Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

[Dennis Bishop]

The good thing about traveling is taking advantage of opportunities to photograph subjects that just aren't available near home. For me, at least, the bad thing is having to wait until getting back home to process them. Our first major stop in a long trip that ended yesterday, was a shoot at the former Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston WV. The hospital was started about the time of the Civil War, and it went out of business almost 20 years ago. It's open for photography four times during the year. Although it would've been better if the afternoon session on February 10 started early enough to have had better light near the end, the experience was incredible.

While there were wonderful photographic opportunities and challenges, I couldn't help wonder what it might've been like to have been a patient, there. I inadvertently got into a conversation with a native of the area whose mother had been admitted when he was 15 years old. Some 45 years later, the memories obviously still haunted him. It was the contrast between the brightly painted rooms with light streaming in the windows on hand and the overall condition of the inside and the darkness of the hall on the other that struck me when I happened upon this scene.

Nikon D3S, ISO 640, f/22, zoom lens at 17mm, seven-exposure HDR at 1 EV intervals

processing highlights

• Topaz Simplify -- Watercolor II, masked in a very small area
• Nik Color Efex -- Tonal Contrast, masked from rooms
• Nik Color Efex -- Glamour Glow, Normal blend mode, masked to reveal only in the rooms and the light spilling into the hall
• Nik Color Efex -- Glamour Glow, Screen blend mode, masked to reveal only in the blue and yellow rooms and associated light spilling into the hall
• Nik Viveza -- subdued the contrast in the right hand door
• Redfield Fractalius -- two different b&w presets based on the old Sketch preset, Multiply blend mode
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- b&w preset based on Stylize Line Art, Multiply blend mode
• uniform gradient vignette

[Kerry Perkins]

Super image Dennis! I love the different colors from each room and the edge detail you achieved. The image portrays the haunting loneliness that must have been felt by the residents. Excellent use of light and shadow.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dennis, I love the fact that the image is akilter as I'm sure the patients' lives were also. There is such a contrast between the cheery colors with light streaming in and the stark reality of what life must have been like there. Very nice filter choice (as always).

[Nancy Bell]

Dennis, this is all too well done. Those abstract and cracked lines on the walls and floors, the strong bars on the windows, the sharp lines of light and shadow, the tall ceiling that makes the place feel cold & full of echoes, all speak silently to the chaos and fear of the days when the rooms and halls were full of patients. When I was young, my church thought it would be a good idea for the youth group to visit the children's ward of a nearby insane asylum and I guess we were supposed to play with them. I was probably 7 and I clearly remember my fear and horror of the sad children in exactly such a gruesome and institutional place. I also remember when everyone was leaving and I got mixed up with the wrong group and was nearly left behind!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Dennis - I really like the juxtaposition of the colors against the institutional lines. The filters worked really well. One small thing - there's a white spot on the doorjamb of the yellow room that I would remove. Just catches my eye.

TFS,
Rachel

[gary ellwein]

A masterful job of simplifying the image and accentuating the color of the rooms and sunlight against the drab corridor.

[Mitch Carucci]

Really great use of effects. Well conceived and thought out. Love the flow of light.

[Jeannean Ryman]

Agree with everything from above! Well done!