Asylum
Inside abandoned Beechworth mental asylum.
Inside abandoned Beechworth mental asylum.
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May, 2019Views
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Awards
Top Shot Award 22
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo is taken in one the buildings at the Beechworth Lunatic Asylum in Victoria Australia. The asylum was built in the 1860 and closed in 1995.Time
This photo was taken in the late afternoon , so there was a bit of contrast between the light inside versus as outside.Lighting
The lighting in the room was from natural light , there was little to no internal artificial light in the room and it was a large square room. The room had a number of windows which created the shadows and glare on the floor seen in the photo.Equipment
I was on a guided tour when I took the photo , so the shot was taken hand held using a wide angle lens (in order to get in a wide room). I took 3 bracketed photos due to the contrast between the light from the windows and light level in the room and the darker corners.Inspiration
The asylum was such an interesting place with a long , amazing and sad history. Many amazing stories of different people with different mental issues, what life was like in an asylum and how mental illness was treated in these days. There were stories of people incarcerated for most of the lives , abandoned by their parents and family for what we consider today a basic related illness that we can treat and manage today. As such there was great sadness inside the walls of buildings and some cases absolute madness and horror. When I walked into this room , with is chequered floor and peeling roof paint and saw these empty medical chairs sitting their , the feeling of the past and what life must have been like for those who lived at the asylum just seemed so much more real and sad.Editing
I produced an HDR image from 3 bracketed photos. This brought out all the details plus added a bit of aged moodiness to the photo. A little post processing was done to crop and frame the photo.In my camera bag
Normally I travel with a full pack in order to be ready for all situations. I use a mirrorless camera with 3 lenses - wide angle , portrait and telephoto. I always travel with my tripod , as normally those creative great shots come from taking advantage of benefits a tripod gives.Feedback
I think the secret getting photos like this is to adventure and explorer. We discovered the Asylum late in the afternoon and it was a complete surprise. We could have ignored it as simply an old building , but took the opportunity to tour the building and discover its history , secret and sad past. As such nearly every room presented an interesting and heart felt photo opportunity. It was a hidden gem.
