Jesse Murch 4/20/16 Jesse Murch 4/20/16

Recent Travels - The Scranton Lace Co.

Today started off like any other, waking up at sunrise, stumbling upstairs to make some breakfast, then sitting at the table checking social media and emails while simultaneously stuffing my face. After all that nonsense and morning rituals my bags were packed and Mike ( @mike_sap ) was in my driveway waiting to head off to the Electric City of Scranton PA. The drive would be two hours through stretching highways and mountains, as we crested the last one and defended into the valley that this once great city resides we entered its perimeters created by a city time has seem to forgotten. The streets lined with empty storefronts and the ones that still clung to life had relics displayed from generations ago as new. We parked in a garage that one couldn't tell was active or not and proceeded to walk this city. First stop was a local mall hoping to find food, instead we were greeted with dark hollow hallways and a handful of places serving what seemed to be cheap microwave pizza’s, and not the good kind, the day was still early so we pulled up an app and found a chick-fil-a down the road a mile or so and decided to walk to it and take in the sunny day. We arrived to the location on the map and were surprised when it brought us to the entrance of Scranton College, a little confused we checked our map data and realized the this was indeed the address and it was located in the school cafe. Never ones to back down from a challenge and/or and awkward time we decided to take our chances and pose as college students to get our hands on the most glorious of chicken sandwiches, luckily for us it was visit day and the campus was filled with unfamiliar faces of prospects checking out the campus and classes.

We were set! no one would be the wiser, after a little wait for the restaurant to open we grabbed a mountain of chicken goodness and sat among the students to eat, about half way through and many awkward looks we realized we stood out like sore thumbs with our sleeves of tattoos and table of camera gear, we hastily finished and left the campus. The first stop of the day was an abandoned train yard that had been filled with decaying train cars from the days of coal engines and forgotten. At first glance these old rail cars were locked and boarded tightly, but upon further investigation and a little climbing we made our way in. Glowing with a rusted red the paint peeled down the walls and onto the old leather seats. The windows painted with years of dust and build up left the cars like giant soft boxes painting the insides with sheets of natural light. The one point perspective and symmetry in each car was a dream come true and the history flowing out of every rusted fan and abandoned seat was glorious.

After we had our fill of train cars we climbed out and headed back to grab the car and make our way to the main spot of the day, The Scranton Lace Company, this massive warehouse structure covers multiple city blocks and stretches high into Scranton’s sky with a clock tower peaking in the center. Parking down the road in a vacant lot we quickly ducked through a fence opening and made our way in the building. The insides gleamed with window light. The old hardwood floors stretched across what where massive production and shipping rooms, empty cartons thrown across the floor and stacked all branded with the company logo. Shelves in rows twenty deep lay empty, each floor brought new excitement and finds. One wing led us to an indoor bowling alley and game room, while the second led to a theater and conference hall, as we walked we spoke of what a glorious place this must have been in its prime.

Found some leftovers from someones photoshoot

We came upon a stairway that led to the clock tower and began our decent up the rickety ladder, the first level up brought you to the back of the clock faces and what a site to behold that was, the next level up you cam to an old brass bell that once rung to establish times, further past that was the peak, and there you stood over looking the city as gusts of wind blew past you. After enjoying the view and climbing down we made our way out to the roof to enjoy some celebratory cigars and enjoy the sunset before heading home. This life we all live is short, so make it an adventurous one.

Mike sitting in one of the old salon chairs

As Always,

Safe Travels 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