Filed under: Favorites, Photography, Urbex by ramune

This Valentine’s Day was the best ever, and it wasn’t for any romantic reason either. My friend Maya and I drove out to an abandoned mental institution (dream come true) and explored two of the numerous buildings in the complex. I found the place because one of my Flickr contacts had been there the previous weekend and had taken some really great shots and was kind enough to give me some tips on how to find it. When we arrived it was so much more amazing than I could have imagined. I thought maybe there would be a few buildings, but there were more than I can even remember. I have already decided that I am going to make a map of the complex, number the buildings and jot down notes on what’s in each one so that I can remember which ones I have been in and which ones are worth going back to. Believe you me . . . I will be going back there a number of times, it is my new playground.

While we were there we ran into another photographer who told us a bit of history about the place. The place was supposedly started in the 1920s as an institution for the mentally retarded and was finally closed down in 1991. There is not much information online about it, but it appears that it had a pretty sordid past full of abuse and experimentation. I hope my excitement about the asylum does not come off as callus, as I can’t even imagine the horrors that people must have suffered in institutions like this, but I feel so lucky to be able to explore this rusty and undoubtedly asbestos-filled complex that has so much history just lying all over the place. It’s really like something out of a film, but I guess what they say is true, “Fact is stranger than fiction.”

These are just a few photos, more can be seen here, and I will continue to add them as I go back.

We didn’t make it into this building . . .

I could spend all day taking photos of peeling paint (lead anyone?)

I have a soft spot for red chairs and light blue/green backgrounds

I like the idea of nature reclaiming man-made buildings

Maya found this very appropriate Valentine sticker on a door. Creepy and appropriate!

Filed under: Collaboration, Experimental, Photography by ramune

Back in November or December Scott gave me a roll of film to start a double exposure collaboration, the idea being that I would shoot the full roll, rewind it and give it back to him to shoot over. I wanted to try something a bit different, so I put the roll in my lomo fisheye, hoping that it would create an interesting result. I gave the roll back to Scott in early January and he shot over it with his Konica. He then scanned and cut them how he thought they looked best. Here are a few of my favorites and the rest can be seen here. Some of them turned out pretty well and others were not as exciting.

If you have a film camera and have any interest in doing a double exposure collaboration, let me know, I would love to do more.

Filed under: Photography, Silliness, taste by ramune

February 5th, 2009 is World Nutella Day! Unfortunately I only found this out at 2:30 PM today, but I still had enough time to run out and buy myself a jar of Nutella (I know . . . how could I not already have a case in the pantry?). Initially I had grand visions of dunking my face in a vat (or a smaller vessel for practical purposes) of the amazing hazelnutty chocolaty goodness, but due to plans for the evening (not a wise decision to show up to dinner with a face covered in Nutella . . . or is it?) I decided to share my love with Bobute, who has traveled the world (well only Europe so far) with me. Normally she has Black Raspberry ice cream but for this special day she switched it up and got a special treat.

I was not the only one celebrating World Nutella Day though, Samer actually took my idea and put it to use. If you are on the East Coast you only have another 20 minutes of World Nutella Day, so find the nearest Nutella jar and start scooping.

02.09.09 UPDATE – My entry made it onto the World Nutella Day 2009 roundup!

Filed under: Jewelry, Process by ramune

Last Monday I was all excited to start my enamels class and wanted to make sure I didn’t waste a minute of potential kiln time, so I did some prep work. I got out my dwindling supply of ferric chloride and put in a few copper pieces to etch. I used asphaltum (black) on some and DecoColor paint marker (red) on others so I could try both methods and see the results on the same design. The asphaltum holds up better in the acid, but needs to be painted on and does not lend itself to detailed design (or maybe I just need to find better brushes). The DecoColor paint marker is far easier to draw with, but breaks down a lot faster. I think this was the last run for the ferric chloride (or close to it) as it took me six hours to etch this deep when it usually only takes around three.

Unfortunately I did all that prep work and then my class was canceled (for the third week in a row) due to the fact that the DC area can’t handle an inch of snow. The coffee shop I went to on Tuesday closed at 4:30 “due to weather” as well. DC needs to learn how to deal with snow, it’s not like we’ve never had it before. At least today I finally have my first class.