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I knew right from the beginning this location had fantastic opportunities but would be really challenging.
On the day it was freezing cold and overcast, there is little light available even on a good day. With a bit of preparation we were able to keep shooting time down to a minimum.
This set we got in under two minuets.
Special thanks to Anita De Bauch for posing in the freezing cold.
More about the location here
So huge was its need for power it could only be run at night, as the national grid could not provide enough during the day.
More of this and other locations here
All the bits that don’t make my blog and what I’m planning here
Anita de Bauch came to to shoot with me. We were shooting something completely different, when I saw this in the corner, it was to good an opportunity for us to pass by. The bulbs are all 375w inferred which was both challenging and rewarding as well as warming.
Will post the other sets once they are eddied.
The Boulton and Paul Joinery factory and timber yard is a 36 acre site with 58,000 m2 of buildings, that has been abandoned since it closed in June 2010 with the loss of more than 190 jobs. Opened in 1962, by the mid-1980s, it employed about 400 people and had become the largest and most modern complex of its kind in Europe.
I scoped out the perimeter of this place out a while ago, and had a chat to the secretary guard who alto a nice bloke, was not going to show me round…
I returned a few week later to try my luck, I had previously found a potential entry point trough a maze of barbed wire fences there is a week spot. With a prominent “Warning CCTV in operation” sign right by my entry point. I couldn’t spot any cameras, so I went for it.
Normally I would check the whole place out then start shooting but as this is was such a large site and I didn’t know how long I would be in there for, I decided so seize the opportunity’s as they came.
Potentially some really good aerial views but didn’t want to go climbing on a solo explore. But I am planing a return visit.
6FT fan Shot 30 second EV lit with a P7
Like many abandoned locations this place has loads of pigeons, I tried t gt a shot of the cat eating this but unfortunately had the wrong lens on.
Eventually I got to the bit I had come for and had found some other cool bits on the way.
Back in November Diana Braun came up to shoot with me in the abandon asylum.
I had shot here a few times before, in fact I was forming an emotional attachment to this building. Then I had had a tip off it was going to be renovated shortly, I needed to get back in there one last time as the building had so much more to offer. Luckley Diana Braun was available at short notice. I was so worried we might be too late that I spent the weekend before checking out some alternative locations. I’m so glad I did because this caused my main photography interest to shift to urban decay.
We short for four hours, and got loads of really good stuff despite nearly all the windows being boarded up. The lack of light was a real problem but having just upgraded to a 5Dmk2 was a big help!
As soon as we got in I showed Diana around the bits I intended to use (a full tour would have taken hours). I could tell straight away she understood why I wanted to shoot here and knew how to make the location work for us.
I posted the first few photos a while ago but kept the rest back as I was intending to get a copy of Adobe Lightroom shortly and needed something to try it out on, hope everyone likes them.
“Opened in 1893 and closed 105 years later in 1998. In its time it served as a hospital and, during the war, a tuberculosis hospital for the military. Since closure the buildings have been subject to numerous planning applications, none of which have been successful. Its fate seems to be conversion into flats however it seems however that the local council cannot agree on S306 affordable housing agreements.
This building also features on the in the Victorian Society’s “Top Ten Endangered Buildings” list of 2008.
How could I resist this? Once we found the place access to the site was a sheer drop, Luckily we found a way round. The building was heavily boarded but we managed to find our way in. Inside the floors were rough in places so we had to watch our step. Average exposure times were 20-30 seconds light mainly with a P7.