July 2023: A Twofer!

 

A Twofer this month, in honor of the 4th of July. :)

Both of these were taken on my latest trip through the abandoned buildings of the old Traverse City State Hospital. It has been an infinite source of subjects for me for the past few years, and can't imagine it will become otherwise any time soon.

The first image is one that I have done before on every trip, but have never been at all happy with the way I was lighting it until this time. It is hard, because there is a small window well on the right wall out of camera, and it essentially serves as a spotlight on sunny days. And that is the only light source whatsoever. The rest of it is totally black unlit basement. Even a powerful strobe can't reach through some of these basements from wall to wall.  So I bring in powerful battery powered LEDs by hand, but those can be challenging in their own right. They can be harsh and too powerful in some cases. In this shot nothing is lit directly except the light from the window well, which you can see right under the bars in the middle of the bricks. Everything else is bounced light, which allows softening and the adoption of the color of the walls it is bouncing off of.

The second shot is an obviously staged scene (not by me) in front of some not staged graffiti vandalism that has been there a long time.  The interesting thing about this shot is also the lighting. This is located in an attic, with windows all around, but not many of them. So it is very dim. In this location the lighting is exactly as you see it. This image is lit by nothing at all except its actual surroundings. It is an amazing spot, and I can see why someone would want to stage something like this there. That is some incredible natural light! I would never do it myself, though. I am not a fan of staging shots in these buildings just because of the function they served and out of respect for those who were living here. It is an ugly history which took place in a beautiful bunch of buildings. I am reminiscent of that every time I go in there, and as a result I don't tend to approach it merely like some photo studio that I rented for the day.  But that is just me. :)

Have a great month, and enjoy the summer!!