Abandoned House Surrounded By Red Leaves and Fog
Mar, 2016Views
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Winner in Natural but Imprefect - People, Nature, and Animals Photo Challenge
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photograph was taken in Ringwood, New Jersey at a historic site called Longpond Ironworks.Time
It was earlier on in the day for sure, but this thick pea soup fog was coming off the lake from behind this dilapidated house which created a wonderful effect which I pray to find in future expeditions whenever I go out. Sadly, you don't always get this type of fog where I live and where this building is. But it coincided with the fall leaves changing brilliantly, a slightly rainy day, and having this ominous, almost haunted looking structure as the subject.Lighting
The lighting is totally somber, it was a cold, rainy day, foggy as well, and it took quite a long exposure, longer than usual, rather, to get the scene exposed correctly.Equipment
At the time I was using a Canon 5D Mark 2, Manfrotto Tripod, most likely using my 24-70mm Lens.Inspiration
I've been visiting this area for my entire life, perhaps, and truthfully I love abandoned buildings, structures, and anything antique/vintage. This house, to put it kindly, is simply falling apart, I wouldn't step foot inside if you paid me, and no reason to, but, from the outside it is super interesting of course. The fact that I knew these trees turn a bright orange every fall make me check back often that time of year; it's simply a place on my list of autumn "must-haves." This year I was lucky because of the fog, the tree that seems to have just fallen and the trees which are shedding leaves seem to be doing so in a dilapidated/uneven fashion, much like the condition of the house within that shot. I always loved this shot for those reasons, nothing seems "right" with anything contained within, and that has to do with the scene itself, no photoshopping anything in there for effect, it naturally appears this way (probably still does to some degree).Editing
This was quite some time ago, but aside from the normal color corrections, I don't think much was done to the print in terms of post processing work. I remember there being a problem with the house being this very dark area, almost negative space, which I needed to dodge quite a bit to recover some detail in it, but not dodge too much lest it look too unnatural.In my camera bag
These days I have a Canon 5DSR, 3 lenses, 24-70mm 2.8, 70-200mm 2.8, 85mm 1.2, a cam ranger with Ipad, Promote Control, Vello Wireless Control, an assortment of filters, Lee Big Stopper, Singh-Ray Color Combo filter, Uv Filters on all lenses for protection most of all, my Sekonic Light Meter and not much else. After hiking for thousands of miles in my life and each time realizing even a few ounces can make a difference in the energy you expend getting to your destination, I like to travel as light as possible.Feedback
This was a pretty straightforward capture, but my advice, as always is to get out early, that type of fog doesn't normally stick around all day (in most places) and burns off or disperses as you reach 10AM-NOON. The other side of this is to research where there may be historical sites, buildings that may be in disrepair, always be respectful of other peoples' properties, obey all rules put forth by the managers or townships managing such sites. And as always be safe around anything that looks like it's about to fall apart.
