Tag:

abandoned

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

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.

Mansfield Reformatory

by Kaylah Stroup June 24, 2014

A little while back Jeff took me to the Mansfield Reformatory. It’s been on my list of places to visit for a while now. I even swung by just to see the outside when I took a day trip to Columbus last fall but it was closed at the time.

Mansfield Reformatory is a historic prison that’s actually open for tours. The reformatory opened it’s doors originally in September of 1896. It eventually closed on December 31, 1990 as the result of prisoners’ class action suit citing overcrowding and inhumane conditions. In it’s time it housed over 155,000 men! It has the largest free standing steel cell block in the world, six tiers high.

Although the history of this place is super interesting, I’d say most people that visit are probably just there because it’s where parts of The Shawshank Redemption were filmed, I mean that’s super exciting to me!

Mansfield Reformatory is definitely worth a stop if you’re ever in the area! They have ghost walks regularly scheduled, if that’s your kind of thing. (The place is totally creepy enough on it’s own! I wouldn’t go looking for trouble there!) And around Halloween they have a “Haunted Prison Experience”. Neither of those things are my cup of tea, but certainly worth mentioning.
xoxo

Bombay Beach

by Kaylah Stroup June 19, 2014

One of the big stops on this road trip was the Salton Sea. The sea was created in 1905 by a flood from the Colorado River. In the 1950’s and 60’s the Salton Sea was a booming tourist attraction. People flocked from all around to enjoy California’s largest lake. But it didn’t last. Agricultural runoff from surrounding fields increased the salinity. With no outflow it only got worse with time. Now the Salton Sea is a far cry from what it used to be. It’s littered with abandoned buildings and dead fish.

The main area we spent time in was Bombay Beach, a quaint little town nestled 225 feet below sea level. Prone to flooding from the Salton Sea, there is now a large dike protecting the town. As of the 2010 census, 295 residents lived there, down from 366 in 2000. I can only imagine how small the population is now. The side closest to the sea is almost completely abandoned. Bombay beach was intense. It’s like nothing I have ever seen before.

We visited on a very hot day, instead of the dead fish smell that others experience at the Salton Sea, it just smelled like hot trash to me. It was repulsive. I have such mixed emotions about the whole experience. It was so exciting to be able to explore so many abandoned homes, sheds, boats, etc. at once and in such a small area but in the same breath, it’s incredibly sad that this even exists. The homes are full of belongings from the people who just up and left. Did you notice all the clothes in the fifth picture? It’s not like being an abandoned factory, school or any of the other places I’ve explored, this was so personal. There’s something unsettling about being there.

Definitely an experience I won’t soon be forgetting.
xoxo