Moods of the Dreary

During class last Thursday, I took the opportunity of a workday to go around and shoot. Driving around with Grady gave me several images to work with, and we visited some places I've been eyeing to shoot at.

Amongst many was a field I'd eyed since last year - some industrial property close to Route 50 and the mall. Eye catching for it's odd pipes that stick up here and there, I parked across the street in the ice rink lot and trekked across the road to enter the rusty gates. Though I didn't dare wander too far in forbidden property, I went in enough to catch this rusted out sign I rather liked. None of the shots of the pipes worked out thanks to the cold and the darkness of the afternoon, but this was a fun stop for this sign. Once it gets warmer, maybe I'll get the guts to wander in farther.



Another was a falling apart house in a square just off the main road of town, much past it's prime and marked with vicious Keep Out signs. Though it looks like it was once beautiful, an odd blue and brown house of Victorian architecture (seen a lot in town), it's falling apart in it's muddy yard, and therefore of course attracts me.



The last location we stopped at was the parking lot of the sketchiest motel I have ever seen. The Gateway, advertised just off the highway with a paint-chipped sign claiming the novelties of color TV, looks like it belongs in a horror movie. I have yet to see anyone stay there, but we stopped in the parking lot for a few quick shots before heading back to campus. Exiting the lot we may have gotten a few looks, but it was worth the single slice-of-life kind of shot I managed to pull.



Photo adventuring in the winter is a hard task when the light is low and the cold numbs your fingers, but I've managed to capture a few images I feel fit in a category of some sort of dreary, quiet lifestyle. The mood is always a bit off, and I find that oddity perfect when you want it, and though these are three shots of many, I just chose my favorites to display here.