Abandoned on Beach Channel Drive (First OCF shots)

[o hey tyler]

Today, I received my Cactus V4's in the mail. I must say I was a bit perplexed when the package arrived... $28.50 in shipping from Japan, however I only got billed for 6 bucks and some change. After the initial excitement of getting some flash triggers, I drove out to the house I am looking after while the owners are following around some prog metal band for a week.

Immediately up the road from the house I am sitting is an abandoned house, once lived in by the parents of the house I've been watching. I decided that this untouched home that hasn't seen any care since the mid 90's would be a great place to practice with the triggers on my 430 EXII. I've always enjoyed going into places that feel like they've been frozen in time. They reek of character, and sometimes mold.

This is a chair with a thick layer of dust. Appearing to be randomly placed in the center of the kitchen. Flash was set in the pantry to the right on top of a stool.

My girlfriend exploring the property with an old Minolta "Point and shoot" film camera. It was the camera my mother got when she bought her first Car, an '82 Celica. This was shot in a room in the basement where they had an underground terrarium that had seen a decade of clutter building up. The door behind her leads out to the garage which has collapsed onto itself and is no longer safe to walk through. Flash bounced off the ceiling, camera right on a high shelf.

The wall across from the 2nd story bathroom. Peeling paint, mold spots, etc.

 

[KenC]

The third is the best - it's sort of a minimalist art piece.

The first is nice too, but maybe crop the bag and the bright counter edge on the left?

 

[creisinger]

I've seen such houses from the inside as well. Rarely you get a chance to take a pic of parts of the room or the entire room that looks great the way it is.

Mostly, shots of details are going to be the kicker. For instance that rusted wrench in #2 (front, left). Could have done some awesome macro.

I like #3 a lot!

 

[o hey tyler]

Mostly, shots of details are going to be the kicker. For instance that rusted wrench in #2 (front, left). Could have done some awesome macro.

I like #3 a lot!

I'll go back to that wrench tomorrow. I'll make a note of it. It's funny that you mentioned it, because I was eying it today. However, I was without a macro lens at the time.

 

[creisinger]

Awesome! You can spend days in there taking macro shots all over the place with lots of dust and spider webs.

Let's see the shots once you get back!

 

[o hey tyler]

A shot of the wrench:

And another shot of my lady. She needs a lens on that body though...

And on the back porch...

 

[creisinger]

That's a start. I think the wrench shot is too close-upish... Not easily identifiable by everyone.

Like I said, you can spend days in there playing with the lighting and composition. The lens you chose for the close-up looks good. Now you gotta play the angle.

Did you use the same lens on the shot with the table? What lens was that?

 

[mostly sunny]

This was your parents home? Is it not in your family anymore.. I would be sad if my parents home looked like this.. = (

I like the first picture..

 

[o hey tyler]

That's a start. I think the wrench shot is too close-upish... Not easily identifiable by everyone.

Like I said, you can spend days in there playing with the lighting and composition. The lens you chose for the close-up looks good. Now you gotta play the angle.

Did you use the same lens on the shot with the table? What lens was that?

Yes, I believe all of the shots in the second set are shot with the Canon 50mm f/2.5 Macro. The wrench was hard to shoot, as I didn't want to move it around. The dirt collected all around it to give it character and a sense of time that it has just been untouched. I took another angle of it, but I'll have to post it this evening when I have my camera memory card.

EDIT: Actually, I gots it on Flickr... I still think I like the other one more. This one feels like it doesn't 'fit' but I am welcome to other opinions.

Mostlysunny- No it's not a house from in my family. It's the grandparents house of a friend of mine. They passed away several years ago, and very eerie elements were left behind.

 

[o hey tyler]

I located some shots of the bedrooms. I like them, I just wish I had a slightly wider lens. These were shot with the kit lens.

1.

I like that even through all the disarray, the room is still nicely blue oriented. I've found that a lot of the rooms have some color coordination to a degree, even though they're mostly destroyed.

2.

 

[nyamy]

I like the shots of the blue room, its interesting. my dh loves to explore abandoned houses like that.
is that beach channel drive in the rockaways?

 

[o hey tyler]

I'm not familiar with the Rockaways... Unless it's similar to Jay-Z doing it the Roca way.

No, this is just a nondescript house buried in time in North Bath, Maine.

 

[SrBiscuit]

really diggin #1 and #3 from your original post. very lonely creepy feeling to them.
awesome spot to shoot man! crazy how everything is left undisturbed...time standing still.
go back! do moar! you gotta show me that place sometime.

OCF ftw!

 

[o hey tyler]

really diggin #1 and #3 from your original post. very lonely creepy feeling to them.
awesome spot to shoot man! crazy how everything is left undisturbed...time standing still.
go back! do moar! you gotta show me that place sometime.

OCF ftw!

Oh but of course. If you come to my hood, we'll explore this property. Lots of interesting stuff abound. Although, if you're going to hold me to that, you'll have to clue me in to where the abandoned Mill that I was just peeping from a shoot on your Flickr. That place looks sweet!

Next on my list of modifiers will probably be Gels. Good choice?

 

[SrBiscuit]

hell yeah...cmon down. that mill is only a 10min drive from my place and has a ton to offer.

i dont have any gels for my speedlites, but i do have some for my studio strobes and they are kinda fun to play with fo sho. i do wanna get one of those big books of gels from amazon. if you havent already, also consider the DIY grids and snoots...i havent made any myself, but its on my list of things to do. seems like getting a good concentration of light could be a cool thing to do. :thumbup: