Here is a throwback photo for you. I took this photo during a Shutter Rush weekend at the very beginning of 2020. Jason, Jake and I spent the weekend photographing parts of Baltimore, creating digital content and capped the weekend off by covering the Ravens-Steelers game. When it was all done, we put the photos and videos together to create the “Shutter Rush – Baltimore Edition” documentary which is still available on Amazon Prime. This photo is from our time in West Baltimore. We found this graffiti alley and played with steel wool.
Lunatic Asylum
This room was part of the locked down unit (highest security unit…criminally insane) at the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. I don’t want to know what happened in this space by the patients and to the patients….
West End
I captured this photo a few weeks ago, very early in the morning. That’s the only reason I could take this photo, otherwise the traffic would have been too busy. For those of you not from Pittsburgh, this is the West End Bridge.
Glade Creek Grist Mill
I doubt I’ll get out this fall color season to take many photos, so here is one I took in the past at Babcock State Park in WV.
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Graffiti Alley
Here is another Baltimore photo for you on back to back nights. This is from the famous Graffiti Alley in West Baltimore. We (Jason, Jake and I) hung out here for a while capturing photos, video, drone footage and steel wool shots. At this location, we met a large group of young men who kept saying they were “100% Bangers” whatever that meant. Jake got wrapped up into photographing them all, like a mini photo shoot.
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West Baltimore
Here is a small aerial hyperlapse (timelapse) video over west Baltimore near the famous Graffiti Alley. I captured this during our short road trip last weekend.
Graffiti Alley
During our road trip to Baltimore, we made a stop at Graffiti Alley in West Baltimore….let me say that it was just amazing. Of course, I love and appreciate nicely done graffiti. This spot is basically, an “L” shaped alley that is painted with hundreds (maybe over a thousand) murals and graffiti (street art).
The city (or someone) allows people to do make it sort of an outside permanent, but always changing, art exhibit. This spot is consistently being used for photo shoots, videos, etc… We did our own little photo shoot using steel wool (and Jake got sucked into photographing some local rappers). I’ve done this in the past at various locations. Normally, I’m the person spinning the steel wool. This time @jasonpohuski did the spinning, while @jakemysliwczykphoto and I captured it via photos and video using five devices.
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Lunatic Asylum
I couldn’t come up with a clever title for this post for a number of reasons, which we won’t get into tonight.
Anyway, I took this photo recently at the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston West Virginia. Unfortunately, they have the place all cleaned up. It wasn’t grungy enough for me. I wanted it in the state it was in when the Lunatic Asylum closed. They’ve got it all “safe”, clean and “pretty”. I think the real beauty would have been in the “dirty, stuff left behind” condition. If that makes sense…..
I made the best of it and captured some cool photos. This was on one of the upper floors. Something about this hallway caught my eye. Standing there, I could imagine all the patients (prisoners) being locked up in these little rooms. Some of the “treatments” and “therapies” they used over the decades was rough to put it mildly. When this facility was operational, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
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Babcock State Park
I feel like I missed fall this year. I don’t know if it was because of my work schedule, travel schedule or if I just blinked and missed it. Regardless, I missed it. Thankfully, we had nice weather this weekend.
Anyway, here is a fall photo I took, not this fall, down at Babcock State Park in West Virginia. It’s an amazing spot.
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Early Morning
You’d think with tons of photos to choose from, I’d have an easy time selecting a photo to post. Honestly, sometimes I struggle with the selection. I think my struggle comes from doubt about whether any of them are worth sharing. I’m never very confident with their quality or appeal. Unfortunately, I let self-doubt creep into my thoughts. With that in mind, I hope you like tonight’s photo.
I took this photo from the West End Bridge looking back at downtown Pittsburgh very early in the morning. Have a great day.
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National Road
MJ and I went over to Wheeling West Virginia a couple of months ago to explore the area. It isn’t very far from us, but I never go over there. All my focus is on our local area and Pittsburgh. I think that was the 2nd time I’ve been to Wheeling in the 8 years we’ve lived in Pennsylvania. Anyway, this is the Wheeling Suspension Bridge which is part of the original National Road.
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West Branch Big Creek
Today’s tasks….taking care of a bunch of chores around the house today. I’ve been really busy lately and all the small things have been piling up behind my work and volunteer work deadlines. Anyway, I’ll stop complaining now, here is today’s post from northern Michigan. This is West Branch Big Creek at dawn.
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Valhalla Ranch
Here is another photo from my time at Valhalla Ranch near Grayling Michigan. This 650-acre hunting resort is a wonderful place. If you’re a deer hunter, you won’t be disappointed with the number and size of the white tail deer. I took this photo behind the lodge which sits next to the West Branch Big Creek. I loved the composition of the river, the forest and the ranch road.
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Grist Mill
Today’s picture is of the Grist Mill in Babcock State Park in West Virginia. We planned this perfectly to capture the fall color change at this spot and of course, it didn’t work out. As you can see, the color was changing, but we missed the peak fall foliage color.
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Babcock State Park
I hope you’re having a great weekend. I’m just taking it easy and enjoying some down time. Today’s photo is from Babcock State Park in West Virginia. Blair, MJ and I went down there last fall chasing the fall color change. As you can see, we missed it. But I got this great shot anyway.
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New River Gorge Bridge
A few weeks ago, we were driving through West Virginia and we got a chance to stop at this great location. Unfortunately, the sky wasn’t very pretty while we were there, but I liked my photo regardless.
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Glade Creek Grist Mill
MJ, Blair and I went down to southern West Virginia to see this mill in Babcock State Park. We were hoping for some good fall foliage and got a little of it. But not full peak color. We were probably a week to early. Regardless, we had a good time and I enjoyed seeing this spot.
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Seattle Panorama
I got so many great photos while I was in Seattle. More importantly, I had some wonderful experiences. The only negative was that my time was limited.
At the end of my first day (after dark), I went to Harbor Avenue in West Seattle to get some photos of the city skyline across Puget Sound. If I had all the time I wanted, I would have visited this site at sunset, but I couldn’t be everywhere at the same time. So I had to prioritize my locations and make some choices. That meant I got to West Seattle after sunset and the next day at sunrise. Maybe next time, I’ll get there at sunset. Anyway, this is a great spot to view the entire city skyline and just relax on a park bench or put your toes in the sand.
This panorama is made from 25 different exposures blended together. As you can probably guess, it took some time to process. But I think the effort was worth it. What do you think?
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Rusty Junk
A few weeks ago, MJ and I piled in the car for one last sunny (and warm) drive before winter sets in. We went south to Cheat Lake, West Virginia to explore an area we’ve never visited. Cheat Lake is a beautiful man made lake just east of Morgantown. We went for a hike in Cheat Lake Park along the lake to the dam.
This beautiful trail had the lake on one side and a very large hill (mini mountain) on the other side of it. Well as we walked, MJ and I noticed all this junk way up the side of the hill above the trail. So on the way back, I decided to climb up to see what it was and photograph it. That sounds easy enough, but that climb wasn’t easy. Climbing down was even harder. Why this junk is on the side of the hill in the middle of nowhere….. I couldn’t tell you. My guess is some West Virginian wanted to get ride of it and decided pushing it over the hill would be easier then taking it to the junk yard….
At least it made for an interesting photo.
Entrance To Maximum Security
I took this picture last year while touring the West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville WV. I posted some other pictures and information from this location in the past. You can see that here: http://brook-ward.com/blog/2013/6/15/walkin-the-line
This picture is the transition point from the normal prison population into the really, really bad boys held in Maximum Security.
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