Shooting In Abandoned Buildings

Having done several semi-techie posts about lenses and DSLRs it’s back to photographic subjects which is what this should be all about.

There’s something irresistible about photographing abandoned places. Old factories, redundant military sites and old houses are hard to find but are worth photographing if you do.

Tunnel Window

Some of them are distinctly eerie and potentially dangerous, so don’t go alone and be careful. I wouldn’t suggest trespassing as it’s not really worth the hassle – however asking permission often works, and there are quite a few places which are just conserved monuments. One of the best loctions is the Channel Islands in the UK, which is packed with bunkers and fortifications open to the public.

So, all shots with the Canon 60D and either a 15-85mm lens or the Lensbaby Composer (it should be obvious which one!).

 The first 3 here were taken in some conserved military tunnels. If we do this location again I’ll remember a torch! The light around the tunnel junction in no 3 was just about right. No special processing other than the ‘clear’ profile in Canon’s raw converter in shot #1.

This next set was taken in a remote, abandoned nissen hut (a standard WW2 military building in the UK) which was slowly crumbling away, and quite an evocative place.

This was taken with the Lensbaby and plastic lens giving an odd, almost romantic look to such a bleak subject.

Another of my ‘I don’t know why I like this’ pictures – a decayed light switch.

This is the Lensbaby with a glass lens. The sharpness of the window in the door and the patch of light at the lower right seem to make this one work for me.

This was quite eerie – a set of keys on a nail which must have been undisturbed for decades.

Just a broken window abstract with the lensbaby again and the colours played around with in Photoshop.

Finally a shot down through the doors of the hut, with some nice greens and browns and some layering to add to the aged effect.

As always, these shots were taken with the book covers market in mind.

Hope you like them and that they give you some ideas for your own photography – any comments, critiques or questions welcome as always.

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