Sunday, September 15, 2013

A Devils Haircut in the Demon Barbers chair

A Barbers chair in an old prison cell spooky photograph by Gary Heller
The Barbers Chair

Devils Haircut photograph by Gary Heller
Devils Haircut


This summer I took a tour with a friend of mine to the Eastern State Penitentiary in PA. Paid a reasonable fee to bring the tripods inside with us, and its really a must if you want to do some serious shooting of the scenes inside.

A very interesting place with a lot of history having housed some famous prisoners such as Slick Willie Sutton and Scarface, Al Capone.

Roaming around the cell blocks we came upon this weird and almost surreal sight. An old barbers chair inside one of the dismal and crumbling cells, lit up by a skylight in the ceiling.

When we first saw this, the light was a bit more behind the chair leaving it almost in shadow, but I figured if we came back to it a couple hours later the position of the sun would angle better onto the chair and ultimately make for a better photograph.

Both of these photographs were done with a tripod using 5 exposures blended together to bring out all the detail and dynamic range of this very high contrast scene. I like to edit to achieve a more surreal look to enhance the texture and wonderful patina of this place, and the overall mood.

It reminded me of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber.


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