What started out as a trip to the Lenoir Preserve in hopes of finding some flowers, butterflies and hopefully a dragonfly or 2, turned into something completely different. After getting tired of the butterflies, we decided to see if we could make our way down a trail and get closer to the Hudson River. We stumbled onto a very well traveled walking path running parallel to the river and after following it for a few minutes spotted the back of an old abandoned house. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to get in. All of the visible windows were covered in bars and there was no way around to the front. We continued in the direction we were going and eventually found a small driveway leading up to the front of the house. What we couldn’t see from the walking path was a 2nd house a little bit higher up the hill.

When we finally reached the house we could see how big it really was. It was massive, with 5 garages on the main floor and one more leading to the basement around the side.

D200, Sigma 10-20mm @20mm, F4.0 1/60th, ISO 220

D200, Sigma 17-70mm @38mm, F3.8 1/60th, ISO 900

This next shot was taken in the basement, which was piled high with old file cabinets, furniture, etc. As you can see I was pushing my camera to it’s limit. I’m fortunate that this shot came out as clear as it did at 1/10th of a second hand held.

D200, Sigma 17-70mm @17mm, F2.8 1/10th, ISO 1600

In the 2nd house, on the way to the upstairs I snapped this picture. I didn’t think it was anything special at the time, but there is something about it that keeps making me come back to look at it.

D200, Sigma 17-70mm @17mm, F2.8 1/10th, ISO 1600

Finally, this is probably my favorite shot of the day. In one of the last rooms in a far corner of the first house I found this chair sitting in front of a window. The room was almost empty, but the chair was perfectly positioned like someone had been recently sitting in it.

D200, Sigma 17-70mm @17mm, F2.8 1/20th, ISO 1600

Recently I have been hoping to find someplace like this to photograph so this was a really great surprise and a whole lot more fun than shooting butterflies and flowers. If I could only run into places like this more often. The rest of the images can be seen here.

I thought I would finish off the week with a few more black and white shots from my city trip. I am now official hooked on architectural photography. I have always loved macro photography and repeating patterns and I think it really shows in my architecture photos. I have very few shots of entire buildings and only used my favorite 10-20mm lens a few times during the day. I was more interested in making large scale “macro” shots out of the patterns seen on the buildings, and I was very happy with the rusults.

D200, Sigma 17-70mm @ 70mm, F4.5 1/500th

D200, Sigma 17-70mm @ 70mm, F7.1 1/160th

D200, Sigma 17-70mm @ 70mm, F7.1 1/160th

You can see a few more pictures in my smugmug gallery here. http://paulberge.smugmug.com/gallery/3156235/1/173353248

I hope to add a few more shots soon. I just need to find the time to post process the rest.

This is one of my favorite shots of the day. We had been walking around the city for about 5 hours and covered a pretty large area. After taking the subway from Grand Central to 23rd street, we ended the day in front of the Supreme Court building and it was time to head back. We found the nearest subway station, which happens to be the last stop on the line and when we got down the stairs, there wasn’t a single person in sight. I took advantage of this rare opportunity and snapped this picture.
D200, Sigma 17-70mm

I felt that a large number of my shoots looked much better in black and white. The architectural details are just not seen in newer buildings anymore.
D200, Sigma 17-70mm @70mm, F5.6 1/125th

Another shot from my trip into the city. I love the repeating patterns of the fire escapes.

D200, Sigma 17-70mm @70mm, F4.5 1/60th