First attempt at Urbex

eoren1 · January 5, 2011

I follow a number of photographers on Twitter who are into Urbex (urban exploration of deserted buildings). For good or bad, our town has very little in the way of deserted buildings to explore. That is with the exception of the 'old' YMCA. It was built in 1910 and ran until about 2 years ago when a new Ymca opened. It has sat unused in that time until a developer decided to put up condos in the space. Demo started Monday and I drove by today to see if I could find any photo opportunities. The fencing made things tough and I wound my way to the back of the building for a shot that turned out really nice (IMO).
Here's a sneak peak at what will be going up on my blog next Wednesday:

1 Brick by brick

2 The green door

3 A tree grows in Marblehead

Comments/critiques greatly appreciated!
E

eoren1 · January 6, 2011

Hmmmm...91 views over 24 hours and no comments. So is it crap or should I move this to another sub-forum (like other cool shots)???

Wicked_Dark · January 6, 2011

they're good from a documentary standpoint, but I'm not feeling the place. too bad about the building though.

eoren1 · January 6, 2011

Thanks for the post!
I passed by that building a number of times and never saw much to photography from the outside.
The first shot was taken mid-demo and I caught three frames where the light came in (bouncing off the excavator) and down the stairs with dust stirred up that I was happy to catch. The other two revealed themselves as wall after wall came down.
All were done as 3 shot HDRs given the very wide dynamic range with light bouncing all around.
Appreciate your taking the time to express your thoughts.
E

Doug Solis · January 6, 2011

I've got to remember Urbex, that is interesting. While I'm not a bid fan of a grungy HDR these may be perfect subjects for it. I like the shots and there is some good lighting going on in both but they seem to be calling out for a infushion of color and heavy contrasts that only grunge HDR can give. IMHO

jpc · January 7, 2011

I like this kind of stuff. The light through the door on the first one works well. I think they all might benefit from a different perspective, maybe down low or a little "off-axis". Might add some drama.

eoren1 · January 7, 2011

Thanks Doug and jpc
I'm not big on the grunge-HDR look. This is about as far as I'll push it. Might play with the saturation and contrast just a bit more. So far these have only been through Photomatix and Lightroom. Might try to run them through OnOne's phototools as well and see what happens.
As for the different angles, no such luck...building is long gone now. I literally got three frames for the brick door before being told (quite forcibly) to move or I might get killed by falling bricks. The others were shot as walls came down.
Appreciate the comments/critiques!
E

kdog · January 7, 2011

I like 'em. Nice shots. The green door especially speaks to me. Pity the building is gone now.

oddfodder · January 7, 2011

Love the green door!

Doug Solis · January 7, 2011

Have you tried Topaz adjust? It has some cool effects, like Simplify, which reduces the structure of the image to where it is less detailed and a bit of a dreamy effect. Just a thought.

schmoo · January 7, 2011

Photographing decay is much trickier than it looks, as I'm sure you've noticed. It's a lot more than just walking into a room and taking a shot from wall to wall. The most interesting shots of this nature are, IMO, abstracts and the real challenge lies in finding order in chaos. Which is actually not that unlike landscape photography in general, but it's on a much smaller scale and is less dependent on sunrise/sunset/sweet light.

Plus you usually have the thrill of knowing you're documenting something that will be lost forever, the actual physical danger, and occasionally you know that you're one of only a tiny handful of people that have access to it at all. It's exhilarating and makes you really work for the opportunities.

I like the first shot best of the three because it looks like a perfectly normal doorway until you see the rubble at the bottom. I see where you're going with the second with the great framing, but I'm not even sure of what I'm looking at in the third.

Here's to unique photo ops no matter where you are!

eoren1 · January 7, 2011

Thanks Schmoo - really appreciate your perspective on the Urbex stuff. Wish I had the chance to shoot this place when it was erect and awaiting demo rather than 'from the hip' during the process.
Thanks again,
E

eoren1 · January 7, 2011

Reworked them a bit...
Did a bit of work to make them more 'grungy'...does this work any better??

Brick by brick

The green door

A tree grows

Big picture

Wicked_Dark · January 7, 2011

more compelling for sure. stylized.

sara505 · January 7, 2011

eoren1 wrote: »

Did a bit of work to make them more 'grungy'...does this work any better??

Brick by brick

The green door

A tree grows

Big picture

I like the first one, and even more now that it's been tweaked. The open door with the light beyond pulls me in and suggests something beyond the wreckage.

jpc · January 8, 2011

#1 is much more interesting, now. Good job. The rays of sunlight are much more pronounced.

eoren1 · January 8, 2011

Thanks!
It's amazing really - I'm convinced that I'm done in Lightroom and then do some enhancements in Photoshop and realize that the end-product of LR was washed out and lacked that needed 'punch'. Still trying to figure out how to get it all done from the ease of one program
Really appreciate the thoughts on the first one. I really can't wait to post it on the blog now - counting the days til Wednesday!
E

Zanotti · January 8, 2011

Some nice shots of a dying building!

You say you follow some Urbex explorers. Recommmend any web sites?

Z

eoren1 · January 8, 2011

Happy to share!
Jacqes Gude takes photos of abandoned buildings throughout Germany. This shot from August is burned into my brain. Amazing stuff
http://www.jacquesgude.com/2010/08/27/now-that-the-war-is-through-with-me/

Bob Lussier - nicknamed The Stair Whisperer for the shots he takes. Concentrates on the old mills in Massachusetts
http://www.lussierphoto.com/

Brian Matiash - shoots around Boston mostly. Really nice HDR and lots of Tilt/Shift action!
http://brianmatiash.com/blog/

Zanotti · January 12, 2011

Did you see this:

Go to undercity

http://andrewwonder.com/

Wow!

Z