It’s always interesting to see how places sort of de-evolve when left alone for decades. Sometimes, like here in this former mess hall, the randomness of the decay makes for a quite interesting display.

In this scene, the decayed red box grabs your eye first. Your gaze then trails upward, where the ceiling has deteriorated to the point of allowing insulation and whatever else had been lurking up there to spill down into the room. Then you can take in the other interesting details – the open window trying to keep the air fresh, the broken tables, and the random placement of the chairs.

The idea I had here was to transform this chaos into an urban, gritty scene that wouldn’t look out of place in a modern horror movie. Washing out some of the colors, intentionally blowing out some highlights, and using strong contrast all help to create the dark mood of this scene.  Contrast it with the original photo below this post and the difference becomes obvious.  It is a scene that I really enjoyed working on, transforming it from being somewhat drab to having a distinct story to tell.

Urban Decay