OT - Abondoned military base (lot's 'o pics)

[Blazer88]

I had the pleasure to travel from Seattle down the Oregon coast, to Napa Valley (wifey needed some wine), over to Yosemite, and back. 1400 pictures later....I finally started to process some of the first ones I took. We stayed the first night at the tip of Oregon in Fort Stevens state park. The dreary weather didn't help much but it wasn't going to stop me. I think it added to the mood of the pictures anyways.

This first shot is of the Peter Iredale shipwreck. This ship ran aground in 1906 and has slowly been rotting on the beach every since. Thankfully I caught it at 6am and during low-tide so I could go right up next to it.

Next up is the Russell Battery. It's a pretty large structure that housed huge guns that protected the coast.

The main guns were placed in spots like this and rotate on huge gears to aim.

This was the only room that had a fireplace, I'm guessing it was for whoever ran the joint (it sure looks fit for a king!)

 

[Blazer88]

The last place we checked out was the West Battery, which is the main structure. Sure enough, this part of the park didn't open until 8am so my wife and I had the jump the fence to get it. Probably not the best idea at a military base but I don't think anyone noticed By the time we made it over to here is started to pour rain so I didn't get many shots from here. It was pretty similar to the Russell Battery anyways. Enjoy!

Old crank used to hoist up the ammo:

Tool room:

Nasty door to the ammo room:

Looked like a strange little guard room or something to the left:

 

[jedininja]

That first shot is awesome. Really surreal.

 

[fishyface]

great shots!

 

[FishtankAndy]

Absolutely great shots! I'm sure it's been asking and answered before, but I'm new to the site...what type of camera are you using?

 

[edwing206]

Amaing pics!!! That first one is THE perfect picture. Simply amazing.

 

[drummereef]

That's creepy awesome. The photo quality is amazing btw. :thumbsup:

 

[ntrlfive]

yeah the first shot is amazing.

 

[gregr]

Awesome photos- very spooky. The quality of the images is stunning.

 

[Blazer88]

Thanks for the comments guys (especially coming from Greg)! FishtankAndy, I used a Canon 30D and my Sigma 10-20mm lens. Now I have to process the ones from the Oregon/California coast, Napa Valley, and Yosemite. I think those will be a little more "happy".

 

[gregr]

Looking forward to the coast shots especially. I love that part of the world... By any chance did you stop at the Aquarium in Newport?

 

[clippo]

double post sorry!

 

[Blazer88]

I saw the aquarium as I passed through Newport and it killed me not to stop. We ended up on the Oregon coast on the last day of the trip because it was pouring rain for the first day of the drive. I only took the shots of the fort in the morning before we hit I-5 down to Napa Valley in search of some sun. I was starting to get a little burned out after 2500 miles of driving and stopping every 20 minutes to take pictures so we didn't stop at the aquarium. I think I got some great shots of the coast though, it was a beautiful area for sure. I'll start editing those up as soon as I work through some computer issues.

 

[clippo]

great shots - the first one is super subject. Would love to see it composed with the ship less central... maybe more of the sea off to the right...... looks great though. Are those barnacles on the hull?

I love my Sigma 10-20...... often forget how close I am to subjects when using it!

Do you correct distortion in PP at all?

 

[Blazer88]

I can mess around with the first shot to see if some other crop works better. I think I'm going to print that one off and give it a spot on my wall About distortion, I don't do much correction. I generally tug on the corners to straighten up the lines and rotate the canvas to straighten the horizon. I don't do much for pincushion or barrel distortion though. It's all about how you shoot with this lens, if the camera is level and the subject is straight (and not too close to the subject) I find the distortion very acceptable. I shot #4 at an angle to try and accentuate the curvature of the hole in the ground, that shot has quite a bit of distortion. All in all, I love the Siggy 10-20 and it spends the most time on my camera.

 

[chica83]

wwoouu dood, very kewl and creepy pics .
i can't wait to see the rest

 

[Josh125]

Looks great, what program are you using for the HDR?

 

[Lpabsolute]

WOW......Really Great Pics....I really like the 1st one.....Keep Up The Good Work!!!!!!

 

[nosferatu51]

In all seriousness, if you have a higher res version of the 1st pic (which I would assume you probably do given the camera ) I would love to add it to my desktop background rotation. I'll PM you my email address if you wouldn't mind sending it. Thanks in advance.

 

[Blazer88]

Josh, I use Photomatix for all of my HDR stuff. I had quite the day yesterday when my operating system decided to take a crash and my back-up hard disk had a failure. I thought I lost all of my pictures but I was able to move a lot of stuff before it was totally dead. I'll edit up a larger version of the first boat and post it later tonight. Thanks for everyones comments!