Uploads from Noel Kerns, tagged night, with geodata

Hudson River Psychiatric Center

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:00:48 -0700

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Administration Building, Hudson River Psychiatric Center, Poughkeepsie, New York.

Of all the places I've explored to date, nothing has compared to the HRPC in terms of scale, grandeur, and sheer adventure.

Completed in 1871, the facility is massive, spread out over nearly 300 acres of rolling woodland near the banks of the Hudson River. In it's day, it housed up to 6,000 psychiatric patients, back before modern medicines and therapies began to allow many would-be patients lead normal, non-institutionalized lives.

This structure, buried deep in the heart of the campus, is the central building in the oldest part of the facility, an enormous, circuitous structure known as a "Kirkbride", named after the man who invented the design concept, Mr. Thomas Story Kirkbride. The admin building sits between the older and much larger male wards and the newer, smaller female wards, which were designed with the same architectural values as the older sections.

The buildings at HRPC were abandoned over a period of several decades; the patient wards in the Kirkbride were disused in the late 70's, and this admin building several years after that. By 2003, the entire facility was a ghost town.

Walking the streets of this massive complex alone in the moonlight on a stock-still night was a surreal and exhilarating experience. The overgrowth that has occurred here in the decade since final closure has been spectacular, and creates an even greater "post-apocalyptic" feel here than at most abandoned locations. The male wards - out the right side of this picture - are imposing three-story buildings that branch off in right-angles to the south, but you almost can't even see them any more from the road that serves them due to the dense foliage that has grown up all over the campus.

The other stories...challenges in accessing the property, assessing the security risks, making plans to avoid on-site security and state trooper patrols, close encounters with other life forms on the property...those are stories for another day, with more photos from this spectacular abandoned location.

Night, 3/4 moon.

Bennett College

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:08:55 -0700

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Main building, Bennett College, Millbrook, New York.

Originally known as Halcyon Hall, this magnificent example of turn-of-the-century Queen Anne architecture was constructed in 1893 as a resort hotel, but was never financially successful. The property was then sold to one May Bennett in 1907, and Bennett College was formed around this centerpiece building.

The College survived until 1978, and after its closure, ownership of the building changed hands several times. But each successive bank that acquired it seemed to fail shortly thereafter - hence, the "Curse of Halcyon Hall" - and the property eventually wound up in the hands of the FDIC, and finally today, it belongs to the Bennett Acquisition Group.

Today, 35 years removed from its last occupation, Halcyon Hall is a spectacular, crumbling monument to the architectural indulgences and splendor of the late 19th century. While the fence surrounding the property is easily surmounted, actual access to the building interior - or even most of the exterior, for that matter - is all but impossible due to the tremendous amount of overgrowth from decades of neglect.

Night, 2/3 moon, natural X2000 flashlight.

Are We Not Men?

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:32:58 -0700

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

A curious pink glow emanates from the men's room in the lobby of the abandoned Berry Theater in Fort Worth, Texas.

Be sure to view it large on black.

Night, completely dark room, C30 flashlight, pink-gelled strobe.

Moonlight Retreat

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 16:50:51 -0700

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

The long-abandoned Road Runner's Retreat Restaurant, with it's classic, oft-photographed sign, lies dark and still on a silent night in the most remote stretch of Route 66 in the Mojave Desert, east of Amboy, California. Shot in June of 2011.

Be sure to view it large on black.

Night, full moon, CTO-gelled X2000 flashlight.

OverTagged

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 16:58:07 -0700

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Entrance area to the old Echo Lake Incinerator in Fort Worth, Texas. This compo is a sort of revisitation of this shot from December of 2007.

Be sure to check it out large on black.

For more images of this location, visit my Echo Lake Incinerator Set Page.

Night, full moon outside, CTO & natural X2000 flashlight,

Dark Shadows

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:30:25 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

A pseudo-self-portrait inside the long-abandoned and highly decayed Woodmen's Circle Home in Sherman, Texas.

See it large on black

Night, 3/4 moon, ambient sodium vapor light and CTO-gelled X2000 flashlight.

Satellite

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:12:50 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

A once well-connected but now abandoned roadside shack in the virtual ghost town of Dorchester, Texas.

Be sure to check it out large on black.

NIght, full moon, ambient mercury vapor light and CTO-gelled X2000 flashlight.

Serving Cart

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:36:48 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

2nd floor room in the Spa Wing of the long-abandoned Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas. Shot as a demo for a light-painting workshop I taught there this weekend.

Night, dark room, natural and CTO-gelled X2000 flashlights.

Nightlight

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:17:50 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Hallway in the owner's suite of the spectacular abandoned Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas. This hallway leads to the kids bedroom, from which the cold, bluish light is emanating in this shot.

On this image, I must insist that you view it large on black, to appreciate all the darker elements of the shot.

Night, dark hallway with ambient sodium vapor from the city below, natural X2000 flashlight.

Burn Unit

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:30:29 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Incineration chambers at the long-abandoned Echo Lake Incinerator, Fort Worth, Texas. As you can see in this photo from Christmas 2007, the doors have since been cut off the burners, no doubt for scrap.

My favorite detail of this how the green-gelled strobe hit inside the foreground burner was fired from an angle that didn't quite completely covering the interior surface, leaving it to look like some sort of creeping nuclear fungus. Fun!

Large on Black...for best results.

For more images of this location, visit my Echo Lake Incinerator Set Page.

Night, dark room, CTO-gelled X2000 flashlight, red & green-gelled strobes fired inside burners.

Echo Lake

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:09:15 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

My visit to the old Echo Lake Incinerator last week marked the 6th time I'd visited the site, and the first time since 2008. Not too much has changed here; it's still abandoned, still rusty, crusty and slowly decaying, and still relentlessly 'tagged' by graffiti artists. One unusual thing that HAS changed since the last time I was here though is something you don't often see in an abandonment...improvements to the property!

If you look at this shot, you'll see the foreground is dominated by a large hole in the concrete floor, through which a careless person could easily fall, especially when walking to and fro in the dark to make light-painting shots. There was another hole just like that one on the other side of the crane's "claw" from the other shot, and as you might imagine, those holes made it particularly nerve-wracking for me as I moved around the room in the blackness, shooting there by myself back on Christmas night, 2007. Those openings you see on the lower right side with light coming in were sealed over back then too, making the room very nearly pitch black.

So...when my friend Chris and I visited last week, it was very unusual to discover those holes had been almost seamlessly concreted over! It made for a much easier navigation of the room to be sure. My assumption is that whoever owns the property decided that, since they can't permanently secure the building, they'd at least better make it so it isn't so easy to fall and kill yourself!

This rather documentary shot is one I'd tried to make back in 2007, but because of the lower-power flashlights I used back then, along with the size of the room (about 100 feet, end to end), I never really got it. But with the X2000 I've been using these last 4 years, it was no problem at all to capture this fully-lit scene of the top floor, with the trash-loading crane at top-right, the trash hoppers 50-60 feet below, and the three incinerator loading hoppers along the left side.

Be sure to look at it large on black; the colors really pop better, and you can see more detail.

For more images of this location, visit my Echo Lake Incinerator Set Page.

Night, ambient sodium vapor light out the windows, natural X2000 flashlight from multiple vantage points throughout the nearly 4-minute exposure.

The Tongue

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:01:14 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Went out with my buddy Chris last night and shot the old Echo Lake Incinerator in Fort Worth, Texas. It was the first time I'd been back to shoot it since 2008. It had been on lockdown for a while, but the kids have found their way back inside and ripped the welded steel doors off it. Easy access!

I guess I'm on a bit of a graffiti-doorway kick lately. This was one just as tagged back in 2008, but with completely different stuff. I like how the colors pop all on their own, with no need for me to add any colors on my light sources.

Be sure to check it out large on black.

For more images of this location, visit my Echo Lake Incinerator Set Page.

Night, dark interior, natural & CTO-gelled X2000 flashlight.

Overspray

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:50:39 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

A well-tagged doorway in one of the outbuildings at the Swift Meat Packing Plant ruins in Fort Worth, Texas. December 2012.

Check it out large on black.

See more of this abandoned packing plant here in my Swift Meat Packing Ruins Set.

Night, full moon behind clouds, ambient sodium vapor outside, CTO-gelled NEBO Redline flashlight on the inside, natural strobe from left on tree outside the door.

Corridor

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:30:52 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

2nd floor hallway, in the health / medical wing of the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells, Texas.

This was shot during a light-painting workshop I taught at the Baker last month, and the red light you see in the room at the end of the hallway was caught by accident at the end of the 90 second exposure.

See it large on black.

For more night images from the Baker Hotel, please visit my Baker Hotel Set.

Night, very dark hallway, CTO-gelled NEBO Redline flashlight, incidental red-gelled light from my workshop student at the end of the hallway.

Ogle

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:09:53 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Entrance doorways to the Cloud Ballroom, Baker Hotel, Mineral Wells, Texas. Shot on the second night of a private workshop I taught at the Baker.

Please check it out large on black.

For more night images from the Baker Hotel, please visit my Baker Hotel Set.

Night, ambient sodium vapor through fog and mist, CTO-gelled NEBO Redline flashlight.

Stuck at Stuckey's

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:31:48 -0800

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

A coyote (deceased) hangs around at the old Stuckey's store (also deceased) on I-20 near Strawn, Texas.

For a wider shot of this abandoned Stuckey's as it appeared in 2008, click here.

To see this shot large on black, click here.

Night, full moon, natural & CTO-gelled NEBO Redline Flashlight.

Irregular

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:59:58 -0700

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Close up of one of the gas pumps at the abandoned gas station on the outskirts of Mineral Wells, Texas.

Please check it out large on black for best results.

Night, 1/2 moon, ambient light of all sorts, mercury vapor on the tree in the background, and 3/4 CTO-gelled NEBO Redline flashlight to light up the cracked sign from behind.

Fina Moonlight

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 14:44:33 -0700

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Abandoned gas station on the edge of Mineral Wells, Texas.

Night, 1/2 moon, ambient light of all kinds from several directions, CTO-gelled NEBO Redline flashlight. Mercury-vapor lamp behind the building lighting up the trees.

Sky Chief

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:11:26 -0700

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

Clouds move across the sky at an abandoned filling station in the town of Yermo, California, a sleepy little near-ghost town in the Mojave Desert. This little station is the next door neighbor of the previously-posted Snack Bar, also abandoned and sharing similar architecture and construction materials.

Night, 2/3 moon, CTO-gelled X2000 flashlight.

Rattlesnake Bunker

nobody@flickr.com (Noel Kerns) — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:23:07 -0700

Noel Kerns posted a photo:

An outtake shot from my very first visit to the Rattlesnake Bomber Base in Pyote, Texas in January 2008. This is an old munitions bunker on the WW-II-era US Army-Air Force Base, set off in the desert of far West Texas. For more info and pictures from the abandoned base, see the Pyote Air Force Base Set Page.

This image was initially discounted when I first reviewed the images from the trip, in part because of the battery dying in mid-exposure, closing the shutter before a proper full exposure could be accomplished, but mostly because of excessive noise in the image due to the fact that the Nikon D80's Long Exposure Noise Reduction didn't get a chance to process the image...also because the battery died. Unlike today's CMOS-sensor DSLR cameras, the Nikon D80 used a CCD sensor, which was VERY prone to digital noise if in-camera LENR wasn't used, and this image was a complete mess, full of hot pixels and amp glow.

Anyway, with the excellent noise reduction software I'm using today, the image cleans up quite nicely, and leaves only a few traces of digital noise behind in the image, which I cleaned up quickly and easily with the clone tool. This is the result...a serviceable image, in my opinion.

Be sure to view this image large on black to see it as it felt on that 15-degree January night.

Night, 3/4 moon, natural LED flashlight, natural mini-maglite, red-gelled strobe.