Preconceived Ideas

I am guilty of approaching a photo shoot with a preconceived idea, I don't mean a plan of the photos I wanted to take (I always try to have some sort of plan). I was told about a disused insane asylum that is on the grounds of UQ Ipswich, it has not been renovated in the 15 years since closing. I was very excited and set about getting permission to photograph this building. I am a UQ employee so I imagined this wouldn't be very hard.... my first mistake. 6 weeks of playing email tag with different departments I finally got the go ahead. While I was waiting for permission I saw  some photos of abandoned asylums in the US, this is where the preconception came to play, I wanted to see the operating table, old chairs and theaters.

http://www.photographyblogger.net/deinstitutionalized-pictures-of-abandoned-asylums-by-justin-earsing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+photoblggr+%28Photography+Blogger%29

It was not like that at all, the Blair Pavilion is used for storage....that was my first disappointment, the building had been cleaned a few years ago so it was not a neglected as I expected. I wanted there to be old furniture in the rooms...

As a result of my disappointment I didn't even look at my photos when I loaded them to the computer, I dumped them in a folder and never intended to go back to them....until I heard that I was very lucky to be able to take these photos, a work colleague told me that she has worked at Ipswich campus for 10 years and has never even been in the building. It is a no go zone. This prompted me to go back and look at my photos...so I could send her one or two.

They were a lot better than I originally thought, which makes me wonder should I leave my photos for a few weeks before editing? Probably not, but it would be a good idea to go back and look at my raw files after a few weeks, I might see something I had dismissed the first time.

It was a rainy day when I took these photos, I liked the clouds around the old building

The current security guard posed for a shot for me

Names of the patients are still on the doors

Scratch marks on the door from when the patients where is lock down

Long corridor

Inmate art - preserved

Adam and Eve - no separate bathrooms. No privacy 

Old Farm house

I had the most amazing day exploring an old farm house last week. I have seen this house a few times in my travels to Kenilworth for bird photos and Kitfox has mentioned that he would love to explore inside one day…

The one day came, we jumped the fence and made our way cautiously through the house, the termites have been busy and most of the floor was paper thin, I found the best way to move around was close to the walls.

I was amazed at how much was left in this abandoned house there was a fridge, TV, cassette player, cutlery, even toothbrushes. It looks like the owners just walked away. A few people I have shown photos to say there must have been squatters using the house…I wonder about that, the TV and fridge need power and running water for the bath and sink. There is no water on the property that I could see and a free camp ground less than 2km up the road next to a creek and toilets. I still think the owners walked away, leaving the telly, fridge, cupboards and anything else that was unimportant to them, perhaps there has been squatters and trespassers who took other things that were left…who knows.

What I do know is I went back on Sunday with RaRa and someone had moved things. ***funny story, RaRa was a bit freaked out being in the house, every time a car went past she froze thinking it would be the owners or the police, we didn’t stay long because she was freaked, however she got worse when we returned to the fence to climb over, on the way into the property she stood on a log (like fire wood), when we came out it was gone. She was so worried because someone came while we were inside. Me I thought perhaps the other people who came  between my visits, saw my car and thought I was the owner and they had better move their log as it showed where they climbed the fence***