Little write up about what I got up to over Bank Holiday, certainly not everyones cup of tea but what the hey the results are pretty good. We visited the following sites…

Former German work camp not far out side of Crewe. Very little info to be found on the net but as of June 16, 1945 the U.S. France and the U.K. held a combined total of 7,500,000 German POW’s and DEF’s. During the two World Wars many hundreds of Prisoners of war were lodged in Shropshire’s 18 POW camps. These were not all in occupation at the same time or during both wars. We had permission to shoot this site, so was a nice relaxed wander about.

Nissen Skyline

F7.1 / 25mins / ISO100 / 10mm

Grass, green gel flash multiple times from behind camera and to right of frame. 1st hut lit blue multiple times from inside, the same for the doorway and windows of the second, purple and yellow respectively. Each lighting type was repeated twice during the exposure to build up colour.

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Next up was Doddington Castle, or Delves Hall, I believe its also known as. In a pretty shabby state.

“This fortified tower was built by Sir John Delves in 1364, on the site of a former moated manor house. The tower was initially free-standing and was probably intended as a place of refuge for the family. In the 17th century it was incorporated into a range of domestic buildings which were known as Doddington Hall.[3] In the Civil War the hall became a garrison for the parliamentary forces. It was taken for the king by Lord Byron in January 1644 but retaken shortly after.In 1727 the house and estate passed to the Broughton family. The house was demolished around 1777 and replaced by the new Doddington Hall, leaving the tower as a landscape feature which was possibly used as a gazebo or a banqueting pavilion. The external staircase to the former house was retained when the house was demolished and it was attached to the tower.” From Wikipedia

Doddington Castle

F7.1 / 11mins / ISO100 / 10mm

Not a long enough exposure, when we arrived the stars were everywhere so I slapped on my battery back and was gonna do a mega long trail, sadly it wasnt to be as not long after I’d set it going it soon clouded over again! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

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Following this was a nearby ramshackle house, owned by former quarry magnate Jim Barry, here again have struggled to find out anything concrete about the place. The house is a strange one and the first of two we would visit tonight where the house is separated into two and without leaving the house its only possible to get from one side to the other by going upstairs, not advisable I would say as there are bowing ceilings and at one stage a clear view right in the attic from the ground floor. Access to the actual house is tricky as most of the entrances have had huge piles of earth shoveled up in front of the doorways, so much so that at the front of the building it would be possible to gain access by a first floor bedroom window. Despite going in and having a mooch about couldn’t be arsed lugging camera in and gear in take shots so here’s a few exterior shots…

Green Meanie

F5.6 / 3.5Mins/ ISO100 / 16mm

Garage exterior lit from behind camera and to right with green gelled flash, interior lit by orange gelled flash, both fired multiple times during the exposure. Red tyres lit by Rachel, playing with flash triggers, nothing like free lighting, with out have to fire a flash ;-) Moon to rear of garage…

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Jim's Garage

F5.5 / 5Mins / ISO100 / 10mm

Composition is poor but the colours are nice and the painting was tricky with three light painters. Each of three former garages at Jim Barry’s house were full of deep thistles, nettles, brambles and the odd tire thrown in for good measure, guaranteed to trip you up kinda stuff. Couple of minutes into the exposure and in position after Nocturne, as he put it, took one for the team, finally being the person to trip over, a chair of all things, we began to light the garages. Th3g lighting the red  then runs out of batteries and only begins lighting his end after Nocturne and I have stumbled back out of the hellish undergrowth this end.

Blue – (Myself) Fired multiple times, at ceiling and wall.
Green – (Nocturne) Same I presume!
Red  – (Th3g) A little late but as above.

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Finally on the list tonight was another abandoned house, with the same strange quirk as the last, that one side was on accessible from the other via the first floor, agin not a great idea as I nearly found out later! This was a bit of a strange place this, what with [b]This is hell[/b] written above the fireplace, birds, bats, doors shutting, huge gaping holes in the upper floors, shotgun cartridges litter the floor, topped off by an eerie breeze drifting gently through the rooms. There were a few more shots I would have like to tried here but Sunday was rapidly turning into Monday and we had already lost three of our party to tiredness and we’re ready to call it a night after this.

Now Who Would Live In A House Like This?

F5.6 / 1min20secs / ISO100 / 10mm

Fireplace lit by two tea tree lights, left hand window lit multiple times with red gelled flash after negotiating, yet more holes, brambles, nettles etc for the second time this evening. Not amazingly lit but like the sinister feel to it.

Down The Dark Dark Steps In The Dark Dark House...

F6.3 / 1min 25secs / ISO100 / 10mm

Accidental shot this really, I had tried lighting the stairs with tea tree lights and strobing the stairs from the landing, but that was well overexposed so thought I’d have one more pop, without candles before we left. I was supposed to be shooting with a green gelled flash but when I got to the landing for the second time I had picked up a naff steel blue gel and I may as well have been shining a high powered spotlight down the stairs. I got fed up and a lil freaked, as behind the box on the landing (old boiler I think) was one of several large holes in the floor. So coming down the stairs in the pitch black, I fired the flash a couple of times so I could see where the hell I was going.

Heading back to the car, even the two cans of Relentless I consumed during the evening were struggling to keep me awake and it was a hard trudge back to the car, through long grass. Finally reached home at around 6am or so. All in all an enjoyable little jaunt with some sites definitely worth further inspection and investigation.