Glad to see this new section made, lots of good stuff coming out.
Alright, so here's the story. The intern from my office happened to be taking a photography class at the local community college, and had a final project to do. Her brother is a 'professional' underground graffiti artist, so she wanted to get some shots of him working. I got invited along at the last minute since it was all spur of the moment stuff.
I'm including unedited shots in this collection, if you just want my edits in a collected gallery, go to [URL=http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown]the gallery[/url].
A group of us ended up all going to Waukegan, IL (kind of a latin ghetto but still near nice areas) and found an old bridge to climb under. From on top, it just looks like another section of road with guard rails, there's a cafe and a bar on it and a parking lot on the other side.
[t]http://gyazo.com/dd34d6fb4aab05a4ca3eaad7b52ed151.png[/t]
Sneaking down into the trees in the parking lot, you find yourself quite somewhere else.
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0845.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0850.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0851.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0862.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0866.jpg[/IMG]
Nearly everything (that actually looks properly done) down there is this guy's work, save for the obvious construction markings, and the gang tags scribbled everywhere. There is a construction marker that's been stood up in the open with a name tagged on it. The guy who tagged it is dead, and it's there to pay respects.
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0893.jpg[/IMG]
Everything has a warm cast, because quite frankly it was sweltering under the bridge, despite being near sunset. I didn't have my flash with me so I had to work with less than ideal conditions at high ISO with a wide aperture, and even then the shots underneath the bridge without sunlight needed quite a bit of tinkering in lightroom.
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0895.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0902.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0908.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0914.jpg[/IMG]
[t]http://gyazo.com/d7844ff85ceda6e33595277a30d5fd75.png[/t]
After shooting on one side of the bridge, we decided we couldn't get across the small creek dry.
We chose to climb back up where we came in, and walk around the block. Up at street level, there were fancy cars parked in spaces right up in the center of the bridge. Kind of surreal going from the derelict underbelly to this sight
[img]http://gyazo.com/fc8cb2c3166e5dbb440e548e3e738edf.png[/img]
So, we walked around the block. Just after turning the corner, you're faced with an interesting sight-
[img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2011/04/13/babcoxsouth_1.gif[/img]
this building: The county prison. Ooh boy, didn't know we were across the street from [i]that[/i], with a kid carrying a backpack full of spray paint.
So, what we do is walk around the corner from that, in the shadow of the building, and into the adjacent parking lot, it's for a piano store. It's the other end of the same building that the bars connected to the bridge were in. The sign in the front of the store blinked "OPEN" in our faces, several stories of open windows facing us.
So what did our tour guide do? Walk straight toward the building through the occupied parking lot, and climb right into the bushes next to the front door and run down a steep hill to the side. Turned out to be the side of [url=http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0866.jpg]the building you see earlier here[/url]. Hooray, we're now on the other side of the creek.
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0918.jpg[/img]
We find more graffiti, and our friend drops his backpack and puts on some rubber gloves, choosing to work on top of some old scribbles.
[img]http://gyazo.com/3d0e728c2ce388b0653ecb78a3664208.png[/img]
[img]http://gyazo.com/bf088ea3ca256a6ae38e7384eb12150f.png[/img]
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0928.jpg[/img]
While he works, the rest of us get back to shooting, doing the actual photoshoot for the intern girl, who was supposed to be a subject for her theme. Her idea was something delicate in a dangerous place, and so the idea of a girl in a red dress out in a place like that spiked. I like the idea.
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0989_Edit.jpg[/img]
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC1037.jpg[/img]
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC1043.jpg[/img]
caught one last ray of light for this shot, looked like this straight off the camera
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC1051.jpg[/img]
her photo class partner was using my monopod, the D7000's high ISO performance let me shoot faster and clearer shots in the dark areas than their D40. /technobabble
[img]http://gyazo.com/0a94674935646433fa6836680d6c6e40.png[/img]
[img]http://gyazo.com/b2219fc1cf33ec816479815d6bf3201e.png[/img]
Her brother finished while we worked, and we ended up solving the flash-less problem by using the two cameras together, taking the shot with mine and flashing the shot with the other off to the side. Came out OK, I suppose.
[img]http://gyazo.com/61a7981155bd07af20224942d2f7a735.png[/img]
(Zoey is his daughter's name)
And that was my little adventure as a skinny nerdy white guy hanging out with a handful of latinos and a black dude in a drug-war addled latin ghetto area spraying graffiti in the shadow of a massive prison building. For more photo stuff, I've started posting new sets into a single thread here- [url]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1089604-Dai-s-Photoworks[/url]
Nice location, also, artistic pictures.
I noticed this buiding in the background though:
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0866.jpg[/img]
It does look a little abandoned, if it is you might check that one out as well.
[QUOTE=OatmealMan;31436338]
It does look a little abandoned, if it is you might check that one out as well.[/QUOTE]
the floor(s?) below street level are unoccupied, or at least unattended on the outside. Ground level on the bridge-side had the bars and stuff, prison-side is the piano store. It could very well be storage for these locations.
the door with all the bricks pouring out of it had an open gate, but the door was bolted shut. All the windows were barred too.
[img]http://gyazo.com/bd6ece2545570b247c7b5f42fcf1c42b.png[/img]
Love the location and the atmosphere.
The construction markings look pretty cool. Makes the bridge have character.
these pictures are awesome
[QUOTE=dai;31436173]Glad to see this new section made, lots of good stuff coming out.
Alright, so here's the story. The intern from my office happened to be taking a photography class at the local community college, and had a final project to do. Her brother is a 'professional' underground graffiti artist, so she wanted to get some shots of him working. I got invited along at the last minute since it was all spur of the moment stuff.
I'm including unedited shots in this collection, if you just want my edits in a collected gallery, go to [URL=http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown]the gallery[/url].
A group of us ended up all going to Waukegan, IL (kind of a latin ghetto but still near nice areas) and found an old bridge to climb under. From on top, it just looks like another section of road with guard rails, there's a cafe and a bar on it and a parking lot on the other side.
[t]http://gyazo.com/dd34d6fb4aab05a4ca3eaad7b52ed151.png[/t]
Sneaking down into the trees in the parking lot, you find yourself quite somewhere else.
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0845.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0850.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0851.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0862.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0866.jpg[/IMG]
Nearly everything (that actually looks properly done) down there is this guy's work, save for the obvious construction markings, and the gang tags scribbled everywhere. There is a construction marker that's been stood up in the open with a name tagged on it. The guy who tagged it is dead, and it's there to pay respects.
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0893.jpg[/IMG]
Everything has a warm cast, because quite frankly it was sweltering under the bridge, despite being near sunset. I didn't have my flash with me so I had to work with less than ideal conditions at high ISO with a wide aperture, and even then the shots underneath the bridge without sunlight needed quite a bit of tinkering in lightroom.
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0895.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0902.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0908.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0914.jpg[/IMG]
[t]http://gyazo.com/d7844ff85ceda6e33595277a30d5fd75.png[/t]
After shooting on one side of the bridge, we decided we couldn't get across the small creek dry.
We chose to climb back up where we came in, and walk around the block. Up at street level, there were fancy cars parked in spaces right up in the center of the bridge. Kind of surreal going from the derelict underbelly to this sight
[img]http://gyazo.com/fc8cb2c3166e5dbb440e548e3e738edf.png[/img]
So, we walked around the block. Just after turning the corner, you're faced with an interesting sight-
[img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2011/04/13/babcoxsouth_1.gif[/img]
this building: The county prison. Ooh boy, didn't know we were across the street from [i]that[/i], with a kid carrying a backpack full of spray paint.
So, what we do is walk around the corner from that, in the shadow of the building, and into the adjacent parking lot, it's for a piano store. It's the other end of the same building that the bars connected to the bridge were in. The sign in the front of the store blinked "OPEN" in our faces, several stories of open windows facing us.
So what did our tour guide do? Walk straight toward the building through the occupied parking lot, and climb right into the bushes next to the front door and run down a steep hill to the side. Turned out to be the side of [url=http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0866.jpg]the building you see earlier here[/url]. Hooray, we're now on the other side of the creek.
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0918.jpg[/img]
We find more graffiti, and our friend drops his backpack and puts on some rubber gloves, choosing to work on top of some old scribbles.
[img]http://gyazo.com/3d0e728c2ce388b0653ecb78a3664208.png[/img]
[img]http://gyazo.com/bf088ea3ca256a6ae38e7384eb12150f.png[/img]
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0928.jpg[/img]
While he works, the rest of us get back to shooting, doing the actual photoshoot for the intern girl, who was supposed to be a subject for her theme. Her idea was something delicate in a dangerous place, and so the idea of a girl in a red dress out in a place like that spiked. I like the idea.
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC0989_Edit.jpg[/img]
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC1037.jpg[/img]
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC1043.jpg[/img]
caught one last ray of light for this shot, looked like this straight off the camera
[img]http://rocphotography.net/Galleries/Urbex/WaukTown/photos/_ROC1051.jpg[/img]
her photo class partner was using my monopod, the D7000's high ISO performance let me shoot faster and clearer shots in the dark areas than their D40. /technobabble
[img]http://gyazo.com/0a94674935646433fa6836680d6c6e40.png[/img]
[img]http://gyazo.com/b2219fc1cf33ec816479815d6bf3201e.png[/img]
Her brother finished while we worked, and we ended up solving the flash-less problem by using the two cameras together, taking the shot with mine and flashing the shot with the other off to the side. Came out OK, I suppose.
[img]http://gyazo.com/61a7981155bd07af20224942d2f7a735.png[/img]
(Zoey is his daughter's name)
And that was my little adventure as a skinny nerdy white guy hanging out with a handful of latinos and a black dude in a drug-war addled latin ghetto area spraying graffiti in the shadow of a massive prison building. For more photo stuff, I've started posting new sets into a single thread here- [url]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1089604-Dai-s-Photoworks[/url][/QUOTE]
Hey man i was wondering if you can some how show me the rest of these pics, some of them are showing up as broken files. im the graffiti guy and i thought it was pretty cool too find these. please let me know if you can. thank you
Ya they are showing as broken for me too. Graffiti guy speaks the truth.
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