Abandoned Greenhouses

[donbga]

I'm looking for locations of abandoned geenhouses, especially in the southeatern U.S. But any information is certainly welcome.

 

[jp80874]

I'm looking for locations of abandoned geenhouses, especially in the southeatern U.S. But any information is certainly welcome.

I have just done a twenty picture, 16x20, B&W series from 8x10 negatives of twenty greenhouses, six acres under glass, built in the 1950s, shut down because of the cost of heating in the early 1990s. Each house is roughly 100x300 yards. They are in an east west row roughly 1/4 mile from Lake Erie, so they have really weathered severely. They are not abandoned, but have changed function. The cash crop 6,000 tomatoes is dead, but every imaginable plant has grown rampantly in its place, vines six inches thick, trees through the roof, etc. Wild animals from rats to deer use it for shelter. All the ferrous equipment has rusted, wood has rotted and the aluminum has (what do you call that?) pitted - corroded. The family owning it since the 1860s still farm the land around it alternating between corn and soy beans. They use the buildings for storage. For liability reasons they don't want shooters inside and are VERY AGGRESSIVE about enforcing that. The former Sheriff is a family member. Broken glass literally flies everywhere in a wind. With permission you can shoot outside or in through the holes where glass was. They even have painters come and paint their interpretations.

In case that isn’t interesting enough, they also raise a herd of 86 buffalo. Location near Huron, OH. Going there today to start a second integrated series in 7x17, B&W, contact prints. One of the photography professors from Oberlin College, Pipo Nguyen-duy, did a two year, 250 print, color photo study of the seasonal transitions, blowing up from 4x5 negatives. He did this after doing a study grant of Monet’s garden in Giverny, France. Talk about contrast, fascinating site.

Cleveland west to Sandusky, Ohio was an intensive greenhouse area in the 1950s-70s. Several people seeing my first series have mentioned other somewhat smaller sites, abandoned or functioning in this geography.

John Powers

 

[reellis67]

Man, they just tore down two in my area in the last year or so. I always wanted to photograph them too, but just never got around to it. I'd love to see what you get when you have some prints to show around...

- Randy

 

[rbarker]

Not to dissuade you from your project, but if a greenhouse is abandoned, wouldn't it become a brownhouse?

 

[John Koehrer]

rbarker,
Would plural be greenhice? And would they travel in flocks, herds, murders or mobs?

 

[donbga]

Man, they just tore down two in my area in the last year or so. I always wanted to photograph them too, but just never got around to it. I'd love to see what you get when you have some prints to show around...

- Randy

Here are a few.

 

[donbga]

Not to dissuade you from your project, but if a greenhouse is abandoned, wouldn't it become a brownhouse?

In B&W a gray house.

 

[reellis67]

Not to dissuade you from your project, but if a greenhouse is abandoned, wouldn't it become a brownhouse?

There is usualy a lot of algae that keep it green (eew!), but lots-o-brown too!

- Randy

 

[reellis67]

Here are a few.

Great shots - I really like the third one of the overgrown door. I would imagine that there is a lot of opportunity for close-up work in these places. Thanks for the samples!

- Randy

 

[juan]

Depending on the state of disrepair, there are ruins of greenhouses on Cumberland Island.
juan

 

[donbga]

Depending on the state of disrepair, there are ruins of greenhouses on Cumberland Island.
juan

Juan, AFAIK, there are no abandoned greenhouses on Cumberland, Is. There is one on Sapelo, Is.

 

[juan]

South of the Dungeness Mansion, beyond the grounds and towards the marsh. They are walled ruins - no glass.
juan

 

[donbga]

Great shots - I really like the third one of the overgrown door. I would imagine that there is a lot of opportunity for close-up work in these places. Thanks for the samples!

- Randy

Sorry it came out so dark. I'm not sure why. Anyway I have more but I would like to build a large portfolio to edit down from.

 

[BWKate]

Love your greenhouse shots, Don,

I photographed an Edwardian greenhouse in Victoria on the grounds of Hatley Castle. I made friends with the gardeners and they let me come in and take photos. ( It's closed to the public. ) You've inspired me to scan them to show you. Mine are in 35mm and Kodak Hie Infrared film.

 

[donbga]

Love your greenhouse shots, Don,

I photographed an Edwardian greenhouse in Victoria on the grounds of Hatley Castle. I made friends with the gardeners and they let me come in and take photos. ( It's closed to the public. ) You've inspired me to scan them to show you. Mine are in 35mm and Kodak Hie Infrared film.

Thanks Kate. I look forward to seeing your IR prints of the greenhouse.

The abandoned ones draw me like a magnet.

I'm going to photograph an old small one here locally Friday.

 

[BWKate]

Don,

How do you post photos in a thread like this one? Do they still have to be sized to 100KB? Help!

BWKate

 

[donbga]

Don,

How do you post photos in a thread like this one? Do they still have to be sized to 100KB? Help!

BWKate

Kate,

First prepare the photos you want to post. I set mine to 8 bit grey scale, 96 dpi, with the longest side set to 600 pixels. Convert to JPEG if necessary.

Then reply to a post, you see below the Reply To editor a button labelec Manage Attachments. Click on that and browse to the image files on your computer. after selecting the file names click on submit.

Good Luck,

 

[BWKate]

Hello Don,

I finally learned how to scan and scanned two of my greenhouse infrared photos for you to see. Sorry it took so long. But here they are. I hope you like them.

 

[RAP]

Greenhouses can be great to photograph in and around. All that glass presents multiple levels of shapes, light, shadows. They are worth seeking out and exploring. Here are two from my website:

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[SteveH]

If you ever get into the MidAtlantic area, check out Bellevue State Park, in Wilmington, DE. They have a MASSIVE abandoned greenhouse that has some rather large trees growing through it. Where the trees haven't busted out the glass, most of the glass is still intact.

http://www.destateparks.com/bvsp/bvsp.htm

 

[Bill Mobbs]

Any thoughts on converting one of these green houses to a natural light photographic studio?

 

[Monophoto]

Any thoughts on converting one of these green houses to a natural light photographic studio?

The Peters Valley Craft Center uses a number of 19th century structures in the Deleware Water Gap Recreational Area in extreme western New Jersey. One of the structures is an old greenhouse, and it is not uncommon for folks in photography workshops to work in the greenhouse. I was in a workshop there last summer in which we used the space to photograph some nude models.

 

[Sanjay Sen]

BWKate, those IR images are awesome!

 

[BWKate]

Thanks Sanjay!

 

[Steve Smith]

Any thoughts on converting one of these green houses to a natural light photographic studio?

On the Isle of Wight (where I live) we have Dimbola Lodge which was the house of the Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron which is now preserved as a museum and gallery.

Julia Margaret Cameron actually did this although her greenhouse was actually a glazed chicken house.

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Steve.