Locked up

So today I went on a pretty awesome tour of a no-longer-used prison called Mansfield Reformatory. The movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed there, or, at least some of it was filmed there. Jane went, too, as well as a some of our other photographer friends.

I hoped to be able to get my self-portrait for the week while I was here, and there were some decent opportunities for sure. I tried a couple of different shots, too, but ended up really liking this one. This little mirror was affixed to the wall above a high shelf and below some wiring and light sockets on the back wall of a cell. I had to stand on my tip-toes for my face to be reflected in the mirror, and it wasn't easy to hold still for a nearly 4-second exposure.

There was a metal bunk in this cell, too, and the light from the windows in front of the six-story wall of cells was beautiful, although it illuminated some pretty awful realities of what life would have been like here for inmates.

The cells were tiny, there was rust and dust and flotsam and forgotton books and the paint was sloughing off in sheets in some places. It was fantastic. And I am so tired I can barely write, so goodnight.