Colorado Film Grants

Ok, I am taking a bit of a break from working on my website because I realized I suck at it and they just end up looking really shitty. So I started working on the Pre-production for my first big project at Colorado Film School, so I have decided that I am better than everyone else there so I want my film to reflect that so I am doing everything I can to make it as good as I possibly can.

In order for my film to be the best I am pulling out all the stops and I am going to do everything right, so I am in the processes of getting the rights to use some music by the band Everclear, I am spending hours on doing pre-production, drawing story boards, doing script break downs, scheduling, everything. I also wanted to get an honest to god budget for my film. So instead of being an ass and asking friends and family to donate money I decided to apply for grant money.

So in Colorado there are several art specific grants, which would have been great except for the fact that they don't give grants to students. What the hell? Why don't you give grants to students? Do they think that students can't make good art? Do they think that we have extra cash laying around so they don't have to give us money? I honestly don't get, there is really no reason to not give money to students. If I were to drop out of school I would be able to apply, but as it is I can't. So as you can tell I am annoyed, and pissed off. But this is just making my desire to get funding even stronger, so I am now going to go through every other process that I can think of to get money.

I know that I haven't put up a photo post recently, but hopefully now that I have figured out my schedule I will be able to go out and spend more time taking photos.

Metal Robot Media sound FX

So as I mentioned in my previous post, I am working on making a production company for both my film work as well as my still photo work. Recently in all of my massive amounts of free time I have been working on a website, a design, and a little intro video for my films. As much as I want to get it done, and as excited as I am to work on it, I am not much of a computer geek so working on writing out all the code and everything for a website is dreadfully boring for me. So I have been spending a lot of time working on both the intro video as well as the logo and all the graphic design stuff.

Originally I had wanted to use this wonderful royalty free sound clip I found of a man getting run over by a train. But after using it for a couple different rough cuts I decided I wanted something else, something of my own. So in case you don't know, I am not a sound designer, I'm not a musician, I actually pretty much suck at doing anything related to sound. So this introduced an interesting problem for me to fix. So I started reading and doing some research on how to design sounds. Finally I just broke down and did it. I came up with a general sound that I wanted to make. SoI borrowed a microphone from one of my friends and recorded myself going through the different layers of sounds that I would need to create my final sound.

Some of the sounds turned out great, others.... not so great. So I went out and rerecorded the sounds that I screwed up on. I listened to them again and they were a bit better. I did this four or five times depending on the sound and even then I couldn't get some of them right. For a couple of the sounds I ended up going to the internet and got commercially useable royalty free sounds.

Finally I downloaded Audacity, because I cant afford a several thousand dollar program, and I did the best job that I could editing the sounds. But like I said earlier I have never done this before so I am sure that anyone out there who has done it before will listen to it and think its crap. But screw you its my first time.

So after many hours of work, here is the first rough cut of the sound effect!

Metal Robot Media

So as some of you may or may not know, I am in the process of making my own company that will encompass both my still photography and films. Originally this idea started off as kinda a joke, I quickly threw together an intro video for my movies, I slapped together a Facebook page, then promptly forgot about it. Since I am not the greatest artist out there I used a drawing from my girlfriend at the time, it was a really good drawing. At the time we were both happy about me using it, I got a sweet drawing for my intro video and she got her artwork out there and got a little more exposure. So a couple months after we broke up I get a message on Facebook:

"John. You have absolutely no rights to my work. Take it down, or I will take you to court. Take it down now."

Now I don't know about some of you reading this, but I do not particularly want to be take to court by my crazy EX, especially over something as sill and stupid as this. So I pulled the page, and all the videos with the intro. But not all was in vain! Her demand for me to pull it reminded me of this great-untapped potential that I had at one point just begun to set up.

 So I began to get excited, and I decided that I was going to give Metal Robot Productions a face ift. So I renamed it Metal Robot Media, I drew another drawing, I am in the process of making a new and improved intro video, and I am even making a honest to god website. I know some of you guys probably think its kinda stupid for an 18 year old to make a "company" for their photos and films, but I am hoping to actually turn it into a multi media company. One that I will actually use to raise funds for my projects, one that I can use to sell my stuff through. I also know you probably think I am stupid since just about everyone and their cat who goes to film school has a production company. But I am smart enough to know that I am not special, that I am not very different then all of the other ones, but the reason I think I will succeed and they wont is because I immediately have a product to promote, my photography. Because to be honest student films are crap. There is no way around it, they are just crap. But my photos are good enough to be put up in places like coffee houses and the like which will allow me to start building a base around which I can add my films as they get better. So hopefully it will turn out. And I know I haven't put up a photo blog recently, but I have been really busy and haven't been able to go out to any ghost towns recently, but I really really hope that I will start going again since I do it more for my own joy than I do for all of you. But I will be keeping you guys updated about how it is going. 

Notes about my photogrphy

So, I have pretty much written about all of my adventures to ghost towns for the mean time, which is a bummer because I love going to these places I just haven't had time to go to one for a while. But since I don't have new photos to share with you guys I figured I would tell you a but about my process for taking photos. First and foremost I take all of my pictures on 35mm film. I know you could argue from now till the end of time on weather film or digital was better. Personally I prefer the look that is created by shooting on film rather than on digital. But thats not really why I shoot on film, I do it because I do not have the option to shoot the same image over and over and over until I get it right. I give my self one chance to get an image right. One chance. Thats it, no redoes nothing like that, and because of that it makes me plan and think about my image. It forces me to stop and think about what F-stop I am at, how fast my shutter speed is, what my film ISO is. I have found that by stopping and taking time to create an image is not only beneficial because it creates a better image but it is also more fulfilling because you know that you did everything on purpose and it wasn't just blind luck. Secondly, I NEVER use editing software to enhance an image. I have nothing against people who use photoshop, it is a great and wonderful program that to be used properly requires a deep wealth of knowledge about how it works and how to get the best image out of it. But thats not what its about for me, I don't sell my images, Im not doing professional photo shoots, Im not making ads. I do this for me, I do it because I love to and when I use photoshop to enhance an image I feel like I am cheating my self. Since I really only know the basics I pretty much can only fix things like contrast, or cropping or whatever, things that should have been done properly originally when looking through the lens. Finally I am my biggest critic. Out of the hundreds of photos I have shot, there is maybe one or two that I actually like. I always see something that I don't like or something that I think could have been done better. So if I ever complain about how my photos suck, Im really not digging for complements. I am doing what every photographer, or painter, or artist, or computer programer or whatever should do, recognize the fact that your not perfect. Am I proud of my work? Hell yes. My photography is one of the things I am most proud of in my entire life. But I know and realize that I'm not and never will be perfect.

Kutch Part II (aka Matheson)

Ok, so in my last post I lied. I said that was the end to the story of Kutch, but in fact its not... It was just 1 am and I wanted to go to bed to so I stopped writing, this is also why towards the end I started adding more and more photos and had less and less writing. This is going to be a very short post by the way.

So after exploring the area around Kutch for a little while I decided that it was time for me to head on home. Like I do most times I decided that I wanted to take a different rout home than I had take to get there, so instead of going west to I-25 I took a dirt road north in hopes that it would eventually take em somewhere. After a few minuets of driving I came across the town of Matheson. Now Matheson is not a very notable town, in fact if I was doing something besides taking photos I probably would have forgotten about it by now. But as you enter the town from the south, as I did, on your right there is a rather beautiful old church that is sitting abandoned.

Unfortunately I was not able to enter the church but I was able to get several good photos from the out side.

Ok, well I guess thats really all I had to say. I totally could have put that in my post last night...

Kutch Co (Ghost Town #6)

So I know I have promised this several times (ok maybe just one other time) but I will try to post more often, mostly because I really enjoy doing it, but if anyone actually reads these I greatly appreciate it. One other note before I actually tell you about the beautiful metropolis of Kutch, I am writing these usually a couple months after I actually go out and take the pictures so I try to remember it as well as I can, and tell you every detail. But lets be honest, no one reads this because they think I am a good writer, I just take mostly mediocre photos.

Ok, now that that is all done here is the story of Kutch.

After going to to Willard the week before and Eaton the week before that I had become addicted. I craved going to these places. Addicted to every aspect of it. The way I felt after first arriving and creaking open the first door I came across, feelings of hope, fear, excitement. I had become addicted to the smell, each place I have been smells so different, yet the same. I was addicted to the fear of being caught, the thought provoking and tantalizing stories I created on who these people were. Who lived here? Why did they leave? Did they want to leave? Bluntly I couldn't, and still can't, get enough. So thats why on one sunny saturday I found my self driving three hours away to beautiful Kutch Colorado.

The first building I came across was an old two story farm house.

I was very excited, I had never been inside a multiple story abandoned building before! So as soon as I got close enough I just turned my steering wheel to the left and drove off the road and parked. The second I opened my car door I was greeted by a ferocious wind. Muttering and cursing the wind I quickly pulled all of my gear together, deciding to go light I left one of my cameras and my big bag of gear in the car, and began taking pictures.

The building had a beautiful exterior, it was mostly solid wood paneling except for where an addition of cinder blocks was later added.

At first I was hesitant to go inside the building because I was able to see the floor from the outside and I was not sure how stable it was.

I also knew that there was a basement under the house.

The stairs leading down to the basement

So being the wise person I am I decided that I was going to go inside anyway. Very carefully I pushed the door open and stepped inside. The first thing I noticed was the temperature. Inside was much cooler, almost cold, an alarming temperature drop from the outside. The second thing I noticed was the floor, despite the way it looked it was solid.

At first I went around the bottom floor, taking it all in, both fearing and dreading the assent up to the second story. My mind raced with thoughts. How long has this building been sitting here? What would happen if the floor gave out? What if I fell?

on the bottom floor looking up at the second story

But once again my thrill for adventure out weighed my fear of death so I ever so slowly walked up the stairs, taking each step slowly, carefully, testing my weight for the sound of unwelcome creaks and groans.

But eventually I made it to the top safe and sound.

looking almost directly through my feet at the floor below

I soon realized that there was nothing very exciting in the upstairs so I slowly retraced my steps back to the stairs. After one last tour around the building I made my way back to the car where I stored my gear and continued down the dusty dirt road to where the town of Kutch supposedly actually stood. I soon came across another place of interest.

So once again I parked in order to investigate. As I got out and looked around I realized that much of this land looked the same way now as it did 100 years ago.

I could not see any other sign of life in any direction I looked. I was totally and completely alone. After my existentialist moment I continued to walk toward the house.

There were several things that struck me as odd about this building. Like the amount of things that they left behind. Not just farm equipment left to rust in the field,

but everyday type of things. Like shoes...

Or clothes.

I just don't understand the absolute hurried rush that these poor people must have felt to leave their house in order for them to leave their everyday clothes. What could have prompted them to feel the need to leave so quickly? So thats all I have on the beautiful metropolis of Kutch, and as always here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Willard co ghost town #5

After my previous trip to Eaton , which began as a un exciting and rather dull day but through luck turned out to be very worth while, I decided that I needed to spend more time researching these towns before I spent hours in the car getting to them. So after some thought and time reading about it I finally decided to go to Willard, though not a true ghost town it promised enough abandoned buildings to be exciting. First off, Willard is not very close to Boulder, in fact its about 3 and a half hours away, but the internet had promised me that it was worth the almost 200 mile drive.

The first time I was in Willard I drove though it with out even slowing down because I hadn't realized that I had reach my destination. But I finally checked my map and noticed that I had passed it a while before, so I turned around and headed back only to find the town of Willard look virtually nothing like the photos I found of it. It was by no means a bustling metropolis but it also wasn't a ghost town. Rather begrudgingly I drove up the one real street of the town only to be very pleasantly greeted by this:

and

Once I saw these two I started to see more and more, and as I did a smile began to slowly cross my face. I had chosen well. Disregarding all personal safety I nearly ran into the close abandoned building to me. It was one of the most disturbing and creepy places I have ever been into. Judging by the shape of the building and the things left behind I was assuming that it was probably left in the 70s-80s and most likely had rarely been opened since the left. The entire inside smelled of rotting wood and it was damp and clammy, but probably most disconcertingly, it seemed to absorb light. I had two very bright (60 lumens) head lamps and a 40 lumen lamp it still seemed dark as night. I walked slowly through the building, testing each step because I had seen a basement down below when I was out side and I did not want to fall through. I finally got to one of the first interesting things in the house, a wood dresser that had been haphazardly thrown into the middle of the hall. On the top of the dresser sat a very weathered and torn playing card box, which at some point over the years split and sent cards cascading down around it. The drawers only opened after a lot of prompting on my part just to reveal papers and a few other things I did not feel comfortable looking through. Immediately to the left of the left of the dresser was a tightly closed door. Years of wind blown dirt and grime had slowly worked its way under the crack of the door creating a very effective natural seal. Once again after a long period of poking and prodding and pulling and pushing I finally got the door open and saw a not uncommon sight in abandoned houses, a bed frame with bits and pieces of fabric still clinging on. Not to interested in the bed I proceeded to walk over to the closet door which swung open with ease. What lay inside the closet was in my mind truly mind boggling and disturbing, several nice outfits of clothes still hung on their hangers forever to be forgotten by their owners who left with out second thought to these poor clothes. There was not much else of note in the house, so after taking some photos of the clothes (which Ill put up eventually) and a few other things I left, feeling creeped out. I didnt go into the second house but I did get a few nice photos of the exterior;

the plains the reflection is what it looks like as far as the eye can see in any direction

After spending a few minuets walking around the exterior of the building as well as the mobile home next to it:

I took a short walk over to the towns once great grain elevator.

Like the house before it, the grain elevator seemed to left in a hurry. Such a hurry that there were still all the certificates of of approval and whatever else they needed hung above the door to one of the offices.

As I walked through the rest of the grain elevator I was able to get some wonderful photos

Then after doing my first sweep around the building I discovered that back behind the building were several cow skeletons, there were fully grown cows, and calfs alike. I am not sure if they were taken back there and shot or if they had wondered back there at some point and were not able to find their way out. But no matter how they got there, there were quite a few.

Well that pretty much describes my adventures to willard in great detail. and finally here were my favorite photos from the trip.

Eaton Ghost Town #3

Yes I know it has been almost two months since I have put up a new post. So in case anyone has been waiting out there with baited breath for me to put up my newest one, I am sorry. But I am going to try to start trying to be more consistent again.

So After my adventures at Last Chance and Dearfeild I was craving more. I just couldn't get enough. Every thing about these abandoned towns and buildings was enticing and to some extent addicting. So during the next week all I could do was think about the weekend so I could leave my house and head out to another town. As the weekend got closer I began to get things ready so I could leave as early as I could on saturday morning. I was also very determined that I was not going to be as inadequately prepared as I had been the first time. So I put together a "ghost town kit" which consists mostly of flash lights and head lamps, but I also decided that I should put together a decent med kit just incase.

But in all this anticipation I forgot to actually research the location that I was going to. That is how I ended up in Nunn....

Now how Nunn ended up on this list I will never know. But Nunn is NOT a ghost town, not even a partial ghost town. After driving up and down all three streets of Nunn multiple times I finally found a, one single, abandoned home. So of course I immediately jumped out of my car and took photos of it (what else do you expect after driving for about 3 hours).

ya this is pretty much what every house in Nunn looks like

But despite the fact that there was only one house worth looking at I actually ended up being very happy with some of the photos.

such as this one

But alas there are only so many photos you can take of one building so I quickly became bored and wanted something more exciting. Remembering back to my map I eventually remembered another town on my list in the nearby area: Purcell. This is Purcell. In case you can't tell it is a farm that looks like this:

This is NOT my image, but that you Rocky Mountain Profiles

Thats it. That is the town of Purcell. There is nothing more. That is it. So obviously I didn't even bother getting out of my car for this one, because well there was no need. At this point I was getting disheartened that these towns and buildings were not as exciting as my mind had promised me that they would be. So at this point I decided that it was not my day and that I should head just head on home. On my way I passed through the town of Eaton and I decided that I was going to get my self some lunch. As I sat there eating I looked up and noticed:

And I thought; "Wow I wish that was abandoned and I could explore it". As I sat there eating and looking at I noticed small clues

Small clues like all the window were broken....

That this building actually was abandoned. So I quickly ran over there and began taking photos of what was at one point the Eaton Grain Elevator and its subsequent weight station.

Last Chance Ghost Town #2

After my adventures in Dearfeild I still had several hours left in the day before the sun set. I recalled back to the map that I made and remembered that in the nearby area there was another ghost town: Last Chance. When I first found this town while I was doing my research I instantly fell in love with it, how often do you get to visit an abandoned town with such an ominous name! So I pulled out the map that I keep in the glove compartment of my car and I realized that Last Chance and Dearfeild are with in spitting distance of each other. Well that is if you can spit 75 miles. But had nothing better to do on this fine day so I decide to drive south a ways and go to Last Chance. After driving for about on hour and a half on the flattest, straitest and most boring road that I have ever seen, I arrived. At first I did a small tour around the town in my car and realized that at the north end of the town people had moved in, in their mobile homes but the majority of the town was left vacant. After my small tour I parked like a law abiding citizen in the Dairy King parking lot.

The king of soft served iced cream until he died and the queen took over

After I got out of my car and gather all of my camera equipment I realized that I had used up almost all of my film in Dearfeild, I had just little more than a roll left. This was a very large problem because just from what I had seen Last Chance was just as if not more neat and exciting as Dearfeild was. So I after realizing this I decided that there was nothing that I could do about it except be frugal with the photos I took. So I then walked over to the Dairy King, as I looked through the windows I noticed something odd. Every thing was still there. It was almost as though they had just closed shop for the night and were expecting to open back up the next day. There was still salt and pepper and ketchup on every table. All the chairs were neatly pushed in. Cooking utensils still hung above the ovens.

despite there being all of these things left that make the place creepy I still decide to take a photo of their step in freezer.... Why?

After walking all the way around the Dairy King I turn my attention slightly west word and I am greeted with a pleasant sight...

In case your wondering that says....

...the Last Chance Motel! I was also pleased to see that unlike Dairy King it was not all locked up.

Oooh they take visa!

So I took this as an open invitation to enter. The office was not as exciting as I had hoped so I skipped taking any photos there and progressed to the motel rooms.

How come my Motel rooms never come with a stationary bike?

At one point someone went inside the motel and tore down all the walls connecting the rooms. But its not like it was the worlds greatest motel to begin with.

After I sufficiently explored what remained of the motel I continued on my journey through Last Chance. After wondering through a few more buildings and not finding much of interest I came across the Joy Bus....

this is the joy bus

The Joy Bus is probably one of the most unintentionally creepy things I have ever seen. The walls and ceiling were all painted with bright colors and rainbows, all of the seat had been turned bright red... and it was in a nearly abandoned town. Besides the bus the brightest colors I could find was a sun bleached orangeish color. Also the inside was covered nearly floor to ceiling with random crap that was just left there.

This is exactly why I am never going to go inside a "joy" anything

After visiting the joy bus I had virtually exhausted my film stockpiles so I finished wondering around the town and finally decided that it was time for me to leave the wonderful, booming metropolis of Last Chance.

A few more photos

the final remains of the Last Chance Cafe

A chain holding the back end of a very old flat bed truck together

and finally

The ballerina of Last Chance

you can find the rest of the photos here