I am heading to NYC Today and then on Wednesday head to Portland and from there out to the Palouse. In the Palouse I have a favorite location to shoot sunset from and it is the fields and rolling hills behind what I called the Bell House. The owners of this home have passed away but the sons maintain it. Great and really nice people. I made a stack of photos to give them when we visit next week.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. You be the judge. I at least though it was interesting. This was shot in some old abandoned screw and bolt factory. It is really is old because we found a box with cancelled checks dating all the way back to 1953. This places was downright creepy. It was huge and it smelled bad. I had a hard time finding something to shoot, so I got creative and did a double exposure. Kind of works, i think?
I consider myself one of the luckiest guys in the world. I have been doing photography all my life and have had a great career doing it. I have seen things, traveled to the most incredible locations and met some of the coolest people you’d ever want to know and meet. I am also a lucky guy because back in February 2015 I married my best friend Debra in Antarctica. She is a trooper and she loves photography too. Wow, how lucky could one get. She actually gets me, understand me and tolerates me with all my travels and everything photographic that I obsess about. Yes, she is definitely the woman for me and she is a darn good photographer too. She has an amazing eye and it’s fun to shoot with her because even though we are at the same locations we come back with totally different images. Here is a shot of Debra shooting away at the Methodist Church in Gary, IN.
This seems to be the year of finding some great graffiti. Gary proved no different. This was found in the abandoned Methodist Church. This place was huge and incredible to shoot in.. I could have spent a whole day just shooting at this one location. In the sanctuary I saw this graffiti on the wall and decided it worthy of a photo. Shot with the iPhone.
In addition to my big bot camera the Sony a7 II I was also shooting this past weekend with the iPhone using my favorite app Hipstamatic. This app lets you configure the camera for certain styles and then applies them to shot you take. I love it and the next three images were made using this app and doing double exposures. One particular selection in the app called Salvator actually does the double exposure thing when the camera is shot, Hope you enjoy these three images.
Gary being a steel city at one time flourished. It was challenge building homes for all the workers at the mills. Edison had a plan to make concrete homes. This was tried in several cities. Here are the Edison Homes in Gary in complete abandonment and disrepair. These home would have great in hurricane states. Even today the structure is sound just the insides in ruins. I shots these with a Sony 7II and decided to post process to look somewhat apocalyptic.
I spent Saturday this week in Gary, Indiana with my wife Debra and some other photographers exploring and photographing some of the abandoned building in Gary. Gary is like a ghost town. Very depressed and very sad to visit. No matter where you go there are burnt out home, buildings abandoned by their owners and empty lots where homes used to be. There are so many building that need to be torn down tat Gary can’t afford it. As photographers we can explore some of these building and find some amazing things to photograph and only dream of what these places must have looked like in they splendor. This is kind of an abstract image with a curious painting of an eye I found in the old Gary Post office.
I published a church photo from Icelanda few days ago. This is a shot I made inside the church. Using the double exposure feature in the Hipstamatic program I played around with doing double exposures. I’d shoot one and then look at the subject and tried to envision how it would look on top of the image previously shot. I did a number of images of the pipe organ and keyboard of the organ. This is one of the shots. Made with the iPhone.
Another thing about New Orleans is the city has some amazing cemeteries. It’s funny in a way that in my travels I have photographed cemeteries in many countries. Buenos Aires, Argentina and Punta Arena, Chile have two of the most beautiful cemeteries I have ever visited. New Orleans certainly has its share of interesting cemeteries. This is a close up I found on one of the graves. I have hundreds of images I made there. Maybe I’ll show more over time. Shot with an iPhone.
In April of 2016 I’ll be hosting workshop in New Orleans. New Orleans is one of the most interesting US cities with quite an interesting history. There are so many things to photograph in New Orleans. The streets are full of interesting people. There are impromptu parades and some very interesting architecture. This image was made in the stairway of one of the older libraries in New Orleans. I like the light playing on the walls and color cast. You always have to be looking for these type of photo opportunities. Shot with an iPhone.