Doors! Handsome, beautiful, decayed, prison or palace, even stolen!

[oli murugavel]

Here the door is abandoned against the wall and light from a high window set a long shadow on the wall. I wonder how dark the print is? I like it. Thanks for sharing!

Asher

Fantastic Shot.... very dramatic... I love the shadows and the composition. Black and white makes it more stand out of the frame.. very nice picture ...

Oli murugavel[/QUOTE]

 

[Rachel Foster]

I took this with a 5 mp point and shoot before I became interested in photography. I love it, though, flawed as it is. It was taken here, in the courtyard of the castle at Ostia Antica (outside Rome).

 

[Asher Kelman]

............... I was in Paris last week and while I have the requisite tourist photos, I got very interested in the doors of Paris. ... I posted 3 here as Paris deserves its own thread, here's the 3rd]:

Wendy Thurman Porte de Paris​

This picture is so iconic for Paris. The strong stone arch portal holding a giant wooden door. Nowhere in the USA do residences ordinarily sport such monumental entrances. Well, here's another that reminded me of your picture, Wendy. However it's taken in Milan!

Asher Kelman Wrought Iron Welcome​

This door is made of ornamental wrought iron and the actual doorway us reduced to a small door within the larger door space. The stone surround is all the more impressive. The open spaces in the iron work advertises the rich ambience of an upscale apartment lobby. Still, there's seems to be a message to lesser well-heeled folk that if you don't "belong", keep out! Snapped at 1/6 second with the Canon G10 at 1600 ISO f3.5 as I walked past. Note the barrel distortion is not corrected.

Asher

 

[Jim Galli]

A new one from Labor Day weekend;

Benton Hot Springs, CA​

8X10 Camera, Bausch & Lomb Zeiss Series V 222mm wide angle lens.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Jim,

Did you drive to this or is it local? Gas has gone up again! There seems to be a brick holding the outer doors closed!

Asher

 

[Jim Galli]

Jim,

Did you drive to this or is it local? Gas has gone up again! There seems to be a brick holding the outer doors closed!

Asher

Benton Hot Springs is on Highway 120 between Lee Vining and Tonopah. Yes, I drove. I was on my way home from Bishop to Tonopah. You have to jog about 5 miles off HWY 6 to get to Benton Hot Springs. This was a viable business in my lifetime but it has been boarded up for many years now. It's sort of a shrine to the long time owners kept intact by a grandson who lives within sight. Reportedly this building is completely full of antiques gathered by them in the 1940's - '60's. Coke bottles they cast aside during their collecting era would be collectable now so one can only wonder about the goodies inside.

 

[Matthew Erricson]

Wondering?

I was just wondering if the subject is doors or related why not show the whole door?Nice B&W though.I would have included the whole door.
Matthew Erricson
http://photofstop.com/

 

[Asher Kelman]

I was just wondering if the subject is doors or related why not show the whole door?Nice B&W though.I would have included the whole door.
Matthew Erricson
http://photofstop.com/

Matthew,

What picture were you referring to as it seems to me that almost all the pictures are of entire doors?

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Rich,

Thanks for placing them here. They add well to this series. The first one shows once again repurposing an older massive framing for a door to hold a combination wall and smaller door, as in post #33, above. This approach allows one to have the open structure of decorative wrought iron and the practicality of the small portal.

The second picture is rather unusual. "Hamilton Wasteway Gatehouse" printed on a black placard, announces the gate as if it's so important. Is it referring to the door of the hut or another gate further on?

Asher

 

[Cedric MASSOULIER]

Hi,

This is my contribution :

Or when doors don't allow to enter anywhere yet...

 

[Rich Beaubien]

The Gatehouse

The "Hamilton Wasteway Gatehouse" sits upon a canal. It contains gates that allow canal water to runoff and out of this particular canal (wasted water is water that has not been used to power the mill).

Both photos were taken in Lowell Massachusetts once a thriving industrial center. It is filled with old mills. Many have been, or are being converted, to lofts and condos. Much of it is contained in the Lowell National Historical Park highlighting Lowell's history as an early manufacturing and immigrant city. Museums contain weave rooms, a waterpower exhibits, and paths about 6 miles of the canals. Plus there are trolley cars tours open houses etc.

I grew up in Lowell and lived there during a time of decline, unemployment and attempts at urban renewal. It wasn't until folks realized they had a treasure that things began to turn around. I now live about thirty miles away but enjoy the occasional visit.

--Rich

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

by Asher.

Since I'm a newbie here I'll post these two he liked.

The "Hamilton Wasteway Gatehouse" sits upon a canal. It contains gates that allow canal water to runoff and out of this particular canal (wasted water is water that has not been used to power the mill).

Both photos were taken in Lowell Massachusetts once a thriving industrial center. It is filled with old mills. Many have been, or are being converted, to lofts and condos. Much of it is contained in the Lowell National Historical Park highlighting Lowell's history as an early manufacturing and immigrant city. Museums contain weave rooms, a waterpower exhibits, and paths about 6 miles of the canals. Plus there are trolley cars tours open houses etc.

I grew up in Lowell and lived there during a time of decline, unemployment and attempts at urban renewal. It wasn't until folks realized they had a treasure that things began to turn around. I now live about thirty miles away but enjoy the occasional visit.

--Rich

HI Rich,

Thanks for sharing these and the explanation, I have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, these places will fall victim to time eventually. Good that folks like you document them before it's too late.

Cheers,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi,

This is my contribution :

Or when doors don't allow to enter anywhere yet...

Hi Cedric,

This is something I have seen before and I always wonder why this has happened. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Abhijit Biswas]

There are some great doors here. This is a door I found in the "dungeon" of the 15th century Scotish castle Château de Cherveux located in Poitiers France, naturally lit from the unseen window to the right. It was taken with a Pentax 645 and scanned from a photo. If I remember right, this was a 20-30 second exposure. The Château is now a B&B and well worth the visit if you are in the Loire Valley.

Hi Walt,

This one is my favorite so far in this thread. But I do have some suggestions here and hope you won't mind.

1. First of all I would have captured and presented this in landscape format.
2. I would have captured the wall on the left to the point where the light/shadow on the wall cusped on the ground and have some negative dark space for the eye to bounce around.
3. I would increase the wall edge/corner of the foreground wall on the right to have the composition boundary.
4. I would burn the bright white spots on the door.
5. I would increase the brightness of the arch overall and keep the compositional interested on the right side of the image (rule of third).
6. Finally I would add a thin (one pixel or so) grey (20-30% grey) border and a thick black border to present it.

All this can be done on this current version if you haven't captured this in landscape format. Anyway, these are just my thoughts. Please don't take this negatively. This image is my favorite one in this thread. Keep up the good work.


Regards,
Abhijit
http://www.exposurebits.com

 

[Walt Conley]

Thank you Abhijit, it's been awhile since I've visited OPF. I appreciate your time in making some great suggestions. This was taken several years ago with a medium format Pentax 645 on Ilford B&W film, composed in-camera almost as shown. Printing was challenging due to the hot spot on the door reflection, as you mentioned. The image shown here was a scan from a print so not as good or detailed as I would like it to be. This is one negative I want to get scanned from the negative to see if some more detail can be pulled from the film - then I can give some of your suggestions a try.

Thanks again.

 

[Ray Detwiler]

 

[Phil Marion]

here's a lovely old door from the ancient walled city of Sana'a, Yemen (UNESCO world heritage site - a living museum)

 

[Brandon Cade]

Theatre Center at Texas State University​

- There is no relationship between the two photos, one is on Tx State's Campus, and the other is about 15 miles away up in the hills.

I trekked about 5 miles on foot to get the second photo, of the old cabin. I wanted to get more of a dead on shot of the doors, as everyone else has... BUT, I'm from Texas and we shoot people for trespassing, even if it is for a better photo!

​

 

[Asher Kelman]

Theatre Center at Texas State University​

This first picture of the Theater Center and Texas State University. The architecture is not familiar to me. In front of a series of doors, (with tall rectangular windows above each one), there's a ~30-40 ft hight open steel fence made with a series of rectangles capped with a half dome. Except for the main door, the arches so formed do not line up with the other doors and windows. It's hard to see how this architecture works as an integrated structure. There's attractive brickwork around the doors that's impressive in itself and adds status to the building.

Why they added the ironwork is a puzzle to me!!

​

The second is untitled and depicts an old wooden house with a front porch.

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

This first picture of the Theater Center and Texas State University.

I suspect this is the Theater Center (until recently, Theater Building) at Texas State University-San Marcos (until recently, Southwestern Texas State University). (It is said to be haunted.)

The architecture is not familiar to me. In front of a series of doors, (with tall rectangular windows above each one), there's a ~30-40 ft hight open steel fence made with a series of rectangles capped with a half dome. Except for the main door, the arches so formed do not line up with the other doors and windows.

This appearance is probably the result of parallax (the building is round).

It's hard to see how this architecture works as an integrated structure.

This was almost certainly built at at a time when there were no architects in Texas (i.e., prior to about 1970).

Best regards,

Doug

 

[barry mitchell]

hi - im not sure about these images. The first one seems to be ever so slightly off plumb. I also dont like how there are 4 arches in the scene. I would much preferred to have seen just 3 with one bike maybe in the right archway. I also think the top area of brickwork is a little over exposed but as i am sure you know exposure is 90% a matter of opinion (there is not a perfect exposure from one person to the next). Do i see a little barrel distortion at the bottom of the image where the water hits the concrete? Over all the photo needs work.

I like the second but i think the sky is to bright and i think it would have been better in colour. It is as if you are trying to give the impression of an old building by taking a shot of a building that is neither old non new. The tree to the top left seems to be slightly out of focus and it looks to me like you have turned the photo black and white to hide drastic chromatic aberration but i could be wrong here. I think if you took the raw image back to photoshop, turned down the exposure a little and upped the blacks then this would drastically improve the scene - then added a warming effect or maybe a sepia in photoshop that it would tell more of a story.

there is my £0.02 on the first 2 images.

 

[Jarmo Juntunen]

This one here shows (literally) doors opening into summer. Taken this May inside a boat shed in our family's summer house after a long, cold winter. Thanks for watching!

 

[Martin Evans]

In Chaniá, Crete. Just one of many stone doorcases from the period of Venetian occupation.

Photographed on a digital compact: Canon A620, ISO 100, 1/320 sec at f/4.0. Cropped from a wide-angle (7.3mm) shot. No editing 'enhancement' with photoshop etc: the image is just 'as is'.

 

[Asher Kelman]

This one here shows (literally) doors opening into summer. Taken this May inside a boat shed in our family's summer house after a long, cold winter. Thanks for watching!

Jarmo,

This photograph stands out from amongst all the others as something is actually changing. I like still life but addition of this light makes for drama. Not what is behind that door or what happened way back when but what are we about to see? It almost is religious or spiritual. Certainly is has beauty.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

In Chaniá, Crete. Just one of many stone doorcases from the period of Venetian occupation.

Photographed on a digital compact: Canon A620, ISO 100, 1/320 sec at f/4.0. Cropped from a wide-angle (7.3mm) shot. No editing 'enhancement' with photoshop etc: the image is just 'as is'.

Martin,

Interesting that you can recognize the provenance of doorways! how come you know this? We forget that Venice was a major Mediterranean sea power. Malta is a very special place. I remember there's a custom of putting a window box of fresh flowers when a young girl is ready to receive offers of betrothal.

Asher

 

[Martin Evans]

The high door

Posted just for fun: this strange little door is about 10 feet above the ground. The archway is a cart entrance to an alley in Saffron Walden, Essex. The archway is about 8 to 10 feet deep, and there is a small room or passage over it, with the door on the courtyard side.

I do not know why it was put there. You would not want to be a sleepwalker, or trying to find your way to the bathroom in the dark, if you had to spend the night here!

Pentax K-x, DAL 18-55mm kit lens at 55mm, ISO400, Av 1/125 f5.6 The Costa Coffee shop across the street has an intrusive facade, showing through the slats over the archway entrance. I have replaced it and its lettering with a neutral brown and have also suppressed some of the window reflections.

Martin

 

[Sandrine Bascouert]

I'm so drunk, that I don't remember my house number...

 

[fahim mohammed]

 

[Asher Kelman]

I'm so drunk, that I don't remember my house number...

So funny!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Very ornate and looks so Buddhist. Is it? So much I don't know! The umbrellas on each side, are they offerings?

Asher