This summer I did an after-hours photo shoot at the Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) in Philadelphia with some photog friends. It's an amazing place to photograph. It gives you both chills and wows. Chills because of the history of horrors that was executed within the walls of this solitary confinement prison. And wows because of the decaying architecture that once was a pioneer in methods of prisoner rehabilitation but now stands uninhabited with exposed stone walls and peeling paint creating the ideal location for a shoot.
Now approaching the end of the year I decided to go back and get some more frames for my series on the ESP. Speaking of chills, it was an especially chilly day. About 15 F degrees to be specific. The prison isn't heated and with thick stone walls it actually might have been colder inside than outside. It was so cold that I midway the shoot not only had to head back to my car for 15 min to warm up my fingers, but also to warm up my camera's battery which was chiming away warning me of a sudden (cold-induced) low battery. Anyhow, here are a few teasers from the shoot. Most are uncropped and straight out of the scanner. The light was amazing that day: bright blue skies made the sun come in through the ceiling window and cast beautiful rays of light into the small dark prison cell in a perfect symmetric pattern. All images were captured on Pan F iso 50 or FP4 iso 125 medium format film with my Mamiya RZ67. Pan F is such an amazing contrasty film just perfect for this location. More pictures will come soon after I edit them.
Prison cell #1
Prison cell #2
Prison cell #3
Prison cell #4
Prison cell #5