My 2003 Chevy Astro (a.k.a. the Photobus) turned its' 50,000th mile yesterday morning. In celebration, I decided to shoot a quick few pics. Not far from where we live, an enormous retail shopping center was partially constructed, but never completed due to our current economic crisis. I had been driving by it almost every day for months, thinking it might be a good place to shoot in.About a month ago, and on a whim, I convinced my wife (who is also my guinea pig model), to trespass with me and shoot a few pics inside this monstrosity. We got some pretty cool shots once I decided how best to light the place as there is nothing else there but a concrete foundation, walls, and a leaky metal roof. It was dusk when showed up, so not much ambient light to work with. It was a little strange to be in such a huge, open, building - very quiet with the exception the metal roof creaking as it began to cool as the hot Florida sun began to fall. I thought it best to light the ceiling, as well as my wife, to give the shot some depth. Here is what we came up with.
So, yesterday morning, I showed up determined to get a couple shots of the photobus with this cool industrial looking background. To my surprise, I found that the entire concrete foundation (roughly 200,000 square feet) was completely covered with about 1 inch of
water due to the unfinished, and very leaky roof. At first, I was disappointed - thinking that the hassle of working with camera & lighting gear in 1" of water would be more hassle that its' worth. I decided to lose my socks and shoes and at least take a look. The first thing I found was that on the concrete floor, a not so friendly layer of algae had grown to cover everything, which made it about as slippery as walking with stilts downhill on slick ice. Although I did not fall, I came pretty close more than once. As I made my way away from the van in order to visualize the shot, I realized that the water on the floor could not do a better job reflecting everything. It was like having a giant mirrored floor. Enough babbling. Here is the photobus in all its' glory.
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