Abandoned Comstock Silver Mill, American Flats, NV (demolished in 2014) - Columns appear to listen attentively to musician [EXPLORED!!]

This was a fun image. And a lot of work. The background is from the ruins of the United Comstock Merger Mill at American Flats, Nevada, demolished in late 2014. "The working life of this cyanide-processing operation, once the largest in the country, began in 1922 and ended just four years later with the collapse in the price of silver. All salvageable equipment and building materials were removed soon afterward. The eight buildings on the site slowly decayed, but provided an engaging post-apocalyptic setting for graffiti artists, photographers, and airsoft warriors. For many growing up in the area the site served as a favored coming-of-age venue for escaping parental authority." (From All Around Nevada)

 

My husband and I found it and photographed these ruins in 2013 over two days.

 

I took an online class this year in compositing. Sure, I knew how to composite, but this took us so much further, adding atmosphere and ensuring that the light fit the image, including adding appropriate shadows. The musician was photographed late on Christmas Eve, I think in 2012, in San Francisco. His notes eerily echoed thru the empty canyons of downtown highrises. I knew this was who I wanted to later composite into the Comstock ruin.

 

A month ago I managed the mood I'd envisioned with the graffitied columns seeming to lean forward to listen as if the musician's audience. Enjoy. If you like this sort of thing. n

Done