Medfield State Hospital

       Its been a long time since I've put up a blog post. This is, of course, because I've been busy juggling school, work, and family life among other things. Having recently moved, it's nice to be finally re-situated with everything and I'm slowly working my way back into "the loop." Today is one of those rare days where I haven't scheduled anything at all. I had class earlier, but it was just a single class today and that was over by noon. When I got home I grabbed a bite to eat, and since I'm not the type that likes to do nothing all day, I decided I was going to go shoot for a while.

       Of course, if you live in Medfield you already know that the only place to just "go shoot for no reason" is the Medfield State Hospital grounds. There is a limitless supply of very unique photographs to be taken here and due to a fresh snowfall just yesterday, the whole place was coated in a stunning blanket of white.

       The buildings that litter the grounds are abandoned masses of brick, filled with asbestos and lead, and are off limits to the general public. Until recently, trespassing on the grounds of the late mental-ward was illegal, but it has come to pass for a great walking area, and even better, a gold mine for photos.

      

        Its a shame that the buildings are locked and boarded up, I'm sure there are some fantastic architectural shots to be had on the inside, but its probably not worth the risk.

        I frequently pass through here with my camera, same as many nearby photographers do as a habit. Of course I love to visit at least once per season, as the colors and feel of the place change greatly.

       Today I dressed up in multiple layers because I knew the shots I wanted were going to be tricky without trodding through some snow. Now, considering there was about 8-10 inches on the ground in most places, boots were a must! At one point, while I was standing on the concrete front porch of a building, a giant chunk of snow slid off the roof and fell directly to my left, leaving a pile large enough to build an igloo. Glad I wasn't underneath it. I tried to be more careful for most of the day.

       Despite the stunning colors that the sky had to offer today (which you will see later), I couldn't help but to convert some of my images to black and white. I've been enjoying working with black and white more and more lately and at least one out of every twenty-or-so images will get turned black and white just to mix it up and keep things interesting.

       Those of you who have read my blog posts before will find this particular building familiar, as I have posted a picture (in black and white) of my brother seated on the front steps. If you scroll down into my blog history you'll likely find it. This is one of my favorite buildings in the place. It stands resolute and powerful looking... old aged, yet strong and compelling. Usually I shoot this building straight on, but today I had a 24mm lens which was wide enough to shoot it at this angle (provided I walk out 100 feet into the snow).

       The snow made all the trees look amazing. This one I particularly liked because it was all by itself. When I came across this tree I realized that the sun was directly behind it, which gave it a cool halo of light, and made the sky look a deep blue. 

       As I started to head back to my car, the sun was going down and lighting the clouds in a brilliant orange color against the blue sky. I actually ran to frame this shot before I missed it. I've lost plenty of shots here by waiting just a few seconds and then the light changes. Glad I managed to grab it, because it did change about a minute later after the sun came back out from behind the cloud.
       That's going to be it for this blog post, if you guys made it this far, Thanks for Reading!... and if you just looked at the pictures, that is fine too (after all... that's what it's all about). Have a nice week, and leave a comment if you have any feedback. See you later.