These are the remains of the Château de Breil on the outskirts of the small Breton town of Iffendic. Once a magnificent manor house, built over a 3 year period from 1860 to 1863, it was destroyed by fire on the night of the 27-28th June 1903 and was never rebuilt - home now only to a large colony of crows... and the landowner's cows!
Great BW. This sort of reminds me of the House at Fort Williams. Probably if you saw it you'd think I was crazy but they are both old and falling apart and yet beautiful.
What a great place for photographers! I like what you have done to make it look intriguing and eerie. Are you on holiday there? Good that you have all you technology with you!
@lleo No this is about 35kms from where we live and just down the road from the friend we were visiting today. You can see a view of the otherside of the building in my first posting for @se7en in April - http://365project.org/se7en/365/2014-04-19
I love your processing of this old building, what a shame such a beautiful building was not rebuilt, however, photographers and crows would miss out! FAV
@judithdeacon I was most disappointed that all the crows appeared to be roosting inside today - I could hear them cawing very loudly - a couple of dozen of them wheeling in the sky would really have made this shot!
Great tonal range Richard. I do like dark skies in B/W. The conversion turned out very well, nice clean edges, no unsightly glows. All round, very nice.
Wonderful with the light on the Chateau and the tree and the darker sky - fantastic tones. I love the animals under the tree - that is one huge Chateau. FAV
Red filter Richard? I agree, a few crows circlin gabove would be the icing on the cake. But it is already a very interesting and quite magnificent photo.
@happysnap Thanks Linda - it was processed using a favourite 'recipe' of mine for this type of shot: LR5>Silver Efex Pro 2> LR5. And you know the annoying thing - there are ALWAYS crows wheeling above the château which is home to hundreds of them... but not this time ;-(
What a spectacular place I bet this one was. Such a shame no one's felt inspired to return it to its former glory. Your photo gives it a well-deserved moment in the spotlight. Are the windows bricked over or is the roof completely gone and the inside well-lit by the sun? (I'm guessing the second option.)
@lyndemc@fishers Thanks Denise and Ian. You're right on both counts Denise - the windows are bricked up but the roof was completely destroyed in the fire and the temporary covering has long since fallen in. (You can find more information here - in French only - including a copy of an old postcard showing the château in its heyday before the fire: http://manoirs-d-iffendic.e-monsite.com/pages/le-breil-chateau.html )
Ian