my glass i sees a: Blimp Hangar

[Brian Moore]

This is one of two blimp hangars located in Tustin, California at what was once the Marine Corp Air Station. They were built in 1942 to house blimps that would be used to patrol the coast.
Although the hangars look all concrete they are constructed of wood and are said to be the world's largest "clear span" wood buildings.

In the base's later years big, double-rotor helicopters occupied the hangars. I used to work nearby and it was a wonderful site to observe the big Sikorsky's or whatever they were lumber up and down and dominate the Tustin sky.

I took this photo with a Canon SBIV and 50mm Summar lens. The film was Kodak Tri-x 400.

blog:
http://myglass-i.blogspot.com/

flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/56486443@N08/

 

[Pete Askew]

What a great building Brian and an atmospheric shot of it. I guess the spots are from the scanner glass again or was it a scan of the negative. What about the banding in the sky? Anyway, I like the composition and the tones.

I just scanned a print to use in the post about the Mamiya 7II and even though the glass was freshly cleaned I still have to spot the scan in a few places - so I'm sensitive to spots at the moment! They were very small spots though and would not have shown up particularly except that there was a lot of black in the print.

 

[Brian Moore]

You're spot on Pete! Lint on the scanner glass I believe. I'm going to have to re-scan some of these. By "banding" do you meant the very light areas of the sky at the top of the frame? If so, I believe it is a result of my processing. I don't know why but sometimes I get some unevenness. It's more obvious in 120 film, though. I use Rodinal and often do a "stand" development, which tends to produce a kind of effect like the above in some sections of an image. However, I don't think I did a stand development with this roll. I could be wrong, though, as it's been a while since I did these ones. Thanks very much for the comments, Pete!

 

[Pete Askew]

It's more obvious on the LH side sky. Given that it's only in some tones I suspect it is something to do with development though thinking about it. If it was a scanning artifact it should be across the whole scan.

 

[Brian Moore]

Yes I see it now, Pete. I hadn't noticed that before. I wonder if it actually IS across the whole scan but is getting buried in the gray tones of the hangar...?

 

[Kev Pugh]

What a fantastic building would be great to have a shot down the inside.........Just love big buildings with arched roofs

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks Kev. I'd love to go in myself. Images contemporary with the blimp hangar's early days, and showing the inside, are available on-line. I forgot to mention (for Chris's sake in particular) that I shot this one and the others I have of these hangars, through or over a chain link fence.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Ah ha - them's the ones Brian - nice vintage look to the shot.

I think they built a shopping center around them since then!

I'm picturing a shot that makes them look retro futuristic - kind of Flash Gordon era - I need to plan ahead...

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks Chris. By the way, to my knowledge, no shopping center. Maybe you're thinking of that big shopping center down there (or up there, looking at it from where you are) where the 405 and the 5 connect?

 

[Chris Dodkin]

So was your shot the Northern hangar?

The Southern one has restaurants and shops near it on the old airfield

[MAPS]http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.701975,-117.823048&hl=en&ll=33.703189,-117.824249&spn=0.017708,0.031929&sll=33.745851,-117.826166&sspn=0.07424,0.128059&num=1&t=h&vpsrc=6&gl=us&z=16&iwloc=A[/MAPS]

Right now is the US - there are 2 or 3 car ads playing, all of which were shot in the hangar.

[video=youtube;aXT6S_sz3YM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXT6S_sz3YM[/video]

 

[Brian Moore]

Yeah Chris,...maybe I did get the non-shopping center hangar. Anyway, wherever I was I was prevented from getting close in by chain link fences.