Chillbrook

Abandoned

I mentioned in my last post that there was clear evidence of periods of economic hardship on the island of Fuerteventura over generations. This building I think is evidence of the latest.

Sitting on a roundabout just outside Correlejo in the north of the island just a couple of hundred yards from the sea, I found this abandoned apartment complex. I imagine the project was abandoned post the 2008 financial crisis but I can’t be sure.

No doubt in the UK, and I expect in many other countries, such a building would be surrounded by security fencing with ‘Warning Keep Out’ signs and probably a picture of a German Shepherd dog or two about the place. But, luckily for me, the graffiti artists and the Ashram Yoga people, this building isn’t. Nor incidentally are the many others I have spotted around the island for future photography.

I mention the Ashram Yoga people as they appear to be squatting in the building. I’m glad to see that it’s being used at least on some level. The people there have built a little ‘garden’ and with the toys scattered around it, there are clearly children here. Whether they are just using the building during the day or living there, I couldn’t ascertain. I didn’t want to go prying and left that part of the building largely unexplored.

Perhaps if I go back, I’ll ask some questions. I’m sure I heard hens clucking away in one of the rooms in this part of the building, cut off to prying eyes with makeshift hessian sheets. Perhaps if I go back, I’ll make a documentary photographer yet.

One thing to note about taking these types of photographs, one needs a wide angle lens. I’ve been using my Sony A7R with a 24-70mm lens. Although at 24mm, this isn’t as wide as my Nikon 14-24mm can give, one still gets distortion that cannot be corrected with lens correction in Lightroom alone.

The answer is to take the photograph into photoshop, select it and then under the Edit tab, select ‘Distort’ You can then pull out the handles from the selection and correct the wonky pillars and the buildings appearing to head uphill where no hill exists. I did do a tutorial on this some time back. This is the link to a post entitled ‘Converging Verticals’. https://cornwallphotographic.com/2014/04/07/converging-verticals/

I hope you enjoy this particular set of images. These were tricky images to take, the interior ones at least. I didn’t have a tripod and even with the very light Sony, these days I need a shutter speed of 200 at least to get a sharp image and in low light, that’s not easy, but they came out OK.

Buildings photographed within this wonderful landscape (I am predominantly a landscape photographer after all) will follow. This particular building though just kept on giving. It’s difficult to take in the waste. Who lost money? Pension funds that invested? Pension funds funded by people like you and me? I can’t say but I can take a pretty good guess.. :-)