Thinking about past memories often opens the door to a journey down memory lane. Are we going to choose reflections of joy and happiness or are we going to reflect on sadness and difficult times. No matter which journey we choose, we need to keep in mind that good or bad the past is just a moment in time locked away for ever and not something we can change.

When ever I visit old buildings such as those at Henryton, I can not help but reflect on the lives of the people who were part of the history that took place there. For the residents of Henryton, there was isolation and perhaps much sorrow due to the pains of their afflictions. Each room holds someones journey through time, an untold story, that perhaps is now lost for ever within the fallen mortar of these walls.

Whenever I shoot at Henryton I fall into a passive state of reflection, these now empty halls and rooms were once the home of people who were forced into isolation because they were not considered to be the same as you or I. Knowing that their past is done, all I can do is hope that in some small way, their care givers brought to them kindness and love and protected them from painful memories that would one day occupy their reflections of yesterday.

Cheers.

Today was one of those days where the weatherman was forecasting heavy rain, so I decided that another trip to Henryton was in order. I like to spend rainy days at this place because it creates some amazing reflections coupled with the potential for dramatic storm clouds. I was happy with the number of rooms that had great reflections and wound up walking almost the entire complex.

This was only my second trip to this location so labeling this image "Home Coming" does not really apply to me in terms of a home shooting location, but I thought it would be appropriate based on the "Prom" tag on the wall. Perhaps one day I will have spent enough time here to be able to catalog this location and call it home but until then, I will enjoy all of the great grit and texture that it has to offer.

Cheers.

The more I think about photography, the more I become confused in terms of what I like versus what others like. Ideally, if your intent is to eventually sell a photograph, your "likes" should be the same as what "others" like. Here in lies the rub. Ever since I saw my first Ted Byrne image, I knew that I wanted to try and produce photographs that were more illustrative. My friend Rick T describes it as vision rather than realism and I really like that description.

I often spend hours fiddling with the same photograph over the course of days or even weeks, kind of twiddling with ideas a few minutes at time. Some times it works out and some times it doesn't. Its not like the image is going to get any better, but for some reason, when I hit on the right combination of abstract and detail, I suddenly like how it looks. To me it is a piece of art (purely subjective mind you.)

In any case, I think for now, my niche is going to be photo impressionistic and I will seek to improve my limited post processing skills. Sorry for rambling on lately, I hope to be more focused in future posts as I gel as an artist and get back to the basis for my existence.

Cheers.

This is a second image from the series taken near Culpeper, VA.

Cheers.