Went to jail today and all I got were these lousy (7) photos

[justiceischeap]

Visited the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA today. It was an adventure just to get there. The state of Delaware thought it'd be a grand idea to shut down an entire section of I-95 north for weekend construction work. With a bit of help from Google Maps, my iPhone and my roommate David, we finally got to Philadelphia an hour later than planned.

Here are some shots:

Cell with bed frame


Toilet (I seem to gravitate towards toilet shots when photographing abandoned/decayed things)


Hospital wing gate


Lovely door and light


Men's cell block


Women's cell block


And finally, Al Capone's cell

[petronius]

1. Those are some great shots, in what must have been challenging lighting...

Thanks for sharing!

[justiceischeap]

7. Thank you! I always travel with 2 cameras

My Nikon D5100 and my Panasonic Lumix GX1. Most of these were shot with the Lumix because it performs so much better in lower light (though when I had my 50mm 1.8 on my Nikon I didn't have many problems except the 50mm actually becomes 70mm and it wasn't wide enough).

[Solly Mack]

2. Great shots!

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I love these.

[Mira]

4. Spectacular photo report

it makes my heart cringe to think of the history - the cell block shots especially.
Thank you for these.

[justiceischeap]

9. You're welcome. I couldn't get a shot of an individual one (absolutely no light),

but the women's cells had much smaller doors than the men's. I'm 5'4" and would have had to duck a great deal to enter the cell if I could have.

[Mira]

10. I have come to look at these 5 times now

and am still not done.
I'll be in Philadelphia in May. I'll have a car. Can I go there?

[justiceischeap]

11. You sure can.

http://www.easternstate.org/

It costs $14 to get in plus an additional $10 tripod fee (that is good for a year).

You can see the entire set here http://www.flickr.com/photos/justice_is_cheap/sets/72157633182764287/ (55 photos in all)

I didn't get through the entire place, I obviously missed a few good opportunities for images. I wish there were more places like this (that are affordable) for photo tours.

[Mira]

13. I just saw about you going back for "The haunted tour"

I think that would do me in.

I went to your photos and saw all of them twice. It must be a star achievement for you, can't imagine you having a tour of anything any better in your archives.
I also bookmarked the website. I plan to talk my traveling companions into making the stop.

Thanks again, and I hope you'll come back to tell us about the haunted tour. Come back in more ways than one.

[justiceischeap]

14. There are several paid "lunatic" asylum tours one can take in my area/region

but they tend to be very spendy but I'd still love to do them someday.

Sitting from my couch, I can say I'm not worried about the "haunted" tour but my mind may change once I'm actually in the place after dark. Usually when I go abandoned shooting, I'm by myself and that's creepy.

[MadamYes]

5. Absolutely terrific shots !

I've been wanting to go visit that place, and seeing these pictures is a catalyst for me.
Thanks for posting them.

[justiceischeap]

8. Thanks! It was a fun outing.

We're planning a trip back in October to do a "haunted" tour.

[Callalily]

6. Amazing shots!

[Crepuscular]

12. Really fantastic pics!

I love abandoned building pics and these are some very, very good ones. Thanks for sharing them.

[bluedigger]

15. Some great shots!

I never got there myself, but I had a good view of the prison from an overlooking building I was staying in when I was working on a project in Philadelphia. I also have a friend who worked as a tour guide there for a little while. Eastern State was a landmark institution in our development of prisons and our philosophy of criminal justice and punishment in the US.

[Mz Pip]

16. Wow

These are terrific shots.