Piedras Blancas Motel, Frozen And Forgotten

Along the 90 miles stretch of the Big Sur Coast of California are several very tiny towns or outcroppings of buildings. The rest of the spaces are natural wilderness or part of the very huge Hearst Ranch which is still engaged in cattle ranching despite the Hearst Castle having been deeded back to the State of California. Just north of San Simeon is the tiny alcove of Piedras Blancas (Spanish for white rocks, white from seagull droppings) where there is a famous lighthouse and a Naval ULF station, and this motel. The motel has been boarded up for at least a decade. There is a sign up front reading that rehabilitation is underway, but I am likely to believe that sign is also at least a decade old. The buildings are slowly decaying. I thought it would be interesting to get sea and motel in one photograph, though you can barely make out the sea since I was using a wide angle lens.
Location
Piedras Blancas, California
Equipment Used
Mamiya RB67 Pro S, 50mm
Film & Developer
Bergger BPF 200, Rodinal 1/50
Paper & Developer
Ilford, Ilford
Lens Filter
#3
bsdunek said:
I think the sea shows pretty well, and the perspective of the building is great. Nice shot!

Thanks! I just gave this print away tonight to someone I know is going to frame it. The paper was old, obtained from an alcoholic, was not yielding any blacks and I had to increase contrast just to get a decent image. I'm going to reprint this one either tonight or tomorrow with new paper and see if I can't get better tones and more separation in the sky and sea because under the loupe the negative appears to have the ability to do so.
 
There was a low-budget horror film in the 1960s titled something like "The Monster of Piedras Blancas." The beast dwelled in a cave at the water's edge and liked to snack on the locals. I wonder if this hotel was in the film. Nice shot, I'm sure some new paper will give some pop to the whites, although the subdued tones give your shot kind of an aged look that suits the scene.

Peter Gomena
 

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Critique Gallery
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Perry Way
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