The Ball Game

Back to the abandoned property of St. Paul's Abbey in Andover, NJ.  This time, it's looking up a small road running along the back of the large main building.  I keep checking online for any news on the fate of this property but haven't found any recent updates.  As with so many of the abandoned places I've visited, it seems all too few are being restored to their former grandeur and put to good use again.  Most remain lonely ghosts of their former selves that I will continue to photograph and preserve in my artwork.  The distinguished gentleman on the road and mischievous girls hiding in the bushes are from my vintage photo collection.  The birds patrolling the sky are from a trip to Marlboro, NJ and the ball that prompted the title belonged to my beloved ferrets, all of whom have passed on.

Deliverance

 

This montage began with yet another building on the St. Paul's Abbey retreat house property in Andover, NJ.  As you can see, I've been working with these images quite a lot lately!  The lovely lady giving the birds their freedom is friend and model Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta who is a talented journalist and author of a wonderful blog over on Wordpress.  The other models, my backyard blackbirds, have left for their winter hiatus in search of warmer weather and I miss them terribly!  Can't wait for their return in the spring! 

Wildflowers

Wildflowers ©2012 - The base photo for this montage is one of the many back buildings on the abandoned property of the former St. Paul's Abbey retreat house in Andover Township, New Jersey.  I wrote a little more about the history of the property in the writeup for "Jonah" in which I used another of the buildings.  My eye was immediately drawn to the single stem of flowers thrusting upward in the building's entrance, framed by hanging ivy and the darkness of the interior.  It was the only flower in the area.  The child is from my vintage photo collection and I'm still undecided if it is a boy or girl.  No matter, he or she matched the mood I was looking for and a few of my backyard birds completed the composition.  "Wildflowers" - a flower of an uncultivated variety growing freely without human intervention.  Love the sound of that!

Jonah

Jonah ©2012 - One of the great things about working with photography is the unexpected cool twist that happens now and then.  I took the base photo for this montage (minus the little boy) on an abandoned piece of property in Andover Township near the Newton border in New Jersey.  It was one of the small buildings behind what used to be the St. Paul's Abbey retreat house, a notable landmark founded as a monastery in 1924 housing up to 60 monks.  They led very simple lives using the surrounding property for beekeeping, cow raising, fruit growing and Christmas tree farming.  After taking the image, I looked at it on my camera and thought my eyes were playing tricks.  There were some wonderful reflections in the old window glass but one clearly looked like the face of a giant fish!  To be sure it wasn't just me, I showed it to the person with me and the first thing he said was "Hey!  There's a fish face in the window!".  I added the boy from my vintage photo collection, a little more plant life from around the property and some toning and selected filters to complete (what I thought to be an appropriate title) "Jonah".