Slippage in cohesion

Most of the time I’m a realist when it comes to photo processing. I rely on the natural light to create a mood instead of trying to artificially construct one in the computer. The mutability of light and weather is one of the things that makes photography so interesting and diverse. Most of the time it’s wonderful, but when you’re trying for a cohesive set of images, it can be a challenge.

When I hit the road for some abandonment photography, the sky was pretty cloudy. Not quite overcast since there were some breaks now and then, but the light was pretty flat and gave a consistently hard look. Except this once –

I only got a shot or two with this light; it was that fast. I wish I’d been a bit further back, but in a few seconds it was over. As a set, it is out of place, but I don’t really mind since it is an overall pleasing image. The contradiction of the welcoming light and the forbidding ruin makes it work. At least for me. Then we were back to bleak.

If I were exhibiting them or displaying them as a set, I’d probably find a way to get them to match or use another shot of the house from that angle when the light was back to flat and cold. Flat and cold is a popular way to showcase these kinds of pictures so the warm glowing one is more of a stand out. Maybe I could work the rest to match that one! Not likely. That kind of soft sunlight is hard to fake.

I was already trespassing a bit when I shot these, and a farmer had left his combine right across the street from the driveway where I parked, so I didn’t poke around too much and I didn’t go in any of the buildings. A fellow Wisconsinite recently made me aware of some shots he took of this same house years back. It had siding and windows still on it and from those you could tell there’s been a fire. Probably electrical.

All the more reason to keep safety as my priority over photos. No sense getting myself wrecked over a wreck. Still, the shots he got from the interior were interesting. Check them out.