Jesse Murch 3/29/16 Jesse Murch 3/29/16

Recent Travels - Jefferson, NJ

It was late afternoon and the sun was high in the sky, the temperature was chilly but a jacket and one was fine. The group of us planned on meeting up at Steve’s ( @softfocusprod ) house and carpooling to the shoot location. There would be eight of us in total for todays excursion, and as i pulled down the road i was greeted by Kayla ( @kaylasavage_ ) who would be one of the models for the day, James ( @jamesorgyinthefacility ), Tori ( @graphicpsycheldelic ), and Robyn who would also model for the day. We all exchanged info and stories while waiting for Enzo ( @enzodadude ) and Jennie ( @jennyfromtherock ). Once they arrived we split up into two cars and headed off to the location for the day, an old church retreat buried deep in the woods, we parked at a forest service gate and proceeded to walk the long paved road that would end up at our destination.

The road was curved through bare forests and green pines before cresting a hill and revealing the retreat. This place was different then most abandoned places we venture to as the whole building was unlocked, and even with this there was no graffiti throughout, everything was clean and untouched. Also surprisingly the boiler was still kicking on and off providing heat throughout the building which was a pleasant surprise. We walked in through the front door and everyone split there separate ways like an episode of scooby doo to go explore the new terrain. The first floor consisted of a chapel hall, living quarters, a kitchen, and long hallways with ample light. The basement featured the boiler room, storage areas filled with old light bulbs and spare parts, and a full sized basketball court, while the top floor had a balcony overlooking the chapel, some bigger rooms leading to outdoor balconies, and access to the expansive roof via a runged ladder heading through the ceiling. After everyone had there fill of exploring we all gathered down stairs in the gym to begin shooting our first images.

These consisted of an antique couch being dragged to the center, a fire extinguisher being used to create atmosphere, and gorgeous rays of natural window light. Its always nice to have a big group on shoots from time to time, the interactions and the creative ideas that get thrown out consistently is always nice, as well as how much you learn by witnessing different peoples creative processes and ways of interacting while shooting or posing. After getting our image fill in the gym we broke off into smaller groups, some went to other rooms to do self portraits, others went to explore the roof before all gathering again by the waterfront behind the building where an expansive dock lay, James managed to open a nearby shed finding two sailboats that would provide a good backdrop and prop foursome photos, one by one everyone we had come with came out to the dock to utilize and photograph the happenings, weather it be James sailing the pond propelling himself with a fire extinguisher, kayla posing nude on a boat, or just to enjoy the sun on the water. The shenanigans lasted until all were cold and ready for the oddly climate controlled abandoned building once more.

One by one we tracked back into the brick building in search for more locations, we found this in the form of an outdoor balcony off of the third floor. Robyn had been out there smoking and the light that was coming through the trees lit her perfectly, after minimal posing instructions i shot off a few photos and moved back inside to see what else was around. Like a commune of artists each room had something creative going on in it as i wandered the empty halls, being surrounded by creatives always makes you push your work further and think outside of the box, being so i encourage you all to get out more with others and collaborate. We spent a few more hours wandering and shooting about the building before all getting hungry and wanting to head out in search for food and a re-charge. After some much needed pizza we drove around the town to a nearby reservoir where we planned on shooting until the sun set over the lake. This was cut short almost immediately as we hadn't even set our bags down before a self entitled park ranger showed up to accuses of being terrorists with no jobs and not paying taxes, i wish i were exaggerating but unfortunately this man was very ignorant, not wanting to further escalate and feed into this mans complex we packed up and went down the road to some power line trails to finish off our terroristicattacks, er i mean photographs, the sunset set in the perfect spot and we were all able to get beautifully backlit portraits. All in all the day was filled with adventures, new friendships, strengthened old ones, and as always photography and art.

-Stay Traveling Friends

Jesse Murch 3/14/16 Jesse Murch 3/14/16

Recent Travels - West Chester, PA

The morning was brisk and warm as i arose out of bed and began shaking the cobwebs from my limbs and packing my gear into a bag, The sun was high in sky even at 9am and it lit my room with yellow warmth. I threw some clothes on and tied my boots, the camera bag flew into the passenger seat and i was off! The destination? West Chester, PA about a two hour drive from my home town. The drive was pleasant and mellow taking back roads through small towns. I arrived in West Chester minutes before noon and was greeted in the parking lot by Paul ( @paullard ), i met him mid fall last year at a meet up in the Pocono Mountians and became friends with him and his buddy Hutch whom would also be meeting up with us shortly.

After catching up for a few Hutch ( @hutchins_photo ) arrived we wandered the streets of town before ending up in a local coffee shop and fueled our bodies with delicious caffeine. The weather was gorgeous so we enjoyed our creamy iced cups outside of the studio on the shaded porch with railing perfect for sitting and conversation. After some time Sarah arrived ( please give her a follow @dontsleeponsarah ) we entered into the car and went to our first destination of the day, an old farm house outside of town, this location was short lived as upon arriving a red rusted truck pulled up with a disheveled look about him and after a short conversation of trying to convince him to let us shoot there we knew we would have to leave so we jumped back into the car and off we went.

About ten or so minutes passed by and we pulled into a massive structure, after parking we entered a long massive structure encased with old factory windows on either side, inside the building was sectioned off with cages and what looked to be different shops in each. Machine shop, paint shop, mechanic, etc, as we walked we passed them all before reaching the last section and heading out the door across to another building. This one featured a massive car hanger with vents on the ceiling painting a rear wall with streaks of light. Passing through the rear wall and entering a stairway that led to a corner room with windows, Hutch had the brilliant idea to cover the floor with broken glass we found in a room or two over and we positioned a chair in the middle and directed Sarah on how we wanted her positioned.

From here we entered tunnels that led underground for miles up to the top section of the campus, this would be the hospital portion of the campus. We climbed down a narrow manhole on a ladder and entered the tunnels, they smelt of moisture and mildew and had pipes running on one side, the walkway wasnt tight by any means and was actually quite nice. We walked for a while peeking our heads out of an open man hole every so often to check where we were at. Finally we made it to the field just before the massive hospital building. Entering it we encountered a basket ball court with a floor that resembled waves more then flooring, we climbed over this and entered a hallway. The typical debris and chipping lead paint canvased the walls and floors. It was overcast at this point in the day and caused soft dim light throughout any room with a window.

We found the pool room next, a gorgeous in ground pool surrounded on one side with giant windows letting in massive amounts of pleasing light. At this point in the day we met up with Sean, a fantastic photographer also and an amazing poet ( follow him @seanascott ), after grabbing the few shots i wanted we moved throughout the desolate building climbing floor after floor and all taking stops to shoot at different times and in rooms scattered throughout before all gathering on the top floor where a room with giant colored blocks piled high almost reaching the ceiling and windows surrounding once again.

Here is where most of the shooting took place, Sarah was an amazing sport about everything and didnt think twice about crawling into dusty caves of bright colored blocks, or lying atop old mattresses, and even the floor for some shots, i cant thank her enough for this as it helped get some great images. At this point the sun was setting and everyone was about ready to pack it up, Sarah left for work while Sean, Hutch, Paul, and myself headed back to town and grabbed some post shoot beers and burgers before i said my good byes and headed back up north. The ride back i thought of no other way i would have rather spent my day, and also to just say yes when life throws you something ive made some of my best friends threw doing so and had some of the most amazing times. Get out and shoot and most importantly get out and live.

- Keep Traveling Friends