Day 1of the 5 Day Black and White Photo Challenge: Abandoned Halls of the Mary Allen Seminary

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Two weeks ago a friend of mine challenged me to the “5 Day Black and White Photo Challenge” that I am to post on my Facebook profile each day. Challenge ACCEPTED!

I love black and white photographs, but I rarely shoot in black and white anymore and rarely process images in black and white as well. I’m not sure why. I think I should do more!

Day 1of the 5 Day Black and White  Photo Challenge: Abandoned Halls of the Mary Allen Seminary

For Day 1 of the 5 Day B Black and White Photo Challenge is of an interior shot of the long time abandoned Mary Allen Seminary later called the Mary Allen Junior College in the Crockett, Texas.

The school is well over 100 years old and was shut down in 1972. Because of lack of funding and neglect, the building is in danger of total collapse. There are sections of the building where the tops floors have fallen to the grown floor and others such as this one that is relatively safe to view. (I would not recommend entering this old building, its unsafe!)

I have a ton of pictures of Mary Allen Seminary and every time I drive out to the Houston area, I take the hour out of the way trip out there to visit the old building to learn more about it. In the near future I will post a detailed history of this great place.

There is a website with the history of the Mary Allen Seminary building and is even looking for donations towards restoration of the old school. Currently the site is down (as of December 29th, 2014, but should be back up soon. Its Mary Allen Museum.

About the Image

When I Shot this this location, I shot in color but thought about what it would each image would like in black and white. I looked for the drama of the scene, the colors, shadows, and of course the textures. If the scene doesn’t have the drama or the textures, it doesn’t generate an impressive black and white image.

This shot was taken on gloomy and rainy day. I use natural back lighting from the entrance and the windows along the halls to light up the hallway. I also shot by hand using my Sony Nex-3N and a Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8 prime lens. I then edited in Adobe Lightroom and post processed with Topaz Clarity to bring in more texture, detail, and play with the lighting. I then converted to black and white using Topaz B&W.