Tag: places

Baroque and Broken: Eerie Paintings in Abandoned Places

[ By Steph in Art & Photography & Video. ]

Shuffling through ancient paint chips, dead leaves and empty bottles in an abandoned and dilapidated building, you turn a corner and register a human figure emerging from the darkness in a haze of flesh tones and pale fabric. It might take a moment to realize that it’s not a real person, but rather a painting in the style of the old masters, rendered right there on the gritty wall like an heirloom left behind when the place was vacated.

Working under an assumed name, Belfast artist Ted Pim has spent the last ten years traveling the world, creating these eerie works inside abandoned buildings. He spends days alone completing each work armed with no more than his paints, industrial torches and a camera.

Aside from anyone who might have stumbled upon them unknowingly, no one has seen these works prior to Pim publishing the photos on his website and on Instagram in June 2015. The artist documented each painting and kept the images in a folder all these years. Private collectors in London and New York City recently purchased all of his completed works on canvas, and more are coming in winter 2015.

“I was drawn to abandoned buildings as I liked the contrast of painting detailed, Baroque-inspired pieces inside dark, neglected structures,” Pim tells WebUrbanist. “These buildings provided me with the perfect atmosphere to create my pieces, with the end result often reflecting my surroundings- haunting, dark figures.”

“The paintings usually take a few days, and I never return to the building. All my images were taken on an old analog camera and printed and scanned (the reason for fingerprints on some of the images.)”

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Gallery: 24 Beautiful HDR Photos of Abandoned Places

Something about the vibrant colors, stark contrasts and vivid depths lends abandonments to pictures using HDR photography techniques like few other subjects.
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[ By Steph in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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WebUrbanist

July 24, 2015
Stephen Shore – Uncommon Places

Von „Uncommon Places“, dem berühmten Buch von Stephen Shore, hatte ich immer wieder gelesen. Irgendwann habe ich dann Amazon zu Rate gezogen und festgestellt, dass es das eine Buch „Uncommon Places“ gar nicht gibt. Viel mehr handelt es sich um ein Werk, das sich immer wieder verändert hat und vor allem erweitert wurde. Ende 2014 wurde die vermutlich definitive Ausgabe vorgestellt und über dieses Buch werde ich hier berichten.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity

July 24, 2015
Photography in public places across Europe threatened by harmonization proposal

The right to use pictures taken in a public place is under threat by a European Parliament proposal for the harmonization of copyright laws across the region. Buried in a complex set of amendments is the idea that the automatic Freedom of Panorama be removed from those countries that maintain it, so that copyright holders of permanent artworks and buildings will need to authorize commercial use of pictures that include their works. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

July 4, 2015
Weekly Photography Challenge – Places of Worship
Today I rounded up some images of some special places. Some architectural wonders, many full of history – all special to the people who visit them. This is various places of worship.

By Neil Howard

That could mean a number of different types of buildings and places including:
- Small home town churches
- Basilicas
- Mosques
- Synagogues
- Temples
- Wats
- Even cemeteries
Weekly Photography Challenge – Places of Worship

In my quest for example images I found a lot of HDR images of interiors – many that were quite a bit over done, at least for my tastes. I even found some of my own images dating back to 2010 when I first started experimenting with HDR and they were making my eyes bleed – my own images! See this article on the stages of HDR photographers, see if you can relate.

So I redid a few from the Montreal Notre Dame Basilica, an amazing thing to see and photograph. I used the new Lightroom 6 (CC) Merge to HDR feature – see what you think.

Just for comparison here are my old versions, my first attempts from 2010. Even pros and teachers make mistakes but we aren’t too big to admit them.

“Ewww” right? I agree – let’s move on!

Okay here are some other good examples (in my opinion) of places of worship.

By Darlene Hildebrandt (also my image from Salt Lake City)

By Michael Caven

By Stròlic Furlàn – Davide Gabino

By Forest Wander

By Jeff Wallace

By Matthias Rhomberg

By Kah-Wai Lin

Now it’s your turn. Think outside the box to other places besides those listed about that might be considered for worship. A quiet outdoor coffee shop, how about sunrise on a deserted beach? What places do people go to find solice and think, or pray (if so inclined)?

Note: please be respectful of people inside places or worship. Those are NOT public areas and you do not have free rights to photograph them. By all means photograph the architecture if you’re allowed but always ask before taking someone’s photo inside.

Share your images here:

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer upload them to your favourite photo sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

A couple more ideas from my own image collection. Keep in mind you can do bits and pieces of places too, not just grand sweeping wide angle shots. How quiet is this shot of the candles? How meaningful is it though, and does it tell a story of the place?

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The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Places of Worship by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
May 9, 2015
Ethereal Images of Places of Worship

A while ago I shared a collection of architectural images, now let’s get a little more specific. Churches and places of worship are often well design, finely crafted, masterpieces of architecture.

Let’s take a look at some great, ethereal images of churches, mosques, and other places of religious practice:

Cathedral by Andrew Vasiliev on 500px

Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica (Ottawa) Vertorama by Roland Shainidze on 500px

Tamway Orléans by Nicolas Wecandoit on 500px

St. Peter Basilic (Vatican, Rome) by Domingo Leiva on 500px

Lights by Mauro Tandoi on 500px

Cologne Cathedral by Aaron Choi on 500px

Basilique Notre Dame by Naibank Eng on 500px

El Pilar (II) by Carlos Luque on 500px

The Cloister's Cat by Albert Vàzquez on 500px

Cloisters by Ann on 500px

In the Morning Light by Teguh S on 500px

Good Night… by Ahmet Kizilhan on 500px

Wonderland by Achim Thomae on 500px

Mosque at Sharjah Cornish by Utsav Verma on 500px

sheikh zayed mosque by Ronny Behnert on 500px

Bandaraya in the evening by Nelson Michael Jr on 500px

Sharjah – Buhaira by Mostafa Ajjawi on 500px

Good morning from ?stanbul by Gürkan Gündo?du on 500px

Dark Skies by Fabien Bardelli on 500px

God's light.. by Samet Güler on 500px

This is my own image – by Darlene Hildebrandt. Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. A fascinating history this place has had!

444 B.C. by George Papapostolou on 500px

Big Buddha by Chaluntorn Preeyasombat on 500px

Bahai Temple – Night View by Natasha Pnini on 500px

BHUTAN TAKTSANG by Santanu Banerjee on 500px

St. Basil Cathedral, Moscow by Moritz Königsbüscher on 500px

The Marble Temple by Daniel Cheong on 500px

The Light of Angkor Wat Temple ! by Mardy Suong Photography on 500px

Wat Sampov 5! by Mardy Suong Photography on 500px

Temple of the God's by Spiros Lioris on 500px

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The post Ethereal Images of Places of Worship by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

May 8, 2015
Forgotten Heritage: Exploring Europe’s Largest Deserted Places

[ By WebUrbanist in Travel & Urban Exploration. ]

For the past three years, this bold and big-thinking photographer has located and explored some of the world’s most vast abandoned spaces, from power stations and cooling towers to gigantic castles and expansive mines.

For Matt Emmett, “these places are far more interesting than the ‘official’ world heritage locations or tourist attractions.” He focuses on ruins that inspire awe and eschews dilapidated cities and derelict neighborhoods for a purer experience of forgotten places that show no trace of recent human occupation.

Silence is part of the key. “From the point of view of a photographer there is a total lack of distraction in the stillness of a derelict building; the sound and movement associated with people or workers has been removed, for me this makes them far more sensory than when they are occupied. Your mind can easily focus on what is around you and takes in so much more.”

His recent destinations include large-scale industrial and military complexes with huge interiors and giant-sized artifacts that engender awe through sheer scale. Signs advising no entry, prohibited access or trespasser prosecution only make these building infiltrations more intriguing.

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Forgotten Heritage Exploring Europes Largest Deserted Places

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[ By WebUrbanist in Travel & Urban Exploration. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

March 13, 2015
Five Places for Perfect Natural Portrait Lighting

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get beautiful, natural-looking portraits without ever having to use flash?

Well, perhaps you can. There are many different locations, often closer than you think, where you can find the right lighting for great looking portraits. Often they’re missed because we might not know where to look.

Generally, your best strategy is to look for what is called Open Shade. Ideally, you are looking for a situation where the stronger overhead light is being blocked by a structure, either man-made or natural.

There are a lot of variables to pay attention to, but with a little practice you begin to recognize good natural lighting situations that are right in front of you.

1. Find a gazebo or front porch with a roof

This is a particularly good technique for you to use when it’s sunny outside in the middle of the day, but it can work on overcast and rainy days as well.

It’s often a bad idea to pose your subject out in the direct sun, particularly when it is up high in the ske. That kind of lighting can produce harsh shadows, as well as cause your subject to squint their eyes.

I use the front porch location quite a bit when photographing high school seniors in the middle of the day. An overhang of any sort can block strong overhead light and allows your subject to be lit with the softer surrounding bounce lighting.

In the case above, I also used a large white collapsible reflector, off to the right side, to provide additional fill-light with this handsome young man. A large aperture was used to help create an out of focus background.

If you have no porch available you can get your model to help create a good lighting situation by using a prop like a wide-brimmed hat for a close-up head shot.

2. Under an umbrella

By Andrew Menage

Using an umbrella can work well to protect your subject from both the rain, and overhead lighting. Note that the color of the umbrella will have a significant effect on the color of the light that is illuminating your subject. A black umbrella is neutral in color and will block almost all of the light from above.

3. Near a window

Just because you may not be able to shoot outside doesn’t mean you still can’t use the outdoor light to create a natural looking portrait. There is a right way and a wrong way to do this.

Make sure that most of the window is forward of your subject. The larger the window, the softer the lighting. The reflector can be any light colored object that is fairly neutral in color. The closer it is to your subject, the more fill light it supplies.

4. Find a bridge or an overpass

If you shoot in a more urban setting, you’ll likely have bridges or overpasses in your area. The photo below was taken at the entrance to a pedestrian underpass. Not only did we get good portrait lighting, we also got the model out of the wind and snow.

One important thing to remember is to watch your background. Although I was generally happy with the pose and the lighting, I could have done a better job controlling the background in this portrait.

5. Anywhere at sunset

This is one time when you do want the sun in the face of your subject. You only have a few minutes of this sweet light when most, or all, of the sun has disappeared below the horizon.

Direct sun can be too bright at the beginning of sunset. You may have to wait until just after sunset to get a softer look. In the beach photo above, the light was nicely diffused by a few clouds on the horizon between my subjects and the setting sun.

More ways to find places with great natural portrait lighting

Similar to the way you use an umbrella, you can create your own overhead roof by having an assistant hold a light blocker above your subject. This could be anything lightweight, a large piece of cardboard, or even one of the a collapsible, panels like the ones shown below.

There are two factors that dramatically effect how well this technique works.

The first is how far back your subject is posed underneath the covering object. If you pose her too far back, you may not have enough light to get a nice photograph. If she is too far forward, you may get too much overhead lighting.

Secondly, how high the shading object is above your subject’s head affects how the light will illuminate their features. The best way to master this technique is to play around and experiment.

It’s always a great idea to shoot a few variations in several locations, and adjust exact placement of your subject. You’ll be able to learn a lot from your mistakes and your successes.

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The post Five Places for Perfect Natural Portrait Lighting by Bruce Lovelace appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 10, 2015
Aerial Urbex: 7 Difficult Deserted Places Filmed with Drones

[ By WebUrbanist in Travel & Urban Exploration. ]

Drones have changed the landscape of urban exploration and building infiltration, allowing their navigators access to toxic, irradiated, forbidden and structurally unsound places. These haunting videos illustrate how drones have been used to document inaccessible spaces and find amazing forgotten places.

St. Peter’s Seminary in Cardross, Scotland, is set to be restored thanks to millions in grants and donations, but for now it remains in a remarkably ruined state – crumbling, overgrown and vandalized. The scenes shot for this film are amazing as they not only fly over and around the building by right through it, passing between levels missing both floors and ceilings that would otherwise be impossible to see in person.

Underdrone combines upside-down footage from the “Lost Places Project,” a world tour including destinations within France, Argentina, Sicily, Greece and China using a DJI Ph2, H3-3D and GoPro3. The inverted perspective adds a layer of eerie vertigo to these spectacular and strange settings.

Drones can also provide the means to uncover new abandonments, discovering long-deserted places that have fallen from maps and have no landmarks pointing the way, as was the case with this abandoned Renaissance Faire. Locate in Fredericksburg, Virginia, it was found thanks to the use of a quadcopter and TBS Discovery with Naza GPS. The remote location is possible to reach, but thanks to ticks in the area may be best enjoyed remotely (or: via remote control).

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Aerial Urbex 7 Difficult Deserted Places Filmed With Drones

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[ By WebUrbanist in Travel & Urban Exploration. ]

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WebUrbanist

February 17, 2015
Lost Places: Alte Panzer

Vor einiger Zeit fand ich bei einem Spaziergang mit Freunden alte Panzer an einem Waldrand. Obwohl die Gegend teilweise noch als Truppenübungsplatz genutzt wird, war ich zunächst etwas erschrocken. Diese Ungetüme sind einfach furchteinflößend und niemand verbindet mit ihnen etwas Gutes. Eigentlich ein schönes Bild, wie sie langam zerfallen und von der Natur eingenommen werden.

Durch ihr Gewicht drücken sie sich langsam selbst in die Erde und dem robusten Panzerstahl setzt der Rost sichtlich zu. Um sie herum viel Natur, aber auch Spuren der Militärübungen, wie tiefe Krater und Furchen, in denen sich kleine Biotope gebildet haben.

Fotos: Dariusz Misztal

Drei Panzer finden sich in nächster Nähe, darunter ein M47 Patton und ein M41 Walker Bulldog. Viele von ihnen wurden im Laufe der Zeit mit Graffiti bemalt und Kleinteile entwendet. Bedenkt man die Stahlpreise, ist es eigentlich verwunderlich, dass sie noch da stehen, wobei ihr unglaubliches Gewicht von 23 bis 46 Tonnen sicher ein Grund dafür ist.

Weit im Westen Deutschlands, am Westrand Stolbergs liegt das etwa 226 Hektar große Gelände, das mittlerweile zum Großteil zu einem Naturschutzgebiet wurde. Und so friedlich es zunächst hier wirkt, setzen die Panzer einen beunruhigenden Kontrast.

Titelbild und Fotos: Callaveron

Das Gebiet liegt am Westwall, der von Hitler zwischen 1936 und 1940 gebaut wurde. Ein riesiges Verteidigungssystem aus Stollen, Bunkern und Panzerwehren. Viele Bunker wurden nacht dem Krieg gesprengt, aber auch heute findet man noch viele Bauten aus der Zeit, deren Überreste zum Teil überwuchert und mit Moos bewachsen sind.

Die Panzer selbst haben eine weniger aufregende Geschichte. Sie sind nicht im Krieg liegen geblieben, sondern dienten als Hartziele der Bundeswehr zu Übungszwecken.

Fotos: Stefan Rollar

Der Truppenübungsplatz ist öffentlich zugänglich und Besuchern ist die Nutzung der Wege zum Großteil gestattet, jedoch sollte man vorsichtig sein: Abseits der Wege kann noch immer Munition aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg liegen. Zudem findet man hier viele Pflanzen und insbesondere Vogelarten, die auf der roten Liste stehen. So brütet der Eisvogel entlang des Bachlaufes und fühlt sich schnell durch freilaufende Hunde gestört.

Das Gebiet mit seinen Wäldern, Auwäldern und der Heide gilt als eines der artenreichsten Gebiete Deutschlands und ist damit sicher nicht nur für Lost-Places-Fotografen interessant.

kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity

February 5, 2015
2014 DPReview Readers’ Best Shots: Places

Picking favorites is hard. Nevertheless, our readers were up to the task when we asked them to submit their best shots of 2014. We received over 1400 submissions, and it was no small job picking favorites. We didn’t need the reminder, but it underscored just how talented our readership is. Photos were divided into three categories and we settled on a small selection to feature in each.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

January 26, 2015