Strathmartine Asylum
Discussion
Ive been exploring again! this time a very derelict Childrens Asylum just outside of Dundee. Probably wont appeal to most people but i like very run down buildings. This site is huge i spend about 7 hours here and barely covered half of it a return visit is on the card.
First 12 pictures ive processed so far.
First building we went in to was very squishy.
Although a bit of a poke around and we found this area which had a wrecked Renault Megane, and in another door the shell of a Relian Rialto on its roof. This seemed very out of place.
Decided to check out this room which seemed to consist of two oil tanks a lot of rust and the lower floor flooded with oil
Moved from there rather quickly, and in to the main building(at least i think it was the main building)
The canteen was interesting with the paintings by children on the walls, nice ceiling too.
Had a wander around some of the bedrooms/wards, pretty dark in most of them due to the windows being boarded up.
Nature is definatly reclaiming the recreation hall
Continued on through the rest of the main building which seems to get worse the further you get in to it.
Decided to check out the buildings further in to the site, these are the ones half way up the hill(shouldve checked a map or something to get the names of these buildings). However there was little of interest in them just a lot of BB pellets i assume from Airsoft games.
After this we decided to check out the buildings at the top of the hill, however our clumsiness caused a rather loud noise after which we heard someone in the distance say "what was that" we decided to leave after spotting someone in a fluorescent jacket coming up the road and that one of the doors of a building we were just in was now wide open. A swift exit was made with no trouble.
Shall be processing the rest of the photos i took soonish.
First 12 pictures ive processed so far.
First building we went in to was very squishy.
Although a bit of a poke around and we found this area which had a wrecked Renault Megane, and in another door the shell of a Relian Rialto on its roof. This seemed very out of place.
Decided to check out this room which seemed to consist of two oil tanks a lot of rust and the lower floor flooded with oil
Moved from there rather quickly, and in to the main building(at least i think it was the main building)
The canteen was interesting with the paintings by children on the walls, nice ceiling too.
Had a wander around some of the bedrooms/wards, pretty dark in most of them due to the windows being boarded up.
Nature is definatly reclaiming the recreation hall
Continued on through the rest of the main building which seems to get worse the further you get in to it.
Decided to check out the buildings further in to the site, these are the ones half way up the hill(shouldve checked a map or something to get the names of these buildings). However there was little of interest in them just a lot of BB pellets i assume from Airsoft games.
After this we decided to check out the buildings at the top of the hill, however our clumsiness caused a rather loud noise after which we heard someone in the distance say "what was that" we decided to leave after spotting someone in a fluorescent jacket coming up the road and that one of the doors of a building we were just in was now wide open. A swift exit was made with no trouble.
Shall be processing the rest of the photos i took soonish.
SamHH said:
Nice photos.
Where do you find out about these places? Do you have to be very clandestine to get in?
Just searching on the internet really, the Buildings at Risk register for scotland is a great resource. These places aren never well secured and just has one guard as far as i saw so its not much of a sneak really, I would never enter a place that involved forcing my way in.Where do you find out about these places? Do you have to be very clandestine to get in?
Its when you get to semi-active and places that have just closed where you have to be really sneaky. I tend to avoid these places as it leaves you constantly on edge id rather be somewhere where i can take my time getting photos.
Liking these mole, esp the rusty tanks, yellow chair and decaying stairwell. Was that you with the JCB in a field HDR last year - you've come a long way 
I'm generally not an HDR fan but it gives so much more to the images in environments like this. Out of interest do you tend to bracket consistently across a 5/ 7/ 9/ ? stop range or specifically meter for the areas you're shooting. And what about the light outside - I guess both strong sunlight and overcast conditions bring their own particular feel to an image but do you have a preference?
I'm generally not an HDR fan but it gives so much more to the images in environments like this. Out of interest do you tend to bracket consistently across a 5/ 7/ 9/ ? stop range or specifically meter for the areas you're shooting. And what about the light outside - I guess both strong sunlight and overcast conditions bring their own particular feel to an image but do you have a preference?
AndWhyNot said:
Liking these mole, esp the rusty tanks, yellow chair and decaying stairwell. Was that you with the JCB in a field HDR last year - you've come a long way
I'm generally not an HDR fan but it gives so much more to the images in environments like this. Out of interest do you tend to bracket consistently across a 5/ 7/ 9/ ? stop range or specifically meter for the areas you're shooting. And what about the light outside - I guess both strong sunlight and overcast conditions bring their own particular feel to an image but do you have a preference?
Ah yeah took this a couple of years a go I'm generally not an HDR fan but it gives so much more to the images in environments like this. Out of interest do you tend to bracket consistently across a 5/ 7/ 9/ ? stop range or specifically meter for the areas you're shooting. And what about the light outside - I guess both strong sunlight and overcast conditions bring their own particular feel to an image but do you have a preference?
at least I think thats the one you are meaning.In these buildings I usually bracket 5 shots unless there is some extreme contrast then I will bracket 7 or 9. I prefer strong sunlight for these images usually looks quite good coming through windows/holes in walls. I usually go for the more subtle approach to HDR but these are just some experiments to highlight the level of decay in these places.
For landscapes I bracket 9 frames, and use HDR just to increase the dynamic range, although I have some decent ND grad filters now so when it comes to Autumn and I start landscape photography again that will probably replace my need for HDR for most situations.
this was bracketed nine frames and actually how it looked to my eyes at the time >
I enjoy landscape photography more than abandoned buildings, I just dislike taking landscape photos in spring/summer.
Edited by ...Mole... on Tuesday 27th July 09:43
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