Sometimes modeling, while fun, is rather mundane. Shooting in a studio ( or even a forest preserve) you go, do your thing, make some art / images and take a not too long trip home.
That wasn't the case with the shoot on 11/15.
Drove into the city ( which isn't too big a deal, I do that with some frequency) Met my awesome photographer, followed him to the site. So far, no biggie, right?
The site is called the Damen Silos- They have been abandoned ( except for some movie filming...Like Transformers) since 1977. The land has been used since the early 1800's, ...in 1832 those silos burned, and they were rebuilt with concrete.They burned again in 1905 ( grain silos did that a lot, grain dust is super flammable)
"The John S. Metcalf Company, consulting engineers, designed and built this facility for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in 1906. The original complex included a powerhouse, elevator with temporary storage and processing silos, and thirty-five grain storage silos. With a 400,000 bushel capacity, this complex could accommodate sixty railroad cars at the elevator and 300 railroad cars at a yard a short distance away. Equipmentat the site included two driers, bleachers, oat clippers, cleaners, scourers and dust packers. Using filtered water from the adjacent South Branch of the Chicago River, boilers with a total of 1,500 horsepower generated the steam and electricity required by the machinery. The thirty-five grain silos south of this facility had a total capacity of one million bushels. In 1932, a grain dust explosion ignited a fire which destroyed the original timber and brick building. The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad rebuilt the concrete processing house with fourteen reinforced concrete silos; the capacity of the facility was increased to 1,700,000 bushels. After reconstruction, the rail road leased the facility to the Stratton Grain Company."
In 1977 there was another significant explosion and fire, and the land fell into disuse.
You might think that it would be hard to get to...not at all...park at the local Target, walk across a highway overpass, and through a gate...which does not close. No scaling fences, going around things, sneaking...nope right in the front gate.
And you are greeted with MASSIVE buildings, with lots of colorful graffiti.
See that first picture? That's our goal. Climb into the building thru an open doorway and a semi convenient giant concrete block.....go to the back of the building....and then, out the window, but the BACK of the building faces the river, and barges used to dock and get filled there...so the ground THERE is about a story and a half , a good 20-30 feet down. So scurry out that window, swing over and grab the fire escape ( use the steel window mullions for footholds) .
THEN up the fire escape . That's not so bad, you say...other than it is missing LOTS of stairs...sometimes one, sometimes two in a row...sometimes the stairs are just loose on one side, so still usable...though it was nice the railing is quite secure all the way up, the handhold was good. Up, up, up. then a small ladder set into the concrete...and THERE you are.
Ah, but that VIEW. over 100 feet up...15 storeys up, the city of Chicago glowed and sparkled in the setting sun...a perfect fall day with that sky color that only happens this time of year. To say is was beautiful would be an understatement. The wind was blowing...it was time to shoot!
That chimney shot...because all that height, wasn't enough.."climb up on that" the photographer says. LOL!
After about a half hour, it's time to make our way down, before we lose the light.
Down we go, reversing our upward climb...the photographer offered to carry my makeup case, and clipped it to his backpack. I carried the sword, the second photographer had the bag with my outfit change ( it had a shoulder strap)
He isn't fond of heights, the photographer...not afraid of them, but the natural,ground dwelling, living thing aversion to them, he has that. He hugs the concrete side of the building as we go down.
It caused the latch on my little red, vintage makeup box to open...he thought if he moved forward, he could get it to close...it opened further. All my make up, brushes, hairspray...everything....clinked , and clanked as it fell and bounced down the open iron stairs...some of it becoming lodged in between the bars of the stairs, some of it pelting the graffiti artists below, some bouncing off the wooden dock into the stagnant water below them.
The artists below, after the initial covering their heads for protection, saw what it was that was pelting them, laughed at our called "Sorry" and collected what they could into a little pile...we collected what was wedged inbetween slats and bars as we continued down.
Lucky that I only had that one shoots worth of stuff in the bag, rather than it's normal EVERYTHING.
We got down, the photographers collected what the artists had managed to gather, and I had my finger and black eyeshadow to change my look for the next set of photography .....it was not as finished as my thoughts had been ( in fact it was SUPER rough,kind of weird, dark, smeared...little tiny mirror and dark) but considering the location, that worked too.
Then we went to dinner, me still in that messed up, black makeup look with the addition of a hoodie and South Park jammy pants...lol. Awesome stuff, that.
All in all it was an adventure, and I DID have a total blast! Would I do it again? Maybe, but with less gear. ;)
