576 - Forbes Park
Today I stumbled upon an abandoned sign factory in Boston.
And I didn’t even mean to find this place. I was driving down the freeway when I saw remnants of the factory by Chelsea Creek, and decided to take a closer look.
After a bit of trial and error, I found myself in a bad neighborhood. It’s usually a dead giveaway when there’s a giant sign in the middle of the street talking about suicide awareness.
That, and people's front deck’s are falling apart.
The reason I was here was because it contained the only gateway to the factory- a small bridge. So I wearily parked my car at an intersection, and decided to bring all my photo gear with me this time. Better safe than sorry.
As I approached the bridge, I noticed a giant hole that’d been freshly cut into the fence. Oh, how perfect.
Suddenly a dude emerged from the hole. And if I’m being honest, it’s the last thing I expected in that moment. I was more concerned with real security. A major factory at factories this big.
“Uh… hey.” I said. “Can anyone just walk back there?”
I obviously knew the answer to the question. But it was a vibe check. Half these abandoned places have drug deals going down, drifters doing drifter things, and other sketchy shenanigans going on. If he gave me any inclination that I shouldn’t be back there, I was gonna dip.
But he just took out his headphones, laughed, and said “Yeah man. Do whatever you want.”
That was enough for me. Dude clearly didn’t give a care about my business, and wasn’t concerned that I might be interfering with his. So I popped through the hole.
I followed the weed-trodden path down stream, carefully inspecting the area for any signs of other people. I ended up at two major buildings.
Eeny, meeny, miny, mo... I chose the far right one.
And as I climbed through the broken window, I realized this place was gonna be absolutely nuts. The entire middle section of the building was completely missing. Which meant I could get an epic shot of the whole interior if I could just find a way to get upstairs.
I jumped from room to room, looking for a hidden staircase of some kind.
Then I walked into the room with a bed.
A full blanket, a basket of food, and several toiletries were neatly placed on the ground next to it. Great… Someone’s actively living here.
A chill went down my spine as I shined my flashlight around the room. Nothing.
Although this building had a giant empty center, there were dozens of rooms on each floor, each full of twists and turns. If someone was here with me, they could be anywhere.
Suddenly I felt immensely uncomfortable. The thing about abandoned buildings is that every sound is completely foreign. There’s broken glass, tarps blowing, birds flying around, structural creaks… Everything sounds like someone walking in the distance.
Well… there was nothing I could do about it. I could leave… But I’d hate myself the moment I got back to my car. Especially because I didn’t have a single shot yet.
I figured the odds of someone actively stalking me in the dark were significantly less than them making their presence known. So I kept exploring. After all, I could always give them a free headshot if they so desired. (Jokes…)
Eventually I found a way up top, and was able to get my full spectrum shot of the interior:
“Beamer”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 800 ~ 12mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/320s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
BOOM. That photo got me amped. My fear suddenly melted away.
Abandoned places are traditionally difficult to shoot because there’s so much going on, it can be hard to focus on a singular subject. They’re like forests in that regard. But over the past couple years I’d been slowly learning to control that chaos.
I kept going up, until eventually I got to the rooftop. And that’s where I got this shot:
“Path of Corrosion”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 800 ~ 24mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/1000s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Yep, that’s me.
That was a fun one because I set up a timer, left my camera on the roof, then ran down to the road. It was a major pain in the ass because I had three minutes to run through a maze of broken glass and rusty flooring. But I somehow pulled through.
And with that, I was out.
Of building one, that is. By now I’d concluded that there was no way anyone else was here with me, unless they were actively hiding. I’d checked almost every room.
The second building, on the other hand, had it’s own flavor of danger.
Immediately upon entering, I noticed all the wooden floorboards were completely rotten. Walking on them even felt squishy in certain places. Part of the me wanted to throw up from the smell.
And that’s when I landed on this scene:
“Buried Electric”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G
[ISO 800 ~ 12mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/80s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Complete with rotten wood and everything. And full disclosure, I put the red tape over the tire to make it more photogenic. Sometimes you got to manifest reality.
The weird thing was that this factory used to be known as the Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company… AKA a sign-making company. There was nothing in this place that resembled anything remotely related to sign making. The tire was the only thing in the room.
Well, it was time to make a choice. Go upstairs or call it a day… So I took a look at the stairs, which were made of metal.
Alright. We’ll stick to the staircase for now. I slowly began my ascent.
Once I got up to the second level, I realized it was almost identical to the first level, except a bit more well-lit. The problem was that there were several holes in the floor that fell right through to the first level.
Unlike the cement ceiling in that last pic, this whole room (including the floor and ceiling) was made with wood. But I also noticed a metal beam traversing the rotten floor… so I used that as my main point of contact to cross the room.
I snagged this shot here:
“Last Light”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 800 ~ 33mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/250s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
I’ve always loved the transfusion of nature and decay. So peaceful…
Then suddenly the whole building started shaking, and an enormous metal sound began to rise in pitch. What the fu…
A train horn flattened the air, and I realized this place must be right next to the tracks. Jesus Fucking Christ. The whole building rattled for another couple minutes, then the sound went away as fast as it came.
The daylights had officially been scared out of me. Now I had nothing left to lose.
I made my way up to the third floor, which I also found to be completely empty. For a place that specialized in signs, most of these rooms had no sign that anything had happened here.
Then I hit the jackpot.
On my way out, I decided to search one more room- and it was like they stuffed everything the wanted to leave behind into this one area. Here was my favorite angle:
“Toxic Sludge”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 24mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/100s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
God knows what was in those barrels. And I’m not sure I’d want to know.
I finally decided to stop pushing my luck and get out of there. If there was any sign here, this bright orange barrel was it.
As I left the factory, a breeze greeted me, and I felt an immense sense of accomplishment. This was the time I’d done an abandoned spot alone.
WE’RE MOVING UP IN THE WORLD, BABY.
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