Weekly #460 - Abandoned Buildings Competition

Thank you all for your wonderful entries, I have enjoyed viewing them with a judicial eye! The comments and decision given are purely my thoughts and we all prefer different aspects of photography, some putting weight on composition, others technical aspects, how well the entry meets the brief, so others will more than likely think differently..

'Only the wind's home' by Perspicador.
As usual Perspicador got entries off to a timely start with a capture of the partly demolished Apollo Pub. The pub's no doubt been there for years but the demolishing can happen almost overnight. The photo is competently taken and a reminder of happier times for the building. Technically it's fine and the entry fits the brief perfectly. Well done. However, for a competition shot something more is needed to take it beyond a pure record shot. Perhaps a dramatic sky (some might photoshop one in!) or some other eye-catching centre of interest.

'The Gwrych Castle lady in red' by michaelblue.
Sounds like Gwrych Castle is in need of a litte TLC but non the less a really interesting place to visit, and ghosts too which Michael has managed to capture quite well! I'm sure that wasn't faked in Photoshop or similar!! I gather the building does have a restoration trust so let's hope they succeed in their task. So rather than be terrified at the sight of the ghost the photographer held his nerve and captured it perfectly to have it positioned on the right hand third. The post processing involved has transformed a mere record shot into something with great artistic merit as suggested in the brief. Well done.

'Grove Rake Mine' by bforbes.
A stunning eye catching shot where clearly some work has been done to balance the outdoor lighting the the presumably darker interior. A subtle use of HDR combined wih fill in flash perhaps (a check of the exif suggests that it was.) It certainly works for me and that masked figure gives it that something extra. Well seen and well done.

'Old Sawmill at Bothal' by tyronet2000.
With a gaping hole in the roof no one can deny this building isn't abandoned! I get the feeling that the photographer wasn't too happy about the top left hand corner of the photo here and has chosen to blur the trees. To me that spoils the photograph somewhat by drawing the eye to wonder what is going on there which I'm sure wasn't intended. Perhaps that is an attempt to enhance the mood, but if so I don't think it has worked. The right hand side is quite dark so it is a shame the left side isn't similarly dark which might have allowed getting more contrast in the actual building and make it more moody, but things like that can depend on one's monitor and viewing conditions. Certainly that mill building makes a great subject so well spotted but as presented it lacks a point of interest.

'Old Peritheia' by paulb531
This building has certainly seen better days and certainly fits the competiton theme very well. You have captured well the various surface textures and weathering on them. One can almost smell the mustiness just by looking at the photo. I'm wondering if there might have been a more pictorial shot looking the other way and using the window as a frame? Maybe there was, maybe there wasn't but non the less it's a good image of the building remnants

'bivvy' by johnjm
A different take on the theme in that it was constructed as a temporary structure. As presented this photo suffers from quite flat lighting, or perhaps not enough lighting. There's definitely a good shot to be had here with this bivouac, but when you took it you probably weren't thinking of competition entries. One thing it needs is to be brighter/more contrasty. Another regarding composition, there happens to be a rusty old baked bean tin or something near the edge Where it is presently distracting but if you'd moved it into the doorway it would have given the photo a strong point of interest immediately highlighting it had been lived in. So this nearly works, but just not quite. I reckon in Photoshop you could tweak it into something special.

'Lean on Me!' by JudithAnn
A great fun shot aptly captioned. If it wasn't for the silver birch trees the buildng would have collapsed completely. I'm not sure the person is best placed in the shot though (too central.) Mind, had they been leaning on the right hand side it may have made it look they'd just pushed it over! But then you wouldn't have wanted a law suit for apparently destroying a grain shed! Thanks for that one.

'This used to be an inspiration' by drawsalgoud
By an inspiration I suspect you mean it used to be a village church? I'm guessing that by the shape of the windows along with your title. Hope you weren't taking a huge risk entering it, a couple of steps on those warped floorboards looks like it may have brought the rest of it tumbling down! I think you've used Lightroom here to good effect to balance the inside/outside lighting. There is a mood about this shot so it has to be a contender.

'Abandoned slate cottage' by Aragorclub
This is the type of photograph I was looking for. clearly a long abandoned row of cottages in the Welsh hills and an effort has been made to make the image quite dynamic with intended strong slanting angles and a sky that also angles in on the building. My only slight concern is that the background cliffs merge with the building quite a bit (they all have the same tone; not sure what you could have done about that though.) I note that this photograph has only been taken this week, perhaps with the competition in mind, so thanks for tsking and entering it.

"Too tired to stand" by krmitchell55.
An interesting well observed subject it fits the theme very well. The composition is just right but immediately I noticed it looks a bit overposed. A glance at the exif shows the ISO was set to 3200, so even 1/2000sec at f13 so perhaps was outside the exposure range of the camera. I guess its easy to overlook a setting or altering one inadvertantly by perhaps pressing the ISO button when you meant the AF button or something. We've all done it, especially when one expects the camera to just do it right for you, but unfortunatrly on this occasion it hasn't. I'm sure you wouldn't have knowingly set such a high ISO in really bright sunshine. If it wasn't for the over exposure issue this might have been in the running as the texture of the fallen of roof against the weathered wood make a really good subject contrast. Thanks for entering it

'Attempted recovery' by Noelcmn
This is a competent record shot of the remains of a building that presumably has now been bulldozed. With the sun almost directly overhead and no clouds in the sky it doesn't really suggest a mood of gloom which one might expect. Some stronger side lighting from a lower sun might have provided that along with a few storm clouds gathering as the remnant prepares to meet its doom. To be super critical, to become a pictorial shot rather than a record shot it needs to have a more obvious point of interest, but I appreciate you can only take what's there and it might be slightly inconvenient to carry round a crane with a wrecking ball in your gadget bag just in case it comes in handy to provide that centre of interest once in a while!

'Once someone's home' by ken2390.
I can appreciate you being taken aback by the change from this being a normal home to an abandoned home in such a short time. The subject (the interior) has suffered from some underexposure caused (I suspect) by the matrix metering where the bright outdoor light has caused the metering to make the interior quite dark and not render the subject very well. A centre weighted setting might have worked better for this. However as an experiment I loaded this into Photoshop Elements and had a play with the mid range levels and all that dark detail can be brought out. If you have a raw file of it (the MX-1 can take those) then even better. So worth experimenting with this further, but as presented the exposure has let it down. If you took this especially to enter in the competition this week that is really appreciated, thank you.

'Left' by guy
Given the late hour of entry I thought perhaps you'd just popped outside and taken a photo of your shed at the bottom of the garden! But that isn't the case. I just love the television aerial on top; Who lives in a house lie this? (Through the Keyhole) On my monitor it comes out a bit dark but copying it into Elements and tweaking the levels makes it a lot clearer for me. Other than that I really like it. To be a winner though it does need tweaking somewhat; mainly regarding levels and contrast which may well enhanced the mood of it. I'm wondering though if a colour version might have been preferable? Colour may have made more of the graffiti which is on the thirds so really the strongest part of the picture and the centre of interest plus the late summer evening sunlight filtering through the trees with that golden hour glow effect. I feel there's surely a great picture there. Thanks for your interesting entry.

'The former Belmont Bicycle Works' by Simonmac
This is quite a stunning capture that incorporates some of the suggestions I have made for other photos entered this time (you weren't reading my comments already typed somehow were you??). The sky is interesting, not just plain! I realize that isn't the subject but it does affect the mood as it's all part of the picture.
The colours work well here with the yellowy-reds contrasting against the sky. An effort has been made to make sure the verticals are vertical. Normally one would find the tower being affected by perspective so either this has been corrected in post processing, or it has been taken with a shift lens to compensate or use made of the facility on the K-5 to shift the sensor to simulate a shift lens. Sometimes this can make a photo look unnatural but all seems well here. I note too that the tower has been placed on the thirds to strengthen the composition. So this has got a lot going for it in terms of photographic quality. A great entry, well done.


It has been really hard to choose the winner as the top four proved quite close contenders. The top two, though, have a human element added. is a ghost human?? is a painting on a wall human?? Not sure! However both are quite different in their treatments. So....

HC 'This used to be an inspiration' by drawsalgoud
HC 'Old Peritheia' by paulb531
3= 'Abandoned slate cottage' by Aragorclub
3= 'The former Belmont Bicycle Works' by Simonmac
2. 'The Gwrych Castle lady in red' by michaelblue.
1. 'Grove Rake Mine' by bforbes

Well, just reading through all these comments has been a wonderful learning curve, appreciated very much I may add. Hats off to our very competent judge for an excellent critique, a wonderful challenge that has once again brought out some inspiring interpretations of the theme. Congratulations to bforbes, worthy winner imho, michaelblue (I ain't visiting that castle) Simonmac, Aragorclub and the HC's Paulb531 and drawsalgoud. Great stuff everyone. And I am working on inventing an inflatable wrecking ball . No investors though

Thanks JAK for an interesting competition and for my second place, some really good shots this week.
Well done to bforbes for a cracking winning shot, congratulations too to Simonmac for third place.

Congratulations to the Winner and other places. Thanks to jak for the interesting subject, the judging and comprehensive comments. I must add that as soon as I saw Barries image I knew the winner had been posted.

Thank you John for your interesting competition and for your very full commentary on all the entries. I did not have the same confidence as Stan with some very stiff competition right from the start, so congratulations to all concerned.

Thank you for the competition. The entries have been great (they always are!) and I am chuffed with a place.

I found the topic interesting as I really wanted to do some 'urban exploration' of which there are plenty of sites in Birmingham. I was put off the idea on reading some folks experiences of entering abandoned buildings. They are often used for illicit purposes and can potentially be dangerous. I just wondered what others' experiences have been?

Thanks again- and thank you for all of the thorough comments. I straightened in LR for anyone interested!

Regards
Mac

Congratulations to Barrie - great shot. A well done to Jak for the judging and comprehensive feedback.

Regards

paul

Thank for all for your thanks! Enjoyed setting and judging it for a change.