Here’s a typical view of the architecture and decay in the manor house – somewhat crusty, but not yet falling apart (too much). You can also see the scaffold that has been put in place to bolster / facilitate restoration through the arch. As with all of these images time was of the essence, so quick work, framing and capture were required. Not the most imaginative of images, but quite nice none the less.

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Here’s a close-up of the awesome old skool craftsmanship in the manor house library. This shot was enhanced by the lovely morning light coming in through the windows. I was really taken with the contrast between the light outside and the way it was falling on the pretty metal work. Goes to show that in the old days it was all about craftsmanship.

This was taken with the 65mm macro from quite a distance away, the 1.6 crop makes the lens a lot longer, more like a 90mm. It goes to show the quality of a prime and the way in which HDR can enhance a shot.

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This image is typical of the rooms in The Manor – tidy and swept. Ready for the contractors to come in and get busy. Interestingly there were a couple of paintings on the window, probably set up by a previous visitor.

Not an overly interesting subject, but easy to process using Photomatix and Nik filters, with a bit of curve and desaturation to give the overall effect. The biggest challenge with an image like this is taking the initial shot and making sure that the bright ‘outside’ is fully catered for in the set of shots. Something that I am becoming better at now that I can shoot multiple brackets and meter off of the lightest part of the image, thus capturing the whole range of bright to dark.

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Right at the top of the house were a couple of rooms that were still left with ‘things’ in them. This was the only one with a bed though. The setting indicated that this was probably servants quarters at one point. There was even a bell above the door outside.

The room looked as if it had suffered some fire damage, the mattress was charred and a burnt hole was in the floor. Also being at the top of the building some of the floor outside of the door was quite soft, not a god sign. Luckily the owners have coved the roof and it now look protected from the elements. The magazines on the floor were all copies of Country Life from around 1960. I had a flick through a couple, it was interesting to see that there were mostly ads for houses for sale at rather reasonable prices – around £7,000 for somewhere spectacular with a load of land – how times have changed!

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Another quick post as its Friday and I have to have a quick turn around.

I’ve seen many great pictures of staircases, but never been anywhere that I’ve been able to grab great images myself. Consequently in this location I went into staircase overdrive.

Here’s the view looking up from the ground floor.

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Those were the days eh! Three years rent £13!

This was on top of a pile of papers left in the Great Hall (which I have now found out was a library). Thing like this I hope are kept, it shows a good deal of history about the place, there were many other artefacts laying around in piles, partially discarded. Maybe cleaned up by the builders to save for the owners should they want to keep them. I really like the writing, there are very few people with the skill to scribe with such a flourish nowadays. What with the accent of affordable PC’s the ability to write well is often neglected.

I think this is the oldest thing I have found on an explore by quite a long stretch. I knew that it would process up well, but wasn’t sure where to leave the focal point, I decided in the end to target the data as that was what first drew me to this slip of paper. I also liked the signature as it appeared to me to say ‘Major Disguise’ which I found a little amusing! Its very easy to over process the HDR on parchment of any kind, the grain in the fibres really presents itself so I had to dial it back a little. Overall I’m happy with the outcome.

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Just a really fast post this evening as I’m heading out!

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I’ts funny that I often complain on here about not having any inspiration to process images. The advice from others – GO SHOOT. Recently I’ve been in good processing health and for some reason I’ve managed to rattle through these images really quickly – I have about 10 in the bank all ready to go.I think that the location really suited what and how I do my work and I’m really happy about that.

Sometimes ebbs and flows in enthusiasm and skill is due to personal stresses and strains of ‘real life’ trying to balance everything. The real job, 9 – 6.30; home life – the regular crap we have to deal with – washing / tidying and all that comes with living in a flat on my own; and of course spending time with Viveca. So please forgive me If I miss RTing / commenting on your work.

It’s hard to get proprieties right sometimes. If things aren’t right then processing suffers, that’s for sure. I find it hard to get the images how I want them and  am overly critical of the work I produce (there are plenty in the recycle bin I can assure you), having such a great set of peers, some of whom are listed below is both a boon and a curse. Flickr / Twitter / Facebook and general Urbex contacts,  you’re all great and immensely supportive, However, the bar is very high and sometimes it’s frustrating when I believe that I won’t be able to achieve such great images as I see on a daily basis. However when I see how far I’ve come in the last two years since I’ve been shooting seriously I know that eventually I’ll be able to produce exactly what I want, how I want and this is partially due to the inspiration and encouragement that you all give me. Its all about practice and getting out there pulling the trigger.

So thanks very much to all my viewers, people who comment on my work, and cyber buddies wherever you are.

Keep up the good work and go with it, sometimes things will be great, other times not so. But we all know that it’ll be okay in the end.

Anyway, enough rambling, here’s today’s image from the most excellent Manorhouse GT (probably the best image from the set).

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Not sure why I chose the title for the image, possibly as my dinner was ready after I’d finished processing.

I don’t know about any of the other photographers, but when I get home I cant wait to get my shots onto the PC and look at them full size, rather like a child on Christmas day I want to platy with then and see what I can do. This was no exception. I’d been somewhere pretty special, the closes I’ve seen to the lovely abandoned and grand places in Belgium, Holland France that I’ve seen.

I generally whip my brackets into Photomatix immediately to get an idea of how they’ll look, no particular purpose other than to have a first impression. I rarely save these thought preferring to carefully choose which to go for first. There’s often a bit of a race to get the first shot up from an explore too, my urbex colleague usually wins these, but only by a slim margin, it’s just a bit of fun I think a few urbexer’s have.

I’ve recently become a fan of this type of composition, splitting the image into two or three distinct parts – leading the eye either outside or into a corridor giving an idea of depth, a deeper view into the location and often leaving something to the imagination.

What or who was at the foot of the stairs? Who lived in these rooms in days gone past? What happened here? What conversation was had, in this room over the 190 years this place has been standing.

Something that urbex has taught me is a lot about history and appreciation of locations that I’ve been to, from places like this – grand opulent halls and staircases to the asylums, built with good intentions to industrial locations that are now left to rust. Finding out about the history is all part of the enjoyment for me.