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Actually it al started with the question if I wanted to do a feature for Stanceworks. At a meeting I already spoke about it with a friend of mine (Rick) and he said he was prepared to try. We made an appointment at a gas station in the neighborhood. As it happened the weather was fabulously beautiful. And so our adventure (as it appeared to be at the end) started.
We drove to an old factory that was completely decayed. Also it was full to the brim with trash and other debris. Empty spray cans, trash, old iron, wood debris and even bags with old grass plants. The walls were covered with graffiti. In brief, the perfect location for a photo shoot.
So, how do we get in?!
It seemed to be impossible. In front of the back entrance there was a heavy iron fence with an iron lock on it. The front of the building had 3 entrances, from which one of them was cut off by a container. The second entrance was blocked by a pile of trash which was impossible to move even if we wanted to. De third entrance was pretty accessible but it was a sandbox and it wasn’t a good idea to drive through it with the Mini.
Well, no what?! The perfect location but no access to it!
We decided to take some pictures in front of the building and during that time I walked inside to see the impressive inside of it. Soon I found some shelves and those gave me an idea. We could place these over the sand. But… there were nails in almost all the shelves. At last I found a few good ones and it appeared to be a good driveway.
We covered up some broken glass in front of the building with an isolation-blanket and so we tried to drive in with the Mini.
I broke to sweat with the thought that I might get stuck with a flat tire in a ‘junky-factory’. Rick directed me over the shelves and the Mini was as good as inside.
Soon we saw that the pictured would begon great because of the surroundings and the weather conditions. De reflection of the sun through the broken glass and the reflection of the graffiti on the car were awesome! After we shot some photos we drove the car out again because we became hungry. On the way to Mac Donald’s we saw a beautiful viaduct where we also took some pictures.
When our stomachs were filled again we decided to go to another location, an old factory. First we took some pictures with the factory in the background. We know people wouldn’t appreciate us takes pictures at this location without permission but we were a little bold and drove my Mini in the building site while Rick’s car was parked outside next to the fence. We would make some photos fast and leave again. Quickly we put the car into a nice corner.
After some directions from Rick how to arrange the Mini, he started to shoot. This appeared to be just a little while. Behind us somebody started screaming and a man came running towards us. Actually, we wanted to drive off very fast, but I thought: he, what can this man do? It helped that I’m not so scared and I started to put together what I was going to say to him.
The man in question seemed to be very angry and I quickly asked: Where is the exit?
He first seemed surprised and then he said in an angry voice: I’m not buying these kind of jokes and the other guy had a camera. Deep inside I had to laugh because of my own remark and I asked the man: Is it possible to do a photo shoot here then?
Next the man enthusiastically started to tell what I had to do to accomplish that. I eagerly said I was interested and told the man whatever he wanted to hear. In the meanwhile we already got 40 pictures an promised the man that next time we would only come with permission…
And so we drove off again. Around the corner we broke in a laugh. Next we decided to go back to the first location because we couldn’t stop talking about how nice it was. The shelves were still there but we wanted to get further into the building. I went in and opened some doors. I saw a lot of sleeping-quarters of homeless people but there was no one present.
Eventually I found some old garage doors. I thought they were perfect to use as a driveway.
Again with directions from Rick I drove in and we got further in the building. There was a lot of scratching and squeaking of the wood but it all just worked out.
We went on taking pictures until Rick’s colleague (Yg) arrived. He would help us with he ‘rolling shots’. We drove off to the A2-highway to Amsterdam. After a lot of photos we got off again. Rick and Yg sais the sun was still too high in the air to make the perfect shots. We went to carpool-parking where we parked Rick’s car earlier. We got a full camera battery and waited for the sun to come down a little bit. Again we got to the highway because to sun would set soon. Yg made the pictures and Rick was driving. In very strange ways Yg was hanging partly out of the car to shoot the photos.
It was great to notice that other people on the road gave us enough space to shoot. Really awesome!
After 45 minutes driving up and down the sun was so low that it was too dark to get good shots. Because of that we went back to the carpool-parking. Rick and Yg walked towards me laughing and told me that we could use some great pictures for sure. At 4.30 pm we started and at 10.30 pm (with 1200 pictures on the camera) we decided to finish. We sat down for a drink.
The day was brought to an end…
Here is a link to the best shots of all the 1200:
the feature:
http://www.stanceworks.com/?p=8593
We drove to an old factory that was completely decayed. Also it was full to the brim with trash and other debris. Empty spray cans, trash, old iron, wood debris and even bags with old grass plants. The walls were covered with graffiti. In brief, the perfect location for a photo shoot.
So, how do we get in?!
It seemed to be impossible. In front of the back entrance there was a heavy iron fence with an iron lock on it. The front of the building had 3 entrances, from which one of them was cut off by a container. The second entrance was blocked by a pile of trash which was impossible to move even if we wanted to. De third entrance was pretty accessible but it was a sandbox and it wasn’t a good idea to drive through it with the Mini.
Well, no what?! The perfect location but no access to it!
We decided to take some pictures in front of the building and during that time I walked inside to see the impressive inside of it. Soon I found some shelves and those gave me an idea. We could place these over the sand. But… there were nails in almost all the shelves. At last I found a few good ones and it appeared to be a good driveway.
We covered up some broken glass in front of the building with an isolation-blanket and so we tried to drive in with the Mini.
I broke to sweat with the thought that I might get stuck with a flat tire in a ‘junky-factory’. Rick directed me over the shelves and the Mini was as good as inside.
Soon we saw that the pictured would begon great because of the surroundings and the weather conditions. De reflection of the sun through the broken glass and the reflection of the graffiti on the car were awesome! After we shot some photos we drove the car out again because we became hungry. On the way to Mac Donald’s we saw a beautiful viaduct where we also took some pictures.
When our stomachs were filled again we decided to go to another location, an old factory. First we took some pictures with the factory in the background. We know people wouldn’t appreciate us takes pictures at this location without permission but we were a little bold and drove my Mini in the building site while Rick’s car was parked outside next to the fence. We would make some photos fast and leave again. Quickly we put the car into a nice corner.
After some directions from Rick how to arrange the Mini, he started to shoot. This appeared to be just a little while. Behind us somebody started screaming and a man came running towards us. Actually, we wanted to drive off very fast, but I thought: he, what can this man do? It helped that I’m not so scared and I started to put together what I was going to say to him.
The man in question seemed to be very angry and I quickly asked: Where is the exit?
He first seemed surprised and then he said in an angry voice: I’m not buying these kind of jokes and the other guy had a camera. Deep inside I had to laugh because of my own remark and I asked the man: Is it possible to do a photo shoot here then?
Next the man enthusiastically started to tell what I had to do to accomplish that. I eagerly said I was interested and told the man whatever he wanted to hear. In the meanwhile we already got 40 pictures an promised the man that next time we would only come with permission…
And so we drove off again. Around the corner we broke in a laugh. Next we decided to go back to the first location because we couldn’t stop talking about how nice it was. The shelves were still there but we wanted to get further into the building. I went in and opened some doors. I saw a lot of sleeping-quarters of homeless people but there was no one present.
Eventually I found some old garage doors. I thought they were perfect to use as a driveway.
Again with directions from Rick I drove in and we got further in the building. There was a lot of scratching and squeaking of the wood but it all just worked out.
We went on taking pictures until Rick’s colleague (Yg) arrived. He would help us with he ‘rolling shots’. We drove off to the A2-highway to Amsterdam. After a lot of photos we got off again. Rick and Yg sais the sun was still too high in the air to make the perfect shots. We went to carpool-parking where we parked Rick’s car earlier. We got a full camera battery and waited for the sun to come down a little bit. Again we got to the highway because to sun would set soon. Yg made the pictures and Rick was driving. In very strange ways Yg was hanging partly out of the car to shoot the photos.
It was great to notice that other people on the road gave us enough space to shoot. Really awesome!
After 45 minutes driving up and down the sun was so low that it was too dark to get good shots. Because of that we went back to the carpool-parking. Rick and Yg walked towards me laughing and told me that we could use some great pictures for sure. At 4.30 pm we started and at 10.30 pm (with 1200 pictures on the camera) we decided to finish. We sat down for a drink.
The day was brought to an end…
Here is a link to the best shots of all the 1200:
the feature:
http://www.stanceworks.com/?p=8593
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