Dereliction at Holstvollen – part one

Just outside Trondheim lies a small farm called Holstvollen. It has been abandoned for some time, and although it is sad to see the farm in its current conditions, the dereliction gives a lot of photographic opportunities.

One of my sad photographic habits is to put a lens on the camera and stay with it, so when I headed to Holstvollen as part of a workshop (same workshop as my unexpected cricket and mud walking posts are from) I set myself the goal of using all the lenses I had in my bag.

First I started out using my 24mm f/1.4. I really like this lens for its shallow depth of field, something that is hard to get on a normal wide angle (such as a 17-40 f/4 or a 16-35 f/2.8). The contrast between the flowers in the foreground and the decaying bench and wall in the background piqued my interest, and after some work I managed to find a satisfying composition.

Decay and renewal
Decay and renewal – Canon 24mm f/1.4 wide open

The next lens I picked out from my bag was the Canon 8-15 mm fish eye. Here I found a part of an old wall that looked exactly like a snake eye or alternately two windows giving birth to a wall section…

The snake eye
The snake eye – Canon 8-15mm f/4 at 8mm

Note how you can see the entire wall in the photo (both ground and sky as well as both corners…)

Another fascinating wall was found in a portal, where the abandoned dirt made for intriguing patterns…

Abandoned dirt - Canon 8-15mm at 8 mm.
Abandoned dirt – Canon 8-15mm at 8 mm

As with the previous photos from the workshop, some of the photos didn’t really come through until in post-production. I was able to combine two photos taken with a 17-40 f/4 and a 100mm f/2.8 macro into a rough photo of an abandoned stove.

Pailing paint - 100mm f/2.8 macro
Peeling paint – 100mm f/2.8 macro
Stove - Canon 17-40mm f/4 at 40 mm
Stove – Canon 17-40mm f/4 at 40 mm
Abandoned stove
Abandoned stove

I was now half-way through my bag, and it was time to pick up some of my more frequently used lenses. More on that in a later post.

 

 

 

Trondheim, Sor-Trondelag, Norway

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