Through the 1960s, parents of young boys in Rhode Island had the perfect disciplinary tool imaginable at their disposal. The stone building shown in today's photo was the chapel and main office of "The Sockanosset Boys Training School", known to every child in the state as "The Bad Boy School." The building was dark, grey, foreboding, and it looked like something out of a Bran Stoker novel. The mere threat of being taken to Sockanosset was enough to keep us in line for weeks.
The property is no longer used as a juvenile prison. Stores and condos have replaced the old cell blocks, and the Chapel is now a fine dining restaurant called "The Chapel Grille." The food is excellent, but the first time I dined there I still experienced chills walking into the building. That's how I decided to show it in today's photo. Here's the Chapel as seen through the recesses of the mind.
Post processing actually started in camera. I used the 5DM3's HDR mode to capture the full contrast of the sky and building. I then performed a low key conversion in Topaz Adjust. Technically, "low key" in photography indicates a photo where the majority of tones are darker than neutral grey. It's a great technique for creating a dark, depressing image. Back in PSE I added a deep blue photo filter, and then performed the black and white conversion using a gradient map in color blend mode. I layered a sepia photo filter on top of that. I adjusted levels slightly to darken the mood even further, and then layered a second sepia filter to produce that smokey grey effect.
Love the processing....and love the story too. This looks like something out of a scary movie.....where the car breaks down and the people walk to the nearest house (which would be your picture) never to be seen again!
