“We do, we do.” – Masonic Temple Pt. 2
We made our way out of the theater to explore the rest of the half demolished building. We climbed past a pile of rubble, and finally located a staircase that was not caved in or demolished. We made our way to the second floor to find a door that opened to absolutely nothing - a crane had demolished the building past this door.
Remnants of what the building used to be used for litter the hallway. Mason-branded seats, paper donning the masonic symbol, even this large masonic symbol. The G in the center of the compass/rule stands for God and geometry, if you were wondering (I was, that's why I Googled it).
The walls to the right of these rooms were completely gone, allowing light to flood into the structure.
Finally, we come to the sad but inevitable demolition photos. I went back on an active demolition day to get one of my favorite and most short-lived abandoned buildings.
“Welcome to the club, Number 493″” – Masonic Temple Pt. 1
I'm usually very secretive about the places that I go, this is not because I'm trying to be stingy with the locations that I photograph or that I wouldn't like others to be able to experience the places that I do, but also because there are a lot of bad people out there looking to scrap, tag, and vandalize these beautiful places. The easiest way to keep my information from leading a vandal to these locations is to only give the information to those that I trust.
In this case, I'm going to be completely open. What I'm about to post are photos of the now completely demolished Hammond Masonic Temple. Unfortunately, this beautiful place went from complete building to pile of rubble so quickly I was only able to get to it twice before it was completely gone.
First off, a few views of the main theater - this place was MASSIVE. A large sign hidden above the stage behind a faux ceiling read "Orak Temple", most likely placed when the theater was originally built and hidden from the public during a renovation at some point.
Gary Homes
I'm so backlogged. I have a ton of photos to post before and after this, but I figured since I'm sitting around doing nothing I'd share a set with you guys.
This particular set consists of a day that we spent primarily exploring a residential area in Gary that is largely abandoned. The place used to be full of incredibly wealthy people and the buildings reflect that. There's nothing under two stories on the block and one of the two houses that we checked out felt like a model home to show off retro technology.
First house was pretty much stripped bare. It looks like whoever owned the house had planned on renovating it at one point, but never got around with it. We could tell that the house was ancient by the method in which the walls were built.
It was a three story house that I unfortunately took no exteriors of. The interior on the bottom two floors was shrouded in complete darkness, so I took most of my photos in the upper story.
This particular photo was taken immediately after I ascended the stairs. They were surprisingly sturdy given the shape of the entire house and the wood banister alongside the steps barely gave even as I leaned on it a bit for balance.
The attic was impressive. Well lit, and the walls were just insane. The place wasn't even that dirty.
This photo came out ridiculously well given the perceived lighting in the room. Since I went from such a bright room to this room, I had no idea that any photo that I took would turn out successfully. The odd angle at which the light came into the room under the planked up window really ended up working well for this one. The photo looks insane, but it was barely edited from my camera to how you see it here. The blobs on the walls are created by water damage I assume.
We left one home and figured out a way into the second. Since they were right next to each other it was a pretty quick trek, although a few of the group and myself became lost in some of the tall weeds and had a bit of trouble finding the entrance to the damn place. Eventually we found an external stairway leading to an open basement door.
The basement was dark, but full of character. We could tell this place was going to be interesting already. Interesting side note: today was the day that I figured out that an animal can become mummified completely naturally in the dry basement of an abandoned building. There was a possum corpse on the floor that a friend of mine accidentally shuffled into. It sounded like paper mache as it slid across the floor. Unfortunately, it was a bit too dark to document.
Two variations of the basement - one underexposed to emphasize the "pi door".
We made our way upstairs and were greeted to a kitchen that would send any retro-fiend into fits of kitsch-induced bliss. Unfortunately, it was a dark kitchen with very little space to set up a tripod. In-counter stovetops, a retro clock built right into the wall, turquoise colors everywhere - the cupboards were actually still stocked with all sorts of old foods. It was crazy.
We moved out of that room and into another. Apparently the study as a bookshelf was built into the wall. The room was interesting, but full of other people trying to get a photo, so I just skipped it and moved to the entryway. The hallway was beautiful, with a curved ceiling and some pretty awesome push-button power switches.
We wandered around a bit more before finding another interesting aspect of the house - a stairway leading to a completely planked over top floor. From what I can tell, it seems as if the owner came upon hard times and ended up leasing the complete top story to a guest. Luckily, we didn't have to do any of the dirty work as someone else had busted through the floor before us. I took the opportunity to take a photo of my friend awkwardly making his way up the stairs and through the hole.
That's it for now! I hope to get back to a few of these places soon because they were really intriguing to me.
See more of my abandoned photos on my main site: http://www.cityeyesphoto.com/index.php?x=browse&category=29
Tim and Eric Awesome Tour Chicago 2009, Great job!
Insane absurdist skit comedians Tim and Eric as well as many of their friends performed to a sold out crowd in Chicago recently and, lucky me, I was able to take photos of it.
First, a little bit of explanation to those who have no idea who the guys are, they're the creators of possibly the most insane show on television today. The show is filled with jabs at bad public broadcasting, karaoke hits, guest stars out the ears, and just about anything that'd make someone unacquainted to the show confused and possibly uncomfortable. I'll put it this way: a small, animated. screaming baby with an overly hairy face named "Chippy" is a common occurrence in between skits on the program. It's that weird.
The question is, does the show translate well to the stage? The answer - yes. Freaking absolutely.
The night started as any show night does. Waiting in line. It was cold. By cold I mean mind numbingly cold. The kind of cold that saps every bit of feeling from your extremities. Completely ignorant of that fact, hundreds were already lined up for the sold-out show over an hour before the doors were even planned to open. Finally, after a long wait, the queue was checked for camera equipment and let through to wait in front of the stage, enjoying some ambient Tim and Eric music in the meantime.
After a short wait, DJ Douggpound, a friend of Tim and Eric as well as the guy responsible for the theme song for the show as well as a lot of music featured in the show, came out on stage and worked the crowd.
Dj Douggpound works the crowd.
The main event began. A melodic techno-tune fills the air involving the word "diarrhea", and finally, Tim and Eric burst onto stage in their patented skin-tight costumes. Yellow this time around. The place went wild.
Tim and Eric dance for the crowd
Following the introduction, the show exploded into a menagerie of skits and video interludes reminiscent of the television program that we had all come to love. It included throwbacks to Awesome Show as well as completely original material that hadn't been seen before (for instance, Tim and Eric tried to sell the audience a hot tub in an effort to give us the special "Tim and Eric TOUCH"). Guest appearances were abound.
James Quall - Dun dun dun dun dun dun.
The puppet is looking at me....
Sire Sings "Sexual Romance"
Also, a surprise visit from John C. Reilly as the much-loved character Dr. Steve Brule. Unfortunately, I don't have the permission to post the photos that I took of him, so maybe another time.
To finish up, I'm going to dump a large bunch of the rest of my photos. I'm no writer, so I can't really say much more past the fact that the show was excellent and I recommend it to literally everyone who is a fan of the duo go see it. Even if you're not a fan and want to experience something like nothing you've experienced before, go see it.
Beaver Boys
Beaver Boy Eric
Spaghett Sings!
Spaghett tosses petals to the crowd
David Liebe Hart gets into it
Eric in all of his Magnificence
Tim and Eric Ta Ta Ta Touch
Eric Explosion!
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Double Silo Quickie
I hit two silos a while back, figured I'd put them both together. The first was an old grain silo. I have no history on the actual building, but it looks to have been active before the 60's and maybe even as far back as the 30's. The inside was almost too dark to take photos:
We climbed up the hulking structure, crossing frighteningly decayed cement walkways to get to another section where we could climb to the top. I took a quick photo of some of the coolest industrial equipment I'd ever seen:
The relative darkness of the inside compared to the bright winter day made it difficult to take many photos. I snapped one more shot before leaving that I really ended up liking. It turned out looking like it was processed, but this went straight from my camera to my computer with only a little leveling, temperature correction, and sharpening in between:
The second silo, oddly, looks like a gigantic castle. We didn't know exactly where it was, but we followed it's hulking presence on the horizon until we finally were able to park across the street and wander to it from there. We walked along some tracks until we were right next to the structure.
The inside of the first part of the silo was dark and full of dirt. Long rains had obviously washed in every surrounding bit of soil, which cascaded in through the windows. Small holes in the concrete let the light in. Unfortunately, there was no way to the higher floors as time had taken its toll on the steel ladders, which were either sprawled on the floor or barely intact.
As we walked from the first section the second, I took a photo. The wind between them was unbelievable.
There was very little in the second area past the same dirt and holes in the first. Jordan pointed this out to me and I thought it was pretty hilarious.
To see more of my abandoned photos, check out my main site.
Chicago Hospital Complex Exploration pt. 2
We started the day with plans to explore two abandoned hospitals in the area. The hospital has been a historic point of Chicago since it was built and even had a popular TV sitcom based on it. The hallways were gigantic, but also very empty. Being a county hospital, the city had pinched every penny from the closure that they could.
There was almost nothing left but the structure of this building. Rooms stood completely empty with only a scrap or two of metal or a radiator against the wall.:
Making our way up to the top floor, we could see the Chicago skyline outside of the window. I wound my way through a small hallway to find an oddly placed auditorium that was probably used for the observation of surgeries at one point. The floor of the auditorium where the instructor once stood was now completely filled with what seemed to be heating equipment. A hulking wall of aluminum blocked us from going any further down the stairs.
The hallways were as gutted as the actual rooms. I have no idea why, but dirt was covering the ground of this 7th floor hallway.
We exited the first of our destinations and made our way to the second. This hospital, midway between the point where a building is closed and the point where demolition work starts, was much more interesting. It was full of leftover equipment, records, x-rays, film - you name it. Unfortunately, we were running low on daylight so we were forced to rush through.
The hospital felt as if everyone had just gotten up and left. Not a single room in the building that we were able to explore was completely empty. Chairs, piles of records, even medical equipment was just left to rot.
The furniture in the building was dated. Seems the last time that they actually refurnished the place was in the seventies, although I'm pretty sure it closed much more recently.
The halls were dark, full of furniture and debris. Peeling paint coats floors that have paint, other halls are lined with tile that has not yet fallen off.
Meet the most frightening CPR dummy that you'll ever see.
One of the most surprising and incredible things that has ever happened to me while exploring suddenly happened. We were wandering around looking for a way to make it to the basement and something insane happened. We were in a dark stairwell. Dirty floors, peeling paint everywhere, no lights, darkness - suddenly, we opened a door and found ourself in one of the most pristine abandoned buildings that we had ever been in. It felt surreal, almost dreamlike. The colors on the walls were the same as they were when the building closed, the floors almost looked waxed. It was crazy. We were in a hurry (many windows, well lit), so I couldn't get a great photo.
More to come of course.
To see more of my abandoned photos, check out my main site.
Chicago Hospital Complex Exploration
Ok I'm back after a few weeks of slacking for some more uploady goodness.
First off, I returned to the hospital complex that I went to last time. We explored a few different buildings, although I didn't get photos in many of them because it was so dark.
The nurse's residency was one of the places that we hit. The bottom floor actually had a boarded up ballroom with wood floors, chandeliers, a fireplace - the works. There was even wood left in the fireplace from the last time that they had extinguished the flame before they abandoned the building. We walked up a few floors to find room after room.
Colorful rooms, they were painted with almost childlike colors contrasting with the dull decay of the hallway.
One of the rooms was inhabited by a particularly successful bum.
We wandered into an animal testing facility. Jordan was a bad monkey.
In the same area, they were storing all sorts of medical equipment:
To see more of my abandoned photos, check out my main site: http://www.cityeyesphoto.com/index.php?x=browse&category=29
My Tamron Lens Broke!
My Tamron 17-35 recently screwed up majorly. I have no idea what went on inside, but I went out on a full day (which seemed to be going perfectly), framed up a shot, hit the focus button - it would NOT focus. For some reason the area that the focus ring was supposed to be at was PAST infinity. I took a closer look, and my aperture ring was off-track.
So, doing what any insane photographer that wants his lens to work would do, I opened the lens up, thinking that the worst case scenario would leave me $300 down and since my job involves photography, that wouldn't be too bad.
Turns out, for some reason, the track that my aperture ring sits on was cracked and the ball bearing had become lodged into some evil area. No idea how this happened, since I have it tacked at 22 and let the camera control the f-stop.
So, I had to choose whether I should glue it, or discard the cracked fragment. I just tossed it out. Unfortunately, in the process of getting everything to work, the tiny, tiny ball bearing slipped out of my grip and flew to the floor. Not even a strong magnet could find it.
So, now I had no way to lock my aperture ring in place. It sucked, but I could live since I just keep it tacked stuck to 22. I replaced everything, closed it up, put the screws in, and fastened the aperture ring to 22 with some electrical tape (it has a tiny spring mechanism, so without the ball bearing, it doesn't stick).
Works fine now, but I figured I'd share my pain.
Indiana Exploration
Exploration Catch-Up first post:
First off, an abandoned hotel. 
Second, we hit a schoolhouse in the area. Built in 1922, it has been shut down since somewhere around 1960. 
This hallway is actually in the basement. Originally, it was made of poured concrete and could withstand the blast of an atomic bomb. 
Some of the cool paintings we found in the building: 
For some reason, a single chair and desk were all that was left in this room. The floor was drooping pretty badly, so I didn't spend too much time tromping around up there. There was a hole in the ground that led to a classroom below: 
There were a lot of weird goth things painted around the building: 
One last photo before we left the school - Jordan taking a shot in the stairwell: 
Obama’s Chicago Election Night Rally
Here comes a big set. It was an absolutely electric night. People of all types, of course, but the mood was euphoric.
Keep in mind the lighting while viewing these photos. I had the ISO cranked up to 3200 or 6400 and the temperature of the light changed so often I'd have a batch of blue photos followed by a batch of yellow photos. Either way, I'm happy with the results. Most of my photos were taken with my 50mm 1.8 prime lens, the rest were with an 18-50 and 70-200 2.8 if you're interested in technical details.
Almost immediately after getting off of the train, we were bombarded by various people selling all sorts of Obama merchandise. From shirts, to mugs, to hats, to posters, to freaking paper fans. No idea who would be interested in a paper fan in 50 degree F weather, but whatever. This particular guy was standing on a street corner selling Obama/Biden posters.
As we got closer to the fairgrounds, signs started popping up.
We were corralled into lines - sent through various checkpoints along the way to make the wait seem less. It was surprisingly streamline considering that every person entering the event was forced to open all bags and remove all metal objects before making their way through an array of metal detectors.
We made our way in, finally. It seemed almost staged. The entrance was on a raised area of the field overlooking the whole place. A sea of people stood before us, flags waving in the distance and hands raised. It was ridiculous.
The media was there, of course. This woman is apparently from CBS. The price of media passes were insane ($900+ per pass), so unfortunately only the bigwigs had access to the cordoned off areas.
Suddenly, an incredibly early win was announced. The crowd erupted in celebration. It was deafening. I actually forgot to start taking photos I was so swept up in it. Finally, I got my act together.
People were taking photos like mad, of course.
I moved over to the other side of the fence (the non-ticketed area) people were just as excited over there ,but this kid just looked tired.
The crowds were crazy on the way out, but oddly controlled. We all walked happily out there with literally no problems. People were happy, shouting Obama, dancing, playing music, waving flags. All down usually packed-with-cars Chicago streets.
More at my Flickr page: Obama Set at Flickr