See you on the other side!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen!  Oh, wait… wrong speech.  Oh yeah, now I remember.  My fellow Urbexians… It is with great pleasure, rather than sorrow, that I log this final post on this website.  Some of you already know, but for those who do not, I want to let you all know that I have moved to a new web address.  It’s still Exposed by the Light, but it’s BIGGER and BETTER!!  No longer am I constrained to such small photos on the blog, when my work is meant to be experienced bigly and boldly! What more could anyone want?  More content? Ok; I’ll work on that!  More frequent posts, no problemo!  So, why are you still here.  Get on over there to the new site and enjoy!!

And with that, the vault door closes… Well, not really CLOSES, but it represents closure for me.  You can always come back an check out the old posts here.  I just won’t be posting any new stuff here, so I guess I’ll see you on the other side!

the darkness of the music of the night

So my favorite URBEX lens, the Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8, took a nasty tumble at Beelitz recently, so off it went to the Nikon Service Point in Berlin (and they have to send it to Düsseldorf for service).  It could take some time before my baby comes back to me, so in the meanwhile I am playing with my Nikkor 24mm PC-E (tilt/shift).  I’ve been wanting an excuse to broaden my repertoire, as it were, and this seems to have been the push I needed.  As many photographers know, shooting with a tilt/shift comes with a learning curve, and I have a long way to go!  What do I love about this lens so far?  The ability to easily shoot Vertorama’s (Vertical Panoramas) using the tilt/shift function (up and down).  Also, I love even lines, and this bad boy gives ‘em in spades!  I also love the ability to shift the lens to bring really kill the depth of field where you want to keep things soft enough to really draw the eye where you want it to go.  Look for more tilt/shift work over the coming weeks!

By the way, if you are wondering about the name of this shot, it was inspired by the “Phantom of the Opera”.  It’s what popped into my head while I was in the room all alone and hearing creepy sounds (like phantom footsteps) in a place where I knew I was alone!

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

I often find inspiration for my work in cinema or books of fiction(apocalyptic, horror, scifi, etc.).  At the moment I shot this, I was not sure what film or book I was going for, but I knew that once I got home and put on some proper music (in this case from the group Morcheeba), I’d get into my creative groove.  It’s actually interesting how the music I listen to while post-processing or shooting will influence how I work my image, though I usually do not listen to music when shooting (I need to be listening closely to the sounds of the creepy places I visit to see if I need to make a run for it).  Somehow, while listing to my tunes and post-processing, I found myself thinking about the classic German Expressionist film directed by Robert Wiene, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari). That movement that produced that film went on to spawn two more classics: Metropolis, by Fritz Lang, and Nosferatu, by F.W Murnau. I think processing this shot with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in mind now gives me the motivation to try to come up with some pieces that recall Metropolis and Nosferatu. I think I might have a good candidate for the former, but know for sure I will need to come up with something special for the latter, Nosferatu.  For now, enjoy The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari!

Wierd Science

As many of you may know, I am always looking for “new” forgotten places to explore.  And, for obvious reasons, I prefer places that are in “good” condition — that is, as little graffiti as possible, and only damage caused by nature (or at the time the place was occupied).  You can imagine how pleased I was to be able to shoot in this cool abandoned science lab in the former DDR (East German).  I can only imagine the kind of potions old Erich Honecker — the last General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (now THAT’s a mouthful!) — mixed up in this place.  By the way, several tubes and vials still had liquids in them; I wonder if that’s why I feel dizzy now? Better run back there to see if I can find an antidote!

Watching me, watching you…

I’m back again with a new update for you.  I shot this one early this morning at the forgotten Soviet hospital in the woods.  I had been planning to return to shoot there again, following my recent discovery of the site, but was not sure when I would get the chance.  Today was that day, though I had actually planned to visit with a buddy of mine, who, unfortunately, called for a rain check at 3:45 AM, about 15 minutes before we were to meet.  No problemo!  I went solo instead, since that’s usually how I roll anyway, when it comes to photography.  And, since I was up so dang early anyway, I was able to hit multiple locations!  Sweet!  If you follow me on flickr, you might recognize the surgical lamp in this shot, though the previous image was a totally different perspective and composition.  When I walked into this room this time around, I immediately felt as if someone else was in the building with me (sounds and all).  Needless to say, it was clear to me that at least one of my images from this location had to reflect the “feeling” of being watched.

DON’T cut the blue wire!

I had actually planned to take a trip to a secret location about an hour’s drive from my home in Berlin, in hopes of “discovering” some new compelling URBEX subject’s to shoot.  As I only had the morning hours available for the shot, I had planned to be out of the house by 3:40 am, in hopes of shooting some twilight hour HDRs, as well as some sunrise (around 4:35am) shots.  Well… let’s just say things did not work out that way.  Instead, I ended up not leaving the house until 6 am, so I headed to Beelitz.  Once there, I decided to hit one of the buildings I had not yet explored, and I was not disappointed.  The place was the bomb (forgive the dated lingo, but I need right now), and this is one of the images I captured.  I can never remember: Do I cut the blue wire, or the green??

Ready for inspection, Sir!!

Back again with another tasty shot from one of my visits to Beelitz.  If you’ve been reading my posts here on the blog, you know this is one of my favorite places to shoot, especially when I am short on time (it is only 30 mins from my home in Berlin).  As a matter of fact, I may hit this great place again this weekend.  I shot this particluar image back in April, but am only now getting around to posting it.  It was pretty cool to find this room, as I had not been expecting to find so much cool stuff lying around in the room.  All I had to do was arrange the elements in such a way that I imagined they would look interesting in my intended compositon and, voila!!  Hope you all like it as much as I enjoyed shooting, processing and presenting it to you.

…we have a problem!!

So today I thought I would post this shot of an interesting room I found in at one of my favorite haunts: the abandoned sanitarium at Beelitz-Heilstätten, Germany. I first saw a picture of this room posted on flickr in 2009, and could not figure out why Whitney’s name was featured. I though, like many have debated, that maybe the photographer had created the Whitney Houston banner in Photoshop, an easy thing to do these days. Well, the more photos I saw (and studied close up), the more I became convinced it was real. Needless to say, I had to get into this building. Problem was that it is not possible to just stroll into the front door of this place; you have to find an alternate way in (there is always another way in). Long story short, I found my way in and explored my way to the side of the building I guessed was big enough to house this theater. It is hard to describe the feeling of excitement you feel when you find a great photographic subject. Suffice to say I was VERY happy, so I spent a couple of minutes shooting this great hall. I am really pleased with what I came away with, and I can promise all of you the Whitney Houston banner is, indeed, real!! Have a seat and enjoy the show!

It’s ALWAYS about the light!!

Man! Where to begin! Again, it’s been a dog’s age since I have posted to my blog. Whaz up wit dat? What can I say? No excuse, sir! Anywho, I’m back!! Since the last time I posted, I have done a lot of shooting (mostly URBEX) and a lot of post-processing. Do what, right? Well… I’ll tell ya! I think that I have actually improved my work. When I go back into my hard drive and look at my first HDR work, and compare it to what I do now, I can see that I am, as Hanibal Lecter said, “Becoming!” I think all of us improve our craft when we take the time to honestly self-critique what we do, identify our weaknesses and figure out what it is about each and every image we make and how we might try to improve our next piece. When I first started creating HDR images, I thought that everything in the image had to be bright and visible. Wel. I’m here to tell ya that is not what is meant by, “It’s ALWAYS about the light.” Being about the light is all about creative lighting. As the great Rick Sammon says, “light illuminates, shadows define!” True words have never been spoken. Think about it the next time you look at a subject you want to shoot, and then think about how you will use light to sculpt your subject, rather than blast the image with light!

Fallen Angel

Greetings friends! As usual, it has been awhile since I have update my blog, but this one is kind of special. Why, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. For one, this is the first blog entry that I am doing completely from my iPad and using the free WordPress iPad app! Works like a charm. I am liking this convenience, a lot! Second, the image I have included in this entry is the first composited work I’ve posted. I have often wanted to produce composited works, but have been leery of the complex masking that would have been necessary to create what I had envisioned. A piece of software from the good folks at Topaz Labs has become my lifesaver in that regard, specifically a program called Remask 2. So without further ado, I present the ‘Fallen Angel’!

By the way, someone asked me the other day what it was that inspired this particular piece. One inspiration was a recent nightmare, and the other was Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. Let me know what you think.