Abandoned Farm

[Mike Shimwell]

I've been making the effort to shoot a rool each evening this week. Last night I went back to an abandoned farm I saw on Monday. The farm had keep out notices and biohazard signs, so I stayed by the perimeter, but took a few pictures in the fading light.

Mike

The barred entrance, it is clear that you are not supposed to pass through the gates!


The farm has clearly not been used for some time. I don't know what the biohazard is, if it even exists, but it may be a hangover from the foot and mouth outbreak a few years ago or something else. Certainly there were numbers of farmers for whom the foot and mouth outbreak was the final straw.


I was quite struck by the abandoned arch and rose growing along side. This area would have been someone's garden and even playground once. It has been mown at some time in the last few months, so ther is still come care being given.
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[Mike Shimwell]

The old sheds and byres are somewhat melancholy now
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Mamiya 7ii 80mm lens and Ilford Delta 100

 

[Asher Kelman]

Mike,

Shoot a rool? Can't be a reel, it's not video. Could it be a roll? Yes it must be that, LOL!

Just an immediate comment before I leave several hours, aren't you using filters to bring out the clouds?

Asher

 

[fahim mohammed]

Mike, I was trying to imagine what it would have looked in good times?

Looks very desolate and ominous to me.

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Asher, no filters here - the sky was all grey so they wouldn't have added much and would well have deepened the shadows which I didn't want.

Fahim, yes, it's quite sad really. I will try to find out why it is closed, but although the third picture is very sparse I find myself imagining a child's swing and happy laghter that is now silenced. It makes me think of the aftermath of the foot and mouth outbreak that left some farmers in despair or even suicidal - 'A rum do' as they around here. 3 years ago, assuming the biohazard is more theoretical than real, this place would have been purchased for some immense sum and turned into a desirable residence(s). Probably preserving only a romantic element of the working origin. As it is, it's left dormant awaiting a new life.

Mike

 

[Asher Kelman]

Asher, no filters here - the sky was all grey so they wouldn't have added much and would well have deepened the shadows which I didn't want.

Mike, I must admit that having a fine film negative to begin with you have an unusual option getting scans to optimize for the clouds, if you wish. These images could be minded for months and you could still find more to be creative with. I'd be interested in what you might be able to so in bringing out the structure of the clouds by optimizing one set of scans just for that dynamic range. I think, if I remember rightly, you are using an 700 series Epson flatbed scanner. If so, that should be more than sufficient for some interesting checking out of what more might be there.

It's a very complex set of choices one has with film, to print in the darkroom or via scanning.

Asher

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Hi Asher,

Yes there is detail in the sky, but it is quite a compressed range. I did have a play using a masked curve layer to pull it down (burn!), but I wasn't getting a look I really wanted. Too heavy. Perhaps a lighter tuoch on the curve and then a bit of local contrast would get something more like? Or perhaps just desolate.

I may go back in a few weeks to have a closer look.

Mike