Having a good connection with some serious Urbexers has been an amazing resource for creating some weird photography in some very unsettling places.
After a tip-off from a fellow explorer and a quick search on one of the Urbex websites to just make sure there were no security issues, a daytime trip was made to a hotel complex only 3 miles down the road. The site was massive and consisted of the main but smaller original hotel building and a much larger and more modern building that housed the leisure, entertainment and restaurants. The hotel had been very successful back in the 60's and 70's and as such had purchased many of the domestic buildings that surrounded it and had converted these houses and bungalows into more exclusive hotel accommodation. It took a good 3 hours of exploring and of course a return trip under the cover of darkness was on the cards, that evening.
The hotel had only been closed for a couple of years and the land had been bought by a property developer but had been left whilst tree preservation orders were challenged and other details slowing down the development of the site. A few visits by the local yobos had made the place look a little worse for wear but who doesn't like a bit of peeling paint and a few collapsing ceilings to add to the atmosphere.
These shots form part of a series of images that were shot in 2015-2016. I keep saying to myself now that I have improved a little since then I should re-visit some of these shots and see if I can create something similar but with better composition, framing, distance from the subject, accuracy and balance of the lighting, We'll see.
Maybe now is the time!
WHAT IS LIGHTPAINTING?
