towering majesty

towering majesty
Originally uploaded by Louis Q

Thanks to my friend Andy for taking me to the old abandoned Jackson Sanitorium in upstate NY last Saturday. It was a very very cool experience and nice birthday gift. We left his place in Elmira NY around 10 am and headed north do Dansville, NY with ominous storm clouds threatening our adventure. Thankfully most of the rain missed us and we were able to set up and grab some cool HDR exterior shots of the "mansion on the hill". My partner guided me through the small little town up a hill to a municipal building to park. Thats where my inherited "grown" up anxiety kicked in. I started to worry about my car getting towed as we started up the road to the grassy area where the gate to this fortress stood. Once on the grounds I was immediatlely drawn to several abandoned houses that must have been very grand homes at one time on this property. I stopped to snap a few shots of them and continued walking up a grassy path to my final desitnation....there it was....all of Andy's descriptions seemed to pale at the reality of the awe and grand magnitude of this place. I was greeted by a 5 story brick and iron castle. Most of the structure appeared strong however upon further inspection, I noticed that several areas of the building had fallen off and others were threatening to break away from the main structure. After about an hour of snapping photos of the building, the grounds, the old swimming area and the abandoned houses on the property my nerves got the best of me as I worried incessantly about the authorities showing up or my car being towed as we were busy a 1/4 mile away snapping away shots. We....rather I, decided no to chance it any further, but Andy had one last adventure in store for me...He insisted I at least look inside, so I walked up the main steps and peered back 100 years in time to the grand entry way. I was amazed at the arches, pillars, architecture and grand iron staircase....WOW was all I could think. Why would someone allow this place to just fall apart. Words can't explain. I wish I weren't so nervous and grown up as I wanted to walk around inside and grab shots in there too. But, alas, we decided to leave and head to Letchworth State Park for some landscape and waterfall shooting and thanks to Andy and his partner Walt, I was able to enjoy some interior shots they had taken on a previous expedetion. My passion for photograpny, history and exploring was surely fullfilled this day. On to new adventures soon. I have included a few links Jackson Sanitorium history that includes some images from Jackson Sanitorium in its heyday.This is Andy and Walts link from a previous shoot  http://miragebym.blogspot.com/2009/11/castle-on-hill-jackson-sanatorium-10-16.html