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
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.
The Norfolk Lunatic Asylum is vast abandoned Victorian asylum on the edge of Norwich, it was re-named Norfolk Mental Hospital in 1920 and was eventually closed in April 1998. Although it would seem many parts had be closed long before that.
I had all ready scoped the place out in advance and knew this place had loads of potential.
We actually did this shoot back in October, the light in there is minimal so it’s very difficult yet rewarding place to shoot. I had no choice but to use a speed light with the ones shot in the generator room. They came out really flat only now I have started using Adobe lightroom am I happy with the results.
It was a long drive so we had a good amount of time to share ideas as I had already sent some location photos in advance. We had similar taste in music so we listened to Bong ra , Epileptik South Of London and Rage Against the Machine on the way there. Music everyone should listen to. By the time we arrived we were defiantly wide awake.
I will have a blog post dedicated to the building some time soon.
Disaster girl has her own album coming out go check it out here.
Then we took a detour past the beach as I was giving her a lift home.
Shoot with Diana Braun In the abandoned asylum, Sadly building work will start soon and one of my favorite locations will be no more.
This was probably the last time I would ever get to shoot here and I wanted to make the most of it. Thankfully Diana was an exceptional model who understood exactly how to use the location. A very successful shoot.
I still have enough good images for another post, but I am keeping some back as I want to try out light room and / or silver efex pro.
Built in the 1950’s as a to counter the treat of a soviet nuclear attack. A NATO R3 Nuclear bunker double level underground operations block, was built. The entrance in an inconspicuous out building. The scale of this place is epic, built to withstand a nuclear, chemical or biological attack. If there was a nuclear strike this bunker’s radar would be able to detect a launch from Siberia. And would provide command and control for the UK’s Vulcan bombers who’s fleet would launch for a counter strike before the missiles reached the UK. The bunker could then support its staff for 90 days.
1970s, NATO policy had moved to one of ‘flexible response’, whereby the reaction to any Soviet aggression would not immediately be met with massive nuclear retaliation, but might begin with a conventional phase to allow time for negotiation!!!!!!!!!!
Normally this area is strictly off limits but we were lucky enough to have a guide who was based hear.
Original main aircraft tracking room still using valve technology.
A long corridor zig zags underground before arriving at a massive blast door.
This what all the doors are like in this section.
The more sensitive areas were 2 stores down inside a giant 1 inch thick steal box berried in concrete.
All the doors had copper sealing strips to insure the place was sealed from any E.M.P blast.
The whole site no longer used is due to be auctioned off.
East Tiger came to stay the weekend and shoot alongside Roswell Ivory. She brought some lovely stuff from designer Tigers Tat with her that I had been wanting to shoot for a while.
Once again the weather conspired against me and we spent more time waiting for it clear up than we did shooting. On the Sunday we just ended up shooting in the front room with the door open.
We got some weird looks but I am happy with the results.
Thing were going well until it started to rain…Suddenly. Special thanks to Roswell for allowing me to post these outtakes.
The next day in the dry.
Having done a bit of internet research I headed over to Chelmsford to meet up with Sian Fan to scope out some locations.
My first stop was the one I was most excited about there is an old care home with a beautiful staircase that twists round and has a sky light above. I decided to check this one out on my own, not knowing what access would be like and not wanting to ask someone I have never met to. “Follow me, we will climb this drain pipe, crawl along the roof and in trough that skylight”
Unfortunately the place was bored up to the max and we would need a ladder, I decided to move on.
The old pup house was recently burnt out and we were able to walk in, as the roof was no longer there there would be good natural light on the top floor.
As we climbed to the stair to the top floor in near darkness we could here music from the top floor.
We decided not to wuss out and leave. We probably had as as much right to be here as them so we should just go up and say hello, whether they are shooting photos or smack or we are unwittingly walking into jigsaw’s hideout…….What was even more creepy at the top of the stairs an old battery powered radio with no one there, and the only exit the way we had come.
We decided not to use this place as it wasn’t quite what we wanted but I was already cooking up plans in my head. We shot a few days latter and after the shoot I checked out the old hospital, some cool stuff there too.
Having recently spent a day with Sian Fan checking out some potential locations and taking some test shots. I headed out with a good idea what we were going for, and how it would turn out as log as the weather held out. After the shoot I spent some time on my other new found interest photographing urban decay, in this case the derelict hospital. But more about that another time.
Although this looks like a studio shot it was on location using only a light reflector, but more on that another time.
Magpie Photography 