Jesse Murch 5/13/16 Jesse Murch 5/13/16

Recent Travels - Dr. Oliver Bronson House

The hum of the engine whispered in the background as we traveled paved highways through mountains and valleys, our destination would bring us hours from home to the town of Hudson, NY where the historic Dr. Oliver Bronson house lay vacant just outside of the penitentiary. Past the prison gates and right onto the dirt road where a small black sign with outlined white lettering assured us we arrived. Pulling onto the circular driveway the impressive old victorian sat nestled around tall trees whose branches seemed to embrace the old house. The front porch wide and vast directed us to the massive front door, once opened your eyes stretched over peeling sage floral wallpaper and onto the grand hall where a most impressive staircase grew from the floor circularly up to the third floor, a grand spindle entwined railing led the stairs. The boards creaked as our weight was brought upon them, we split up and each set off to discover the wonders and mysteries of a house long forgot. A musky stale air drenched throughout each of its glorious rooms, of which each had a themed paint color that was pale with age and history most were even complimented with a grand marble fireplace. Traveling to a time of sophistication and class as we strolled about the empty halls, sensory overload would be an understatement as each of us worked with our cameras and models to capture the beauty we soaked in. The sun flooded in, through massive windows that had warped and sagged with time, creating brilliant natural light unlocking every corner and secret of the old doctors estate. The few short hours we were given with the house seemed to be a tease equivalent to a bite of pie without getting a slice, but grateful as ever to witness such a beautiful piece of history we packed up said our thank you’s and headed back down the dusty road through the iron prison gates. After a refuel in the form of burgers at a quaint diner in the nearby town we drove to an old factory we had seen on the way in, parking in a truck repair shops back lot behind tall blonde grass we headed toward the massive structure left to waste in the expansive field. A small piece of pealed back sheet metal that once sealed an old entrance way led us into the belly of the factory, inside the concrete walls were complimented with to many windows to count, graffiti and bird droppings coated the walls and floors as we wandered. Climbing up railing-less stairs to an old office on the top floor that was filled with blueprints and old file cabinets. Quick to capture the surroundings we surveyed around the outside of the building and headed back to our cars, those that had come from other states said there goodbyes, we climbed in our respective cars and welcomed the mild engine hum as we grabbed some shut eye on the way home.

Travelers:

@jessemurch

@ayitsjennay

@devintimothynelson

@cvatik

@kaylasavage

@brittneypanda

@trousseaux

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

Jesse Murch 11/23/15 Jesse Murch 11/23/15

The Salton Sea - " Why is there a pile of dead birds? "

The Salton sea, this place has been scene to many post apocalyptic movies and documentaries due to its odd life. the sea is well below sea leve which has caused extremely high salt content in its water. In a past life the sea served the wealthy and elite of new old hollywood, but suddenly was rejeected due to the sea no longer supporting most aquatic life within it, this caused most of the surrounding areas of this resort desitnation to become barren and abandoned. Upon arriving you could see nothing but desert and sea for miles, as the van hummed past dead foliage and abandoned shacks we grew curious as to what was ahead for us. We continued on what seemed to be a never ending highway of deja vu, noticing quickly we were running out of gas we opted to stop at the nearesttown sign. The town resembled footage of a nuclear fall out, everything stuck and rotting in the glorious past, the shine of new paint was now coated in salt depsits and rust, roads cracking from unrepair and sun damage, then we got hit with the stench, something of rotting fish and other forms of decay. Since already in a town with no gas station in sight we figured we would let curiosity get the best of us and started exploring round the forgotten town. Like something out of a movie as soon as we left the van an old man peddled by on a bicycle and mumbled something toward us neitheer could make out. We continued on cameras in hand for anyting worth our time or film in this alien terrain. Rounding a corner near the van we stumbled into an unsettling amount of headless birds piled up and thought it best to be on our way.