Random Picture of the Week #85: Abandoned School Basketball Gym in Motley County, Texas

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This week’s not so random image of the week follows the theme of the last two weeks’ random images. This time its the interior of an abandoned school basketball gym in Motely County, Texas.

Abandoned School Basketball Gym in Motley County, Texas

Last September my photographer friend and I took a road trip to west Texas and parts of the Panhandle.  On our way from another abandoned school check out another school further south we accidently came across a closed school in a small town of less than 300.

After doing a little digging we found the previous owner of the school. He said he just sold the building but since they were clearing the building out (the school classrooms were converted into public storage units) we could check out the school and photograph the unlocked areas. We found that the previous owner only used the main building and the rest of the building was abandoned at some point.

The abandoned school basketball gym in Montley County, Texas was in rough shape. It was dirty and looked like the roof was leaking or leaking at one time. On the bleachers there was new insulation piled up and the along the walls and stage there was more building materials stacked up.

Later that day, we came across the new owner who told us what he knew about the school and his current plans for the school.

He didn’t know when the school was built or when it was shut down. He said this wasn’t the first school he’s bought and he said many of these small town school districts usually do not keep good records on the buildings they own. A  lot of the old buildings were built so long ago that the records were misplaced or discarded for some reason.

About the Image

The abandoned school basketball gym in Montley County, Texas was shot using a tripod and light from the frosted over windows. I used my Sony a6000 and a Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8 lens. I then edited the image in Adobe Lightroom CC.