Creepy Factories

          Recently I decided that I needed to change the way I've been doing things. Especially when it obtains to how my work appears once its finished. As I was looking over some of the things I have done in the past, I noticed that while I can't say I have a specific "style" yet (though that may be a good thing), I also don't seem to stretch my ideas enough to make them overly attention grabbing. Basically, I'm thinking that my overall concepts are generally weak.
          After my friends tortured me for a week of early risings and uphill hikes (my friends ROCK!), we finally took a little trip that let me enjoy the ride. At the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), you can take a jet boat tour that shows and talks about all the different bridges and buildings along the river front. It's actually really interesting, and Captain Bob (that's really his name!) made it even more fun with his speed boat 360 degree turns and diving stops. (If you don't mind getting wet, I highly suggest the front 2 rows.)
          Of course, afraid I was going to ruin my camera, I once again used my phone to take pictures. There where some really gorgeous homes and mansions, but the buildings that I liked the most where the factories. They all had a unique essence about them with the complicated plumbing, windows, and towers about them. Once I took the time to look at what I had captured, I knew these were what I was going to try to do something different with. 
          For the most part, I like to avoid scary or creepy movies. I don't know if its the villains, the music, or the images, but the movie always has a way of burning itself into my head for days, and I Hate It. Naturally this is what I challenged myself to do. Take these images of the factories and make them look intimidating and creepy.

 

         I decided! The first part of everything creepy is to make it dark. Initially I was going to make all the pictures black and white, but then it only seemed to make the picture more interesting. 

 

 

Darkness achieved! The texture I got in the sky reminds me of "The Dark Knight" movie posters along with the urban background and cranes. I'm still not sure if it really something thats creepy and intimidating, vs. just a cool make-over.

I took this picture because I like the cylinder shapes. But the blue sky looks so flat and boring, and achieving a texture similar to the one above was irritating. SO! To achieve some depth I applied a concept that Howard Hughes noticed while making a movie and added clouds.  Plus, storm clouds are another one of those things that can be intimidating, and they are often seen in scary movies. But after it still just looked like a factory in the middle of a storm. The idea of lightning came from a friend, and while I like it, it kinda just looks "pretty". The opposite of what I'm was trying to get. Maybe I just like to watch lightning. I don't know.

 

I played with this picture for a while. Something about it keeps reminding me of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". I went back to black and white, and then layered the sky and water parts of the image with a slight hint of color.  Once again added some clouds.... Perhaps its still not really intimidating. But if it really did house a group of mental people, that could change.

 

Willy Wonka's Factory of toxic sludge.

In my opinion, this isn't creepy. It's a "stylized" picture of a interesting old building. (I really like the bridge; just sayin').

At the moment I don't really feel like these images create the feeling that I was trying to get. But, I think Im getting close. Perhaps the images would be seen differently if there was a story that followed them. Sometimes it's words combined with an image that achieve the full story that we play out in our heads. Then again, if you have an overly imaginative mind, then staring into a picture might be enough to make it what you want.