The Lucie Foundation International Photography Awards

2012 International Photography Awards Announces Winners of the Competition

The 2012 International Photography Awards received nearly 18,000 submissions from 104 countries across the globe. IPA is a sister-effort of the Lucie Foundation, where the top three winners are announced at the annual Lucie Awards gala ceremony. The Foundation's mission is to honor master photographers, to discover new and emerging talent and to promote the appreciation of photography. Since 2003, IPA has had the privilege and opportunity to acknowledge and recognize contemporary photographer's accomplishments in this specialized and highly visible competition. Visit www.photoawards.com.

I'm very excited to announce that I was awarded in the International Photography Awards Competition for the following:

• Honorable Mention in Architecture - Buildings category for the winning entry"Solitude."
• Honorable Mention in Architecture - Historic category for the winning entry"Solitude."
• Honorable Mention in Architecture - Interior category for the winning entry"Solitude."
• Honorable Mention in Architecture - Other category for the winning entry"Solitude."
• Honorable Mention in Deeper Perspective - Deeper Perspective category for the winning entry "Solitude."

You can view my work and the other winners in the gallery here.

I've been working on an ongoing series, photographing abandoned prisons and mental institutes. Below is the five image series "Solitude" and a companion piece that I submitted to the competition.

Solitude emphasizes the quality of being or living alone.  We are born into this world in a state of solitude and we leave it in the same manner.  From a young age, we are taught to stand on our own two feet regardless of the countless interactions we may encounter through our existence.  What path those two feet lead us down depends on a series of choices that we, alone, make. The juxtaposition of our choices should allow us an unveiled view of the outcome; however, the world in which we live is filled with in betweens and blurred boundaries.  Black and white become grey, light and dark become neutral and right and left become moderate.  Regardless, one choice has to be made and each choice will bear a consequence which we must accept.  In the end, aren’t we simply making choices that somehow further our solitude in one way or another?    

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

A few blog posts back, I mentioned that I was working on multiple projects; projects which had no set completion date; projects that might take a few years until I feel they're complete and ready for public viewing.  I recently completed the second photo shoot for one of those projects.  This project, in its' entirety, is far from completion; however, I want to talk about the recent shoot and share a few images.  This will provide me with an outlet to discuss the project at various stages as well as provide you with a sneak peak into some of the images. 

In June of this year, I visited the Mansfield Reformatory.  It was a wonderful photographic journey which I shot entirely on Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white film.  The reformatory and the experience I had photographing it inspired me to continue with that work.  The research began and I started compiling a list of abandoned prisons and mental institutes that I would like to photograph.  I'll be shooting these facilities on a variety of cameras, but I'll only be using Kodak Tri-X 400 film.  The goal is to tell a story about each of these buildings through my final images as well as providing a look into the history of the correctional process of our nation.  I'm not sure when this will be complete, but I can tell you that I do have another institute lined up before the end of the year.

On September 25, Brittany and I traveled to Weston, West Virginia. Weston is a very small town about 5.5 hours from Troy, Ohio. It's approximately 50 miles south of Morgantown. There's not much there, sans three hotels, a Walmart, a few fast food restaurants, a quaint downtown and a massive European structure known as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. According to their website, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was constructed between 1858 and 1881 and is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America and is reportedly the second largest in the world, only behind the Kremlin. Richard Andrews designed the structure according to the Kirkbride plan (which influenced over 300 similar institutions over North America) and the original hospital was meant to hold 250 individuals. It opened to patients in 1864 and reached its' peak in the 1950s with 2,400 patients. In fact, it is rumored that Charles Manson actually spent some time at the facility, but there is no official record. Apparently the administrators used an alias for him because the community was outraged at the prospect of him being brought to the facility. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was eventually closed in 1994; this was a mortal blow to the local economy and it's obvious that it's never quite recovered.

This structure is quite eerie, yet strikingly beautiful. I had scheduled 8 hours of shooting on Sunday; the first four to begin at 8 a.m. and end at 12 p.m. The final four from 2-6 p.m. We pulled up to the asylum around 7:20 a.m. and a heavy layer of fog surrounded the building. It was the perfect setting for exploring this abandoned treasure all day. My photography tour covered the main hospital, the grounds, the medical building, the geriatric building, the forensics facility and the women's center. All areas were in a complete state of decay, the outlying buildings more so than the hospital. Paint was peeling from the walls and ceilings, floors were reduced to dirt, ceiling tiles were hanging by a thread and debris was scattered everywhere. It's completely cliche, but if walls could talk in that facility, I'm sure they would have stories upon stories to tell. This structure was as I expected and it was the perfect follow-up to my Mansfield Reformatory shoot. I am very pleased with the images and I look forward to exploring more of these facilities as I continue with this project. For now, I've included a few of my final images.

Mansfield Reformatory Images...Second Teaser

Here are just a few more images to wet your appetite for the announcement that's coming soon.  Enjoy!

Mansfield Reformatory Images

Here are a few images from my Mansfield Reformatory shoot.  However, these are only meant as a teaser.  For those wanting to see more, you'll have to see them in person.  More on that to come later, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, enjoy!

Mansfield Reformatory

I've been anxiously awaiting this blog post.  This experience was easily one of my photographic highlights of this year, if not of all time.  For those of you that don't know, the Mansfield Reformatory (also known as the Ohio State Reformatory), was the featured prison in the movie The Shawshank Redemption.  The cornerstone for the reformatory was laid on November 4, 1886 and it remained as a working prison for 94 years until it was eventually shut down in 1990. A staggering 154,000 inmates passed through the reformatory over its' years of operation. 

Many inmates have discussed the conditions of the prison, but perhaps the most dreaded and well known aspect of the reformatory was "The Hole."  "The Hole" was the area of solitary confinement cells that contained only a toilet and a bunk.  At least one murder occurred in "The Hole" and numerous other violent acts took place on the grounds.

The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society took control of the site in 1995 and have opened it up to the public.  Outside of the guided and self tours, they also host ghost hunter events and have a reception space for other events.  The reformatory is truly a site to see and I highly recommend it.

In my previous post, I briefly mentioned this experience.  Due to the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society not allowing tripods or professional photo equipment on the self or guided tours, I paid the money for the photo tour.  I was allowed to bring a tripod and all of my photography gear and I was able to tour the grounds for four hours without any other tourists.  It was the most amazing experience.  This structure is absolutely amazing and the experience of photographing it by myself was the only way to shoot it.  I can't really describe it. 

During the four hours, I left my digital camera in the car and shot strictly film using my Canon AE-1P and a few of my Polaroid cameras.  Calming solitude are the perfect words for this experience.  I took my time wandering the winding hallways and never ending staircases.  I took only the shots that I viewed in my mind and I set it up to get the best possible exposure.  I didn't have to worry about time and I didn't have to worry about anyone getting into my shot.  I shot about a roll and 3/4 of a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 35mm film and I took approximately 10 Polaroids.  I couldn't wait to see the results!  I received them this week and I was very happy.  I actually want to go back and shoot the reformatory multiple times and I would love doing a future series on old prisons.  If anyone has the chance to visit the Mansfield Reformatory, I would highly recommend it. 

Mansfield, Ohio

On the weekend of June 3-5, the Edison Photo Society planned a weekend photo shoot in Mansfield, Ohio.  Mansfield is located approximately 1 hour north of Columbus.  Mansfield was founded in 1808 and is a hilly region surrounded by a massive amount of farmland.  The county seat of Richland County, Mansfield became a bustling manufacturing town with numerous rail lines traveling in and out of the city.  Like other areas in the state and around the nation, manufacturing declined; businesses closed and Mansfield is left with a great deal of urban decay.  They've tried to diversify their economy to other areas, but Mansfield is simply a shell of what it used to be.  The area has a very high crime rate and some areas look as if time merely forgot them.  These factors helped to make Mansfield the perfect place for me to shoot film.

I arrived in Mansfield around 7 a.m.  on Friday, June 3.  I decided to take the photo tour of the Mansfield Reformatory and my appointment was at 8 a.m.  On this tour, I was going to have the reformatory to myself, for four hours without any other tourists.  I was able to bring a tripod along with all of my photo gear.  So, I was really looking forward to this part of the trip.  The Mansfield Reformatory is such an amazing structure, so I will cover that particular shoot (along with pictures) in a separate blog post.  After my photo tour of the reformatory, I checked into my hotel in nearby Ontario, relaxed and grabbed a bite to eat before meeting up with one of my fellow EPS members, Chris Mitsch (check out his amazing work), to shoot downtown.

We headed downtown and shot the historic Richland Carrousel Park.  This carousel features 52 hand carved figures that were all created in Mansfield.  In addition to that, it opened in 1991 as the first new hand carved carousel to be built in the U.S. since the 1930s.  After that short stop, we shot some other buildings and a lot of urban decay.  It was a warm day, but a great day of shooting made up for it.  Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and had a little downtime before grabbing dinner with the other EPS members at the Athens Greek Restaurant.

Saturday was a day where everyone did their own thing.  Chris and I headed out to Kingwood Center Gardens.  Kingwood Center Gardens is a 47 acre estate that was built in 1926.  It opened as a public garden in 1953 and hosts a number of gardens and plants.  While plants and flowers aren't my favorite thing to photography, I tried out a host of cameras and took a number of shots.  It was a nice change of pace from Friday and I enjoyed it.  After a few hours there, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out towards the small area of Loudonville, OH and Perrysville, OH.  The main draw in this area was Mohican State Park.  We stopped at a trail and took a few images of the grandiose pine forests.  After taking a quick drive to check out the covered bridge and the dam, we headed back to Mansfield.  We shot a few more things in downtown and called it a day.

Afterwards, I headed to Columbus to meet up with my wife for gallery hop in the Short North.  After a nice dinner and a comfortable stay in a hotel, we headed back to Troy Sunday morning.  Overall, the shoot was a success.  I know I haven't covered it yet, but the Mansfield Reformatory was worth every penny and was the single draw for me going to Mansfield.  Everything else was icing on the cake.  So, while Mansfield wasn't necessarily the most ideal spot for a photo shoot weekend, I had a great time and I was able to successfully shoot film the entire weekend without removing my digital camera from the bag once.  I took some amazing images and it was just another reason to go out and photograph; something I love to do.

Stay tuned, the next post will feature images!