In yesterday's shot I described my morning photo-meetup at the methodist church in Gary Indiana, a decaying yet grand church that will be demolished at some yet to be named date. I'll be posting a few more this week as I feel a single day doesn't do it justice. This was the auditorium/theater in the church. It had clearly been quite the glorious site in its day. Now, the main floor is covered in debris, ragged curtains hang downstage, paint peels abound. The balcony is still solid, but grimy like everything else. After our guide had 'released' us to photograph where we wanted, I wandered into the area as this trio was the focus of a photo shoot. The ghostly character behind them is the photographer.
Several of you wondered about the possibility of renovation. Sadly, the feeling is that the millions it would take to rebuild and restore would be for naught, as the cycle of decay would just start again. The town it is in is in severe decline. An interesting tidbit, apparently several movies have used this as a location -- including one where a grisly chef was murdering folks and then cooking them!
Thank you for your comments and favs on yesterday's shots. "Seen Better Days" landed on PP which was really exciting!
Oh, and I did take photos today, downloaded, and tried to make at least one work, but the ones of the church are much more interesting!
Fabulous shot Taffy, such a shame that a wonderful building has gone to wrack and ruin. I really don't understand the mentality of local government/councils not to uphold these historic buildings. Love the composition here and the added factor of the Trio on stage. Great processing too!
I follow this story with interest as I belong the Methodist Church here in St. Neots. Another poignant shot showing the sad sad story. Well done on yesterday's PP.
@fishy It was a large steel center. Remember the musical 76 Trombones? There's a song in it about Gary Indiana being "my home town." Thanks for visiting and commenting, Andrew!
Instant fav! My goodness - I took some similar photos yesterday of our old church building before it's about to be demolished. Unfortunately, we couldn't muster enough money as a community to preserve it. :(
Oh yes, this really shows the decay, really such intriguing place and shot. Love how you photographed it. I´m enjoying these pics and looking forward seeing the next ones
@busylady Thanks Judith. I can image how hard it must be to see a church within your own group in such decay. It's such a sad looking building in spite of how regal it looks, but even more sad is seeing the city almost like a ghost town. I will post a few more shots over the week (don't want to bore folks), but knowing it won't be there for the long term, in a way it feels good to document what's become of it.
It's just heartbreaking to see not only the demise of this beautiful building but hear about the demise of the entire town. Good shot though and the ghostly figure adds to the temperament of the shot. Just fyi, the musical was The Music Man (starring Robert Preston and Buddy Hackett) which included the song 76 Trombones, Gary Indiana (sung in a duet with Ron Howard if I remember correctly) and Marian the Librarian (played by Shirley Jones of Partridge Family fame).
@danielwsc The light when I took this was actually very flat, so I had a lot of options of where to stand. I was using my 14-24 2.8 which also helped since it's such a sharp lens. It was all just some lucky timing. The guy leading it said it's common to get this flat light after the sun is overhead and before it gets to the other side.
