Hard Times C&C Please

stsinner · Feb 16, 2009

Some places in Gardner, Massachusetts that have fallen on hard times. I used my Tamron 55-200 lens for these:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

chrisburke · Feb 16, 2009

3 and 4 are leaning to the left a little bit.. make sure you watch your horizons..

Early · Feb 16, 2009

More urban blight! Sorry to see it.

stsinner · Feb 16, 2009

chrisburke said:
3 and 4 are leaning to the left a little bit.. make sure you watch your horizons..

Duly noted. I tried to straighten them, but since I was to the side of each and not hitting them head-on, I think what you're seeing there is called perspective, if I remember right from art class.

Early said:
More urban blight! Sorry to see it.

Yeah, and this town has plenty of it. Luckily, I live in a bedroom community where there aren't many businesses to go out of it, but the few that are here are struggling.

manaheim · Feb 16, 2009

Hey man!

Gardner is hard times by definition. Poor town.

I like the subject but somehow the framing doesn't always work for me. I tend to want to crop it in a bit. Like that last one, take it down to just the line of objects on the bottom... or maybe look for some vertical things with more interest.

With decay sometimes you want to look for more detailed shots, patterns and textures.

BTW, I think your treatment of some may have been a little over-aggressive. They look a bit washed out to me.

stsinner · Feb 16, 2009

manaheim said:
BTW, I think your treatment of some may have been a little over-aggressive. They look a bit washed out to me.

Thanks for the post.. I did add, "Film grain" to two of them to make them look like pictures from a by-gone era. Maybe I over did it.

saycheese76 · Feb 16, 2009

I like #1 the best. Nice shots.

stsinner · Feb 17, 2009

saycheese76 said:
I like #1 the best. Nice shots.

Thanks, I appreciate the compliment. I thought the dilapidated wood atop this building made it a prim candidate for a dated look.

bigtwinky · Feb 17, 2009

Great concept and good eye.

I'm thinking they are a bit over-exposed, kinda bright.
The first one is my favorite.

I would of loved to see some closer and angled shots of #5, the doors, garage doors, bricks on the wall,...