Doel: an almost deserted village in Belgium

As Bart van der Wolf has mentioned in this thread and I in this one, we have been to a small village in Belgium called Doel, which is almost deserted now. The story is a long one to tell so we'll get to writing and compiling it soon. In short, the village is stuck between the industrial areas of the Antwerp Harbor and a towering nuclear power plant right next to it. The Belgian government has been trying to evacuate the village for some decades now but some inhabitants still refuse to leave. Many houses have been left behind but were never torn down. In the past decade squatters have occupied many of those houses. By now all of them are gone and only some 14 houses are still occupied. Some houses are in state of extreme disintegration, some are still safe enough to walk in (barely). See this web site for some more info about Doel.

So to get the ball rolling, here is an image I took yesterday in one of those houses.



C&C is welcome.

Cheers,

And here is one that represents more of a political statement than an advertisement:


Cheers,
Bart

Cem_Usakligil said:

So to get the ball rolling, here is an image I took yesterday in one of those houses.

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Hi Cem,

Funny, how two different people look at the same things in a different way. I took this shot of the left-hand area of your image:


It was processed with TuFuse Pro to get a nice rendering of both interior and exterior.
The 7 bracketed image exposures were taken with a 1Ds3 and a TS/E 45mm lens.

Your shot has a bit more of an HDR look but I do like it (it's happy and colorful), and I also like the angle you chose.

Bart

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

Funny, how two different people look at the same things in a different way.

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I'm enjoying looking at the work you two came back with, Bart I love your "political statement" shot, made me laugh! and the one of the window, fascinating to see the way you both photographed the same place, thanks for sharing your day with us.

janet Smith said:

I'm enjoying looking at the work you two came back with, Bart I love your "political statement" shot, made me laugh! and the one of the window, fascinating to see the way you both photographed the same place, thanks for sharing your day with us.

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Hi Jan,

It gives me pleasure to know that at least one person is enjoying this story. Thanks .

Cheers,

I'm beginning to feel like Asher....

The bottom of the steps? I'd like to see that.

Rachel Foster said:

I'm beginning to feel like Asher....

The bottom of the steps? I'd like to see that.

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The location of the village can be found in the link I gave above so please feel free to visit .

Cem_Usakligil said:

So to get the ball rolling, here is an image I took yesterday in one of those houses.

C&C is welcome.

Cheers,

Click to expand...

Cem,

I appreciate the effort you and Bart are taking to continue, each in your own way, to expand your photography. The fact that you are working together is an important lesson for others as this partnership allows us would be procrastinators to get going with new work. Having a schedule to meet and a place defined seem simple but they put you ahead of the curve.




I have enjoyed this photograph immediately it appeared. This vision of a once vibrant home is remarkable. It has all the rich saturated colors the folk chose for decoration and now are left to the elements. This must have been a very interesting place to live with the constant play of light from the two sources, the window on the left and the door beyond.

I find the challenge of doing justice to such a picture means that I'd start understanding the nuances of the shadows on the stairs and walls and see what they say to me. Such a picture, my late father-in-law, himself a fine photographer would wrestle with some pictures in the darkroom for several months before presenting it for exhibition. This is such a picture.

There are so many details to bring out and therefore a myriad of subtle choices. I believe this is worth putting extra time in and today you can do this in CS4 in minutes what used to take hours in the wet darkroom. The brightness of the window, for example might be handled separately from overall illumination inside the house and then the deep bright area is another separate zone of interest. This photograph is very ambitious and should not be considered just enough snap I took in the village. A lot of effort will pay off in a fine print to exhibit.

Of course, I enjoy the photograph as it is with no changes, but having looked at the file, I see there is more there. It's only in that frame of reference, as an exhibition print, that these remarks might be relevant.

Thanks for sharing,

Asher

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

Hi Cem,

Funny, how two different people look at the same things in a different way. I took this shot of the left-hand area of your image:

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Bart,

This hunting for one's own view and vantage point is what projects the inside of one's own mind and individuality on to a scene. This is what qualifies the picture to be your work and not the produce of the housebuilder, painters, long gone inhabitants and of course the ravages of nature to be the artistic author.

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

It was processed with TuFuse Pro to get a nice rendering of both interior and exterior.
The 7 bracketed image exposures were taken with a 1Ds3 and a TS/E 45mm lens.

Click to expand...

I must try that! I hope it runs on a Mac!

Now you your version of the portion of Cem's choice.





Whereas Cem chose a wide view where the deep interior demands attention and this lateral window is an added feature, you have made the being of the bright outside something celebrated and no incidental feature. So these two views, one internal and one outward looking (and maybe the outside looking in too) reflects work of real artists who are able to project, through their choices the way they see things.

I hop that the two of you continue to work side by side, both keeping that pure independant attitude. This is very helpful and teaches me more of the creative process in photography. I learn a lot from your photography, each providing a different way of observation and making of a picture.

Thanks to both of you!

Asher

I am giving this a boost to remind folk to look at these tow photographers, Bart and Cem and how they have tackled the same subject. This is a unique window into intent and personal expression and shows the challenges in working in cramped spaces. What a difference the right gear can make in terms of just physically placing oneself in a vantage point to get the shot.

Whereas Cem was cramped into a corner unable to breathe and hardly able to see into his viewfinder, Bart was using a Tilt/Shift Canon lens and so had the optics do a lot of the athletics for him.

Each photographer is still working on how the final image will be built from the captured shots. There are many technical choices of how one deal with the excessive dynamic range of the deepest shadows and the brightest overbearing window light with no modifiers to relive this. So there was bracketing.

I hope you will look over this thread as I think it is instructive and your comments will be helpful.

Asher

I've been in Doel many times,its got a strange sphere wich is hard to capture,for me the pictures are to "clean'
Doel is dirty IMHO so the pictures must be

OT- its a place every photographer goes its a kind of "Lourdes"for urban and or model on location place
dont like that

I'm exploring Antwerpen with the harbour whenever I'm home, interesting town

Hans Miedema said:

I've been in Doel many times,its got a strange sphere wich is hard to capture,for me the pictures are to "clean'

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Hi Hans,

Strange sphere, I guess means strange atmosphere? Have you photographed there? Are there any pictures you might point to which display the feel of the place?

Hans Miedema said:

Doel is dirty IMHO so the pictures must be OT-

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Do you mean that the pictures should also be dirty? I think that a lot of folk might expect such scenes to be shot as if through some fog, as they do in the movies, where convenient mist hangs around even in the later afternoon to give halos around the lights and makes the room very foreboding and sinister!

So why is it not like that in the picture of either Bart or Cem? After all they must know that Does is dirty!

I think the answer is in how people see things. In the best photography, the vision of the shooter is personal and so if what's delivered is likely different from the "expected" mood and that's fine by me. I want material to have been through the photographer's brain, not just the lens!

Hans Miedema said:

it's a place every photographer goes its a kind of "Lourdes"for urban and or model on location place dont like that

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That's understandable that folk would want to find places which are the opposite of what's available in the city. It's like having a movie set with all interesting shapes and textures from another time.

Hans Miedema said:

I'm exploring Antwerpen with the harbour whenever I'm home, interesting town

Click to expand...

I'd love to see pictures of Antwerpen, especially the cobbled streets, shops that sell lace, ladies making the tablecloths, dock workers and even school children. See what you can shoot and post them for us to enjoy!

Asher

Hans Miedema said:

I've been in Doel many times,its got a strange sphere wich is hard to capture,for me the pictures are to "clean'
Doel is dirty IMHO so the pictures must be

Click to expand...

Hi Hans,

Like this?:

It was posted in another thread:
http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9055

And another one, although not that dirty (but that wasn't the intent of the photographer):
http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9044

And in another thread:
http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6170

I'm exploring Antwerpen with the harbour whenever I'm home, interesting town

Click to expand...

Looking forward to seeing some of them. I know Cem has shot several good ones at the harbour, and at least one spectacular one he shot through a smal hole (I've seen it printed large, wow) ...

Cheers,
Bart

i meant something like these





And one from Petrol Zuid in Antwerpen ( heavily polluted area, nowerdays restricted no entry)

Hans Miedema said:

i meant something like these

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These two pictures document what you refer to as dirty. They show the undisturbed decay of the place.
However, on looking more closely, perhaps they are are surgical and symmetrical images, taken to show what is there. Reminds me of the impulsive man opening his raincoat, with perfect equal measures from left and right, to display himself with startling panache on the main staircase in Macy's!

Now look at Bart's picture. He has not chosen the shocking image of the urinals. (A waste since someone could have signed them!, LOL).

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

Hi Hans,

Like this?:Bart

Click to expand...

Notice the deep dimensionality built from lighting and close position of the camera to get perspective. Look at the spider web and the dust on it.

Your other picture is interesting:

And one from Petrol Zuid in Antwerpen ( heavily polluted area, nowerdays restricted no entry)


I wonder if this is from the camera's jpg and what processing it might have had. could you also share the original version.

Asher

Asher, thanks for your comment,the picture from Bart is technically OK but just not my cup of tea

Have to look for the original from petrol Zuid

Just saw this thread now...

Asher's: "I am giving this a boost to remind folk to look at these tow photographers, Bart and Cem and how they have tackled the same subject. "

I tend to disagree; they don't tackled the same subject:

Bart concentrated on a inside-outside-situation per se, realised in this deserted house...
and this (or maybe even some other) image might stand a bit like as a metaphor - the stair beeing rather suggestive..- while not showing all the parth of the house. It's a abstraction.

Cem somehow shows it all: the stair, the room behind, with its window/door plus that open window in the foreground, taken from a unusual high position - my eyes move constantly between the two windows, asking myself if Cem wanted to point to the room behind the room (behind the stair) or the inside-outside at the blue wall, or even both at the same time.

Of course the two points of view (pun intended) are different languages, with the use of different tools, generating - if I couldn't see them side by side - two totally different °mental° images.

Hans Miedema said:

Asher, thanks for your comment,the picture from Bart is technically OK but just not my cup of tea

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Hi Hans,

No problem with that. Different strokes for different folks. The diversity is one of the fun part about OPF.
Here's another one, from the same session, that you probably also don't like because our taste is different:


I thought the symbolism was nice. The politicians made a decision, the courts overruled, the politicians went ahead anyway, the ruins of a questionable battle remain.

Cheers,
Bart

Bart, it's not to be a smartass but i like the picture with the cards,so many stories to be told with it
the title leads you in a direction but without the title its also working for me