Kimberly Clark Photography

Finally treated myself to a new camera, the T2i (upgrading from an XT), and after waiting for Adorama to stock it again, it arrive last week!

I took it out to an abandoned school in Hall Summit, LA this past weekend and put it to the test… One of the main reasons I went with this Rebel is the ISO range, from 100 to 6400 and expanded to 12800. The noise levels up to 3200 are quite acceptable, so it’s a great camera for hand held low-light photography such as the abandonments I visit. The HD video and all the other features are great too, so I’m really happy with it thus far.

After using the XT with battery grip for so long, the T2i is a little awkward to hold without it’s grip, so I will be making that additional purchase soon.

Hall Summit’s school has been closed since 2001 and is still in relatively good condition. The main buildings are all intact, the playground still has some equipment laying about, but the gymnasium is a little worse for wear since water has damaged the floor and caused much of the wood to buckle up.

Full set of photos (58 images): Flickr

All in all it was a good trip and I’m really pleased with the new T2i!

Established in 1924, this orphanage was home to children between the ages of 3 and 13, but it closed it’s doors in 1994. Since then several projects have been planned for the facility, but none have taken root and the buildings remain empty. I spent a couple of hours there last weekend and was pleasantly surprised by the good condition the structure of the main building seems to be in.

For the whole set: Masonic Orphanage

Thanks to my sister in law for finding this place!

Set close to the highway, it’s not an old school building and seems to be privately owned… I have no idea how long it has gone without use, but the doors are all either broken or unlocked and the roof is falling in in several places. Bullet holes in the glass show that the side entrance doors have been used for target practice.

Despite the constant traffic on the road out front, the building carried a strange feel of desolation… almost too quiet. Also, even though the structure was small for a school and the rooms were all largely empty, it carried it’s own special atmosphere that I can’t quite put a finger on to describe.