Casing the joint

On the drive home from work today, I stopped to explore a medical complex that caught my interest while shooting a nearby water tower the other morning. As I drove down into the complex I got really excited at the site of the decrepit clump of old buildings right next door. Big beautiful buildings sat situated on a campus connected by sidewalks. Doors were boarded and locked and dense vines wrapped around the deteriorating porch beams and railings. My experience in these kind of places had me on the look out for a roving security guard so I parked, checked my camera settings and hustled into the complex and out of sight. While roaming around with my camera down at my side, playing the part of an innocent yet curious passerby (not a far stretch right?), I bumped into a young lady and her daughter coming from a nearby gym. I asked if she knew anything about the place and she gave me a great run down. It's known as the Springfield State Hospital and it closed in the mid 80's. Then she gave me some really good information and saved me a few hours of scouring urban decay message boards and Flickr discussions - thanks lady! While I was there I quickly snapped a few bracketed photos and created the HDR images you see in this blog entry. I'm busy the next weekend with a camping trip to Jim Thorpe, PA, but I'll work out the details of my visit to this place next week. Stay tuned...