photograph the inscriptions on a stone and then actually be able to read them in the captured photograph. The last ones I shot I used off camera flash as a side light to try to get better contrast in the lettering engraved into the stone.

Here is one of my many gravestones I have collected - http://Pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/13880659-L.jpg

argyle

Real interesting stuff...excellent work. Where exactly is this cemetery? I live in the Denton area myself and may want to take a ride.

rwells

pathfinder wrote:

Noise on the cover a rock album seems "right," but almost disrespectful of a gravestone to me.

Jim, thanks for taking the time to look and comment.

I kinda felt that way at first, but then I got thinking...

Some of these graves have been there for over 100 years, and by the looks of the graveyard, I doubt many people go by there any more. They might be happy that anyone is looking at their headstones, and more-so that they are sharing their intrigue to others.

All that said, I'm right there on that fence with you, although I didn't hear one complaint from my subjects

rwells

argyle wrote:

Real interesting stuff...excellent work. Where exactly is this cemetery? I live in the Denton area myself and may want to take a ride.

Thanks for the comment.

It's located in Euless. If you ever want the actual directions, PM me.