Photography in Abandoned Buildings

Posted on Sep 16, 2016 in Featured, Fuji, glamour photography

Today’s Post by Jay Farrell

One of my favorite things is abandoned building photography, particularly for my fine art figure subjects. I have always loved the character, texture, and taboo of the experience. Plus trying to put together a story about what happened inside those walls when it was occupied. What stories are left behind?

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When photographing abandoned buildings, here are some key points.

  • You can’t be afraid of vermin and spider webs, strange odors, exposed nails, mold, broken glass etc. This isn’t Better Homes And Gardens!
  • You can’t be superstitious; It can feel eerie and lonely but keep wits about you
  • Leave it as you found it
  • You may encounter squatters or other occupants. Feel the situation out, but always live to shoot another day.
  • If cops say kick rocks, do it. I find that usually if spotted by anyone, they aren’t as concerned when they see a camera. But usually am undiscovered and left alone.

web-7This field trip I did with a good friend. He is one of the only people I trust with location sharing or even working with in that capacity. The building we were looking for we were unable to find and I felt we were better in numbers for that, due to potential risk. I knew of this abandoned hardwood plant in an industrial area of town and just for grins I thought we would see if there was a way in. You could drive a Mack truck through the sides of the building but was pretty well fenced off—but not in one area. So we explored.

I traveled light with a Fuji XT-1 and XF 23mm f/1.4 R lens. This day I shot in Large JPEG, which I am doing more lately. I typically like pronounced shadows. So I went into the menu and bumped up shadows by +2 and took down highlights by -2 for most shots depending on ambient condition.

I decided to catch one of my friend, was so cool how there was just a subtle backlight from a hole in the wall in a relatively dark corner. Exposure was 1/180 sec f/2.8 and ISO 1250. I returned a couple weeks later with a model friend, who you can see in the introductory thumbnail.