LostAmerica made a good point about getting busted because of your lights - has this ever happened to you?


I once shot an abandoned house in an industrial area - it was sitting in a field, neglected, a few windows broken, but no serious vandalism. That should have been my first clue that the place was not unwatched. I'd visited once or twice before, but this time it was 2am, and I was on my way back from a night of photography.

Long story short, my flash pops, like the ones used to light this image, were noticed by workers nearby, who called security, who in turn called the police. All was well in the end, but didn't I feel like a prize newbie.




I was going to say that only flash pops had got me into trouble, but no, regular torch painting has, too. On an utterly dark night, with storm clouds overhead, my lights clearly penetrated a long way, and the owners of this WW2 relic eventually noticed and roared down in a truck to confront me. As always, all was well, and I found out where they lived, and next visit, asked their permission first

It's happens now and then. I like it though, kinda adds an element of danger to the photo. I also wonder what people are thinking when the see red,blue,green, lights with colored flashes going off in an abandonment. I could only imagine a lot of ghost sightings.

To avoid getting caught, I bring a strobe light and give a seizure to anyone that confronts me.

Posted by leefypk To avoid getting caught, I bring a strobe light and give a seizure to anyone that confronts me.

Beware people carrying mirrors

Posted by metawaffle Beware people carrying mirrors

To prevent this from happening, I've built up an immunity by looking directly into the light for twenty minutes every day.

Strangely, I've been pretty successful thus far. I explore and shoot almost exclusively at night, and when I have moonlight I tend to use it to get around on the outside, but once inside I have to use a flashlight to see where I'm going, lest I fall through a hole, like this one:



There's a small town here in north Texas called Mineral Wells, which has one enormous, well-watched landmark in it called the Baker Hotel. It literally stands out on the landscape like Shaquille O'Neal standing in the middle of a pack of toddlers:


This building is right smack in the center of a town that has no other claim to fame. I've explored and light-painted in that building for no less than 17 hours now, all at night, and not yet been caught. A friend of mine went there one afternoon and was busted within 30 minutes. I think there's more to it than just light; there's some common sense and general stealth skill involved too.

The only time I've been busted and and had to leave a place wasn't a function of light either. I was in a small town in NW Louisiana and the locals saw my strange car parked at the end of a road near an abandoned school and called the sheriff. She came out to investigate, I saw her search lights scanning the building and I knew it was just a matter of time. I left, was spotted by her and told to not come back without written permission from the parish school superintendent.

Ahhhh the Baker, what a wonderful place!

My 6 LED Lenser in the sub basement of the Baker last weekend.



And yeah light got another explorer and myself some attention once but not by anyone of authority. We were dimly lighting a historical photograph in the lobby of a building downtown and a homeless man sternly said "TURN OFF THAT FLASHLIGHT" from across the giant empty room.

Last night, I visited a decrepit building I'd planned to shoot, and cautiously checked it out first for inhabitants. Creeping around, with the torch at minimum brightness, I suddenly noticed the security guard caravan parked on the other side of the building.

Great.

Well, there went my light painting plans! Indeed, since the place was just so dark, there went my plans to shoot there at all...

I so feel your pain.