Hey Sam,
I can't believe this place is deserted!! I'm a low budget sci-fi/horror filmmaker in T.O., and I'm always scouting for cool locations! This place ROCKS!!
- Adam
P.S. Belated well done on your featuring Steve Coogan at the Tristram Shandy premiere as your Toronto Film Fest celeb pic. You could have gone with anyone, but Steve is not very well known, yet brilliant, and that film was awesome! Nice Pic! Nice One!
Posted by Adam Lopez at October 4, 2005 12:27 AMYou are amazing! I went to Toronto on Monday and was hoping to see your exhibit! But the art gallery was closed on Monday - another time I guess.
Posted by Tara at October 4, 2005 12:37 AMBah! I was there Friday morning! I should have waited and gone Saturday, then my friend and I would have bumped into you. Though, I think I would have been really creeped out if we had started hearing other people talking. Its a cool place, but a little eerie.
Posted by amanda at October 4, 2005 12:39 AMHaha! So funny you mentioned HL2 - EXACTLY what crossed my mind. Well damn done, Sam.
Posted by Jessyel Ty Gonzalez at October 4, 2005 12:52 AMTotally stunning. . .
Color, lighting and detail - its all perfect.
The sunbeams are amazing.
Nice perspective. I was there Saturday morning as well. My first visit.
Posted by Ed at October 4, 2005 01:00 AMBefore I even read your caption, the first thing I thought was "sweet half-life 2 level".
Posted by Paul at October 4, 2005 01:09 AMAbsolutely stunning and magnificent. The level of detail is unbelievable. And still, atmospheric. I'm totally impressed.
Posted by manuel at October 4, 2005 01:09 AMI absolutely love this shot. And as you mentioned it does indeed look like a scene from Half-Life 2, perhaps the creators should use this as a reference for the next one?
Posted by Eugene Sakhnenko at October 4, 2005 01:11 AMVery striking. The red rails and the greens near the center really sell this one. Super photograph.
Posted by Patrick at October 4, 2005 01:47 AMwhere was this factory?
Posted by Anthony at October 4, 2005 02:21 AMabsolutely amazing picture! i just held on for a moment when i saw this picture and asked myself if it was real
Posted by Matze (Germany) at October 4, 2005 02:32 AMserius, it´s not a render?
Posted by adrmx at October 4, 2005 02:56 AMbest photo in awhile! makes me want to reinstall hl2
Posted by asdf at October 4, 2005 03:03 AMWOW! This looks like it has been generated in a 3D app rather than photographed! Outstanding.
Posted by Aanarav Sareen at October 4, 2005 03:09 AMHi Sam,
in my humble opinion this is the best picture you've taken since a long time. And indeed, this does look like H-L 2 which I've played quite a lot again in the last two weeks - well done, good job.
(Many other pictures of you seem too much artificial and unrealistic somehow, well - photoshop'ped if you want)
THX! This is a fantastic shot!
Posted by desianet at October 4, 2005 03:17 AMAwesome - you captured the rays of the sun so well!
Posted by Damon at October 4, 2005 04:03 AMThis is a very good shot. Colors and lights are beautiful, there is a big space feeling because of the horizontal and vertical lines. The sfumato and the green light in the back of the hall give the picture a surreal and spooky impression.
Yes, it could be a still from a computer game.
Pleases me.
Greets from Cologne.
Wow, what a fantastic shot. The sun beams look so vivid.
Posted by Anthony at October 4, 2005 04:24 AMWoo, now that is quite something. Could look at this for hours, there's so much interest in this shot. Such a shame I have work to be doing! :-)
- The metalwork is so complex, yet ordered
- The contrast between the darkness at the top and the splash of light on the floor, linked with the streams of light. The balance and composition is just right IMHO!
- That green "emanating" from the back - almost looks like it doesn't belong in the same space yet adds something to the pic that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it's because the pipe draws your eye in that direction? Or it's just a "different" colour (I won't say complementary, cos I just looked it up and found that orange and green aren't "complementary" in terms of colour theory - but they seem to complement each other perfectly in this image!)
Anyway, what do I know? Like I said, work to be doing! Keep it up Sam! (Any chance of a 2560x1024 backdrop version?)
-Dave.
Posted by Davenewt at October 4, 2005 04:27 AMSam, very clever shot. I love how you have brought out the sun rays! Any chance of a clue as to how you brought them out above and beyond your normal processing as posted in the forum?
Posted by Ken at October 4, 2005 04:46 AMWell, I have been checking out this website for six months now and always enjoy it. But today I had to comment - all the angles and points of perspective in this shot, and then the colour - Beautiful.
Posted by AL MacInnes at October 4, 2005 05:07 AMHoly Cow. Favorite picture of the past month.
Posted by jesse at October 4, 2005 05:48 AMWow! This is a really cool picture, I love the effect of the light, and it really does look like it could be straight out of a game. Either that or a scene from a film - ever seen timecop? :)
Posted by Trickster at October 4, 2005 06:02 AMAbsolutely stunning. That light is glorious, and half lifeish indeed. The icing on the cake is that long pipe going from the right corner through half the photo, and then the pool of light below it. Fantastic.
(and I love industrial decay ;)
Posted by oid at October 4, 2005 06:14 AMGreat Half-Life-like picture! Good composition with lights and lines, I really like it, how about a 1280x1024 wallpaper version?
Posted by GreenChicken at October 4, 2005 07:07 AMCompletely half-life 2 !!!
Man, your photos are great.
Posted by Humberto Oliveira at October 4, 2005 07:28 AMFantastic picture!! I haven't ever succeeded in catching rays of sunshine this beautiful - is it the long exposure time that is the secret??
Posted by Rob Vanderstraeten at October 4, 2005 07:32 AMits nice having the bits of light coming through from the top highlighting certain areas in the floor. good photo. good colour.
e
Posted by ez e at October 4, 2005 07:33 AMWOW
Posted by paolo at October 4, 2005 07:46 AMI'm a big fan of industrial shots and this is at the top of its class. A superb image.
Posted by Christopher at October 4, 2005 08:11 AMagain, "questionnable comment"???
i don't get it
Return to the Black Mesa Research Facility, after Gordon Freeman finished his task there.
Posted by Michael at October 4, 2005 08:18 AMThats exactly what I was thinking before I even read the comment!!
Brilliant photo
Posted by Ed at October 4, 2005 08:25 AMamazing spot and I love the sun light!!
Posted by Kalei at October 4, 2005 08:27 AM> half-life 2 anyone?
I was about to say the same ;)
ch424
Posted by ch424 at October 4, 2005 08:41 AMThat is a really awesome photo Sam. You always seem to find the perfect spots to take your camera.
Posted by Nate at October 4, 2005 08:44 AMAwesome.
You've definitely captured the essence of "light breaking the darkness" with this one.
I love it. :D
briliant lighting, the balance between light and darks is perfect, and the actual light beams look amazing.
Posted by aj at October 4, 2005 08:59 AMThis is an awesome photo - very industrial, very cool.
Posted by paul at October 4, 2005 09:05 AMBeautiful photo. You've made something that would normally appear grim really stunning.
Posted by Rhett at October 4, 2005 09:09 AMHi Sam,
I saw Shahin's image yesterday from Don Valley Brickworks, and I was so impressed, and now yours just gave me the shivers! I just love the effect of sunlight coming in through the ceiling, and the piping along the right of the frame. You must have had fun in this place. Nice job!
nice one ! i recently wen to an abandoned radar base and it was fun. abandoned buildings are awsome. i'd love to go to this one next time i'm in toronto. where exactly is this ?
peace
Posted by kyle at October 4, 2005 09:14 AMBeautiful! I was there on Sunday afternoon and captured the sun beams coming in from the other direction. Such a dramatic effect.
Posted by Sean Galbraith at October 4, 2005 09:17 AMWhat a wonderful set of colours. Shame they will be totally re-doing the brickworks. See http://www.brickworks.ca/ for their plans.
Posted by David S at October 4, 2005 09:45 AMI love the half-life 2 reference!
Posted by gaddy at October 4, 2005 10:01 AMAtlanta just doesn't have cool things like this. Or least I haven't found them yet. :) Another cool shot!
Posted by Chris at October 4, 2005 11:34 AMakse zibaii bud
movafagh bashid
i love the glowing sunshine!
Posted by cook at October 4, 2005 12:39 PMSam, love this pic. It could easily be among your best. What prompted you to go with 6 sec?
Posted by Zishaan at October 4, 2005 01:20 PMToday is the first day I came across your site (via www.coudal.com) and have spent the last 2 hours going day by day back through the archives. I love it all. I wish I had the time to comment on many of them but that would take forever.
So, I will be back. Keep up the great amazing shots!
Oh, and about this picture: amazing! the light is fantastic and the rust colors glow. Looks like a place worth visiting for more shots.
Awesome picture.
Posted by Ayan at October 4, 2005 04:03 PMThis shot is absolutely stunning. This seriously has to be one of my favorite shots I've seen you put up. I've always wanted to go and get some pictures of abandoned mines and refineries near my house, this definitely is some inspiration.
Posted by Michael at October 4, 2005 04:13 PMIncredible! If I knew the Brickworks was this beautiful I would have visited a long time ago. Soon this piece of Toronto history will be gone though.
Posted by A.R. at October 4, 2005 04:46 PMI don't know you. I think I found your site through the Illustration Blog. That's a simply astounding site. An astonishing moment of light and location in the world. Photographer's dream. Do you have any more images from this shoot? Do you show in New York by chance? I work for Joel Sternfeld, it's possible you might know his work.
I just wanted to offer a few words of wonder and encouragement. Drop a line if you ever do show in NYC.
Posted by Jennifer McCharen at October 4, 2005 04:55 PMLooks like it could be from a Batman movie aswell. Awesome location.
Posted by Fen at October 4, 2005 05:14 PMbeautifull sunlights
Posted by alfu at October 4, 2005 05:48 PMI'm an aspiring photographer, and I can only dream about one day being not even as good as you.
Posted by jackie at October 4, 2005 06:10 PMI live about 3 minutes away from here, just up the hill in East York. I've driven past this place so many times, but never been inside. Nice work!
To answer Anthony's above question, the Brickworks is on Bayview Avenue, just south of Pottery road. Here's a link to a satelite shot of the place (you can zoom out for reference):
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Toronto,+ON&ll=43.684190,-79.365309&spn=0.005078,0.009377&t=h&hl=en
Wow that IS half life 2! Very very very nice photo. Added to favs on flickr.
Posted by Raffi at October 4, 2005 07:45 PMvery half-life-ish indeed! i do have one tiny favor to ask you though. Could u update with an original picture(before any chances made digitally) i really wonder what it looked like right out of the camera!
thx a million and awsome shot!
Sam, i had to post twice! i went on brickworks website and in the "dining&event space virtual tour" category, they have a picture of that same pipe although it goes from the middle of the screen to the left. basically its as if you would have taken the picture from the same spot, just rotated by something like 90 degress! brickworks.ca
Posted by Andy at October 4, 2005 08:11 PMwow, this is completely a computer game setting.
Incredible shot, i like the lights pouring in.
Posted by Hugh at October 4, 2005 11:22 PMthis honestly looks like it was rendered in CG or something. just.. wow.
Posted by lisa at October 4, 2005 11:43 PMthanks for making this avaliable in a high res version
Posted by oxy cotton at October 5, 2005 01:42 AMAmazing photo. It so looks like a scene out of HL 2. Makes me wanna go play it again. Any chance of a wallpaper made from this one?
Keep up the great work
Lucas
Posted by Lucas, A at October 5, 2005 07:46 AMWhat a beautiful place. Thanks for putting a larger version of it as well. I haven’t looked at a photo for such a long time for ages. Brilliant composition. I also love the contrast between the green and the colour of those rusty metals. I wish I could be there too.
Posted by Kamyar at October 5, 2005 03:19 PMthere are so many details in it. Beautiful
Posted by kikko77 at October 5, 2005 05:15 PMWow!
Posted by Matt at October 6, 2005 01:06 AMStunning. The exposure is perfect.
Posted by Aaron Schmidt at October 6, 2005 01:48 AMamazing
Posted by mcd at October 6, 2005 09:32 AMIncredible light & colours in this shot. Well done!
Posted by Neil at October 6, 2005 09:37 AMholy decay! beautiful light!
Posted by neowenyang at October 6, 2005 10:55 AMAwesome
In my opinion this is the best picture you've taken.
Is this a render?
GREAT WORK
Beautiful shot. Does that mean you won't be paying $250 to join Michael Reichmann's Workshop? Check it out at http://bensbargains.tradepub.com/free/cc/
Posted by lefturn99 at October 8, 2005 11:00 AMWow, this is fantastic. I was there just last month but didn't get anything as good as this :)
Posted by Bella [typologic] at October 11, 2005 12:23 PMStunning, rich, beautiful.
Posted by Abe at October 12, 2005 10:41 PMGreat photo! I like the rays of light and the eerie green light in the background!
FYI Just saw this photo posted as the original image of a fark photoshop thread!
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1696516
Posted by Bert Wagner at October 12, 2005 11:04 PMi was going to suggest the flickr brickworks group, but you already know about it. great shot. :)
Posted by mike w at October 14, 2005 12:40 PMExcellent.
Posted by Eric Hancock at October 16, 2005 07:30 PMThis shot is beautiful and it got me hooked on a daily does of imagery. Living in the GTA I am always looking for interesting places to take the family and seeing this picture made me want to go to the Don Valley Brickworks (which we did - thanks).
I think our next place to visit in the Big Smoke will be the Distillery District which has been featured a few times in you site.
I have a small family website featuring photos of our adventures and information on our small town of Acton and I can appreciate the time commitment that you have put into your website.
PS I also liked photojunkie's interview of you.
Have a great year, James.
Posted by James Hamilton at February 5, 2006 04:10 PMVery Half-Life!!!
awesome shot
Darren (aus)
Posted by Darren at September 1, 2006 09:52 PM