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Monthly Archives

July 2014

Victoreen Instrument Company

by Kaylah Stroup July 9, 2014
The same day these photos were taken , and I also explored an abandoned building that was formerly The Victoreen Instrument Company. Victoreen manufactured radiation meters. They provided much of the radiation equipment for the Manhattan Project (think atomic bombs, if you’re not familiar). The building was built in 1926. Victoreen left in 1978 and the factory was bought by another company for $1. The property was transferred a few more times before the final sale in 2009. One would assume the building was probably used but not properly cared for a little while before eventually falling into disrepair. It’s a fairly big building, probably one of the largest I’ve explored to date. I really enjoyed shooting it.

I’m so pleased with these photos. I feel like I’m finally really finding my footing with shooting abandoned spaces. For a little while I was really struggling because of the limitations of my everyday lens, the 40mm, and just being frustrated with editing. Not too long ago I purchased a new lens that finally lets me shoot what I’m picturing in my head when I walk into these places. It’s actually kind of renewed my love of digital photography. In the last few months I’ve definitely been reaching for my pentax over the 60D but that’s changed since buying that lens.

I actually have another post full of photos from this same building, I just couldn’t narrow down my favorites from the day. I’ll be sharing those next week or so. 
xoxo

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Abandoned in the desert

by Kaylah Stroup July 7, 2014

While on our road trip out West we saw so many abandoned buildings. I mean, just tons of them! It was crazy, and it was so hard not to stop at every single one. We literally could have spent weeks hitting up every one. Here’s a little bit of what we did stop and check out…

We actually started the trip with a ghost town in Utah. We arrived in Denver in the evening, drove into the night, and finally stopped to take a quick snooze in the middle of the night. We started driving again right before sunrise, at that time I checked the Roadside America app and discovered we were only 15 minutes away from a ghost town. It was the absolute perfect way to kick off the week. I sadly didn’t really get too many photos I was super pleased with but the memory is so much more important than photos. Plus who knows, maybe the photos really aren’t that bad but are kind of overshadowed by the photos I am really pleased with from the trip. That kind of thing seems to happen to me a lot which is why I really enjoy shooting film so I can’t just delete the photos. I’m sure I’ll end up eventually loving my ghost town photos.

The bus covered in graffiti was kind of a strange find. Driving to Colorado Springs, alongside the highway, we were spotting incredible building after incredible building that were just left to rot. The bus was the final straw, we hopped off the highway and went down a little side road to get to it. We were both exhausted and ready to get to the hotel room that we had booked for our last night but the bus had to be shot. As we approached I heard the strangest noise, like music was being played. The thing was though this bus is in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing around it, no other buildings, no people, nothing! I suspect it was the wind hitting something, like a jug, to create a whistling/humming noise. It was eerie, to say the least.
xoxo

All of the photos above were taken with a pentax k1000 and Fujifilm 35mm Superia X-TRA 400.

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Noah’s Art

by Kaylah Stroup July 2, 2014

While we were on the road, someone on Instagram mentioned that if we were going to go to Joshua Tree, California that we should check out Noah’s Art. We just so happened to be around an hour away, it was in the direction we were already heading, and the few photos I was able to quickly find looked amazing so we decided to stop by.

From 1989 until his death in 2004, Noah Purifoy devoted his time to making sculptures from found objects. His outdoor museum is open to the public, free of charge. It’s absolutely amazing. Quite a sight to see in the middle of the lonely desert! We were the only people there at the time, other than the woman who takes care of the place and her pup who went inside right after we got there, so we had the place to ourselves.

It was SO hot while we were there that I feel like I kind of rushed through it. There is so much to take in. Definitely worth a stop if you’re ever making your way through Joshua Tree!
xoxo

All of the photos above were taken with a pentax k1000 and Fujifilm 35mm Superia X-TRA 400.

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Cleveland after dark

by Kaylah Stroup July 1, 2014
One day last week Jeff and I spent the whole day out exploring. I guess that’s not necessarily too out of the ordinary but it was definitely a great day. We started the morning with an abandoned train tunnel where I got my boots super dirty. I seriously had to scrub my toes for so long that night to get them clean, that was not regular old mud. Then we met up with a friend to check out some abandoned buildings. I took a ton of awesome photos that I can’t wait to share later this week. After a break to cool down and let the sun go down we went back out to do a little bit a climbing and capture some of the beauty Cleveland has to offer after dark.

It was certainly a lot of fun. Climbing was an incredible experience. Seriously, so invigorating. Fingers crossed there is more of this in my future.

This is really some of my very first night time photography. I’m not too experienced at all. I have a pretty good idea of how to take photos in the dark but I definitely need a bit more practice. All in all, for my first night time photos, I’m pretty darn stoked with how these turned out. 

I also had Five Guys for the first time that day. Wow! But that’s
neither here nor there but probably worth mentioning because once again,
wow. Haha.
xoxo

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I'm Kaylah! Renovating a 150-year-old home in Northeast Ohio. Likely found in my garden.

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THE DAINTY SQUID
  • blog
    • all the posts!
    • stroup mansion
    • some of my favorite posts
    • plants + gardening
    • beauty, fashion + hair
    • reviews
    • window shopping
    • explore everywhere
  • about me
  • contact
  • shop