I Shot a Roll of Kodak T-Max P3200 400 by Johnjoe Nugent
The majestic beauty of abandoned places, A.K.A. Urbex, is an exciting hobby and sometimes dangerous, trying to get or sneak into old factories, hiding from the police and security and looking for hidden gems, like this one, an abandoned spa.
At one time, this was a very luxurious spa, the Queen of Spain even visited at one point, but due to floods it closed down and has been left to fall apart, I’ve been here several times and every time something seems to collapse, get broken or get robbed, it’s a pity really. This time I went with a fellow film street photographer @Redgravephoto. He posed for me to give this place a sense of scale, with it’s beautiful arches.
I was armed with a Nikon F80 (that’s an N80 for the yanks) and an Irix 11mm ultra wide angle. I finally got to shoot a roll of Kodak T-Max 3200, I’ve been meaning to do so for a while now and thanks to On Film Only and Kodak, I got the chance.
I love open spaces, I’m not one to focus on details. I chose this camera because it has a threaded cable release and I can compose accurately with metering.
However even though I shot it at ISO 1600 and overexposed one stop to try compensate for the wide angle underexposure, the shadows still came out rather dark. (note to self over expose 2+ stops for 11 and 12mm lenses, I’ve since tried it and gotten better results).
Ultra wide angles capture scenes with vastly different lighting conditions and it can be quite the challenge. Carmencita Lab in Valencia did a great job with the tricky negatives and I like the look giving the place some extra character.
Did I mention that you really need to watch your step? It’s a real fixer-upper. You need to constantly be checking what’s above and below you, so that you don’t fall through a hole in the floor and to avoid places like this where the roof could collapse.
A friend Alex, brought me here a few years ago and I couldn’t help exploring the whole place just in case there was a hidden tunnel (sometimes there are) or hidden treasure (that’s only for the Goonies)
At one stage it was so popular and posh that it had it’s own small train station, here you can see what’s left of the footbridge, you can’t really cross it anymore though. The place was bought a few years ago and they tried to stop people getting in but it didn’t work and unfortunately some thieves came in to rob any steel that was left and damaged some of the old marble baths.
In the near future some more roofs will collapse and destroy the place even more, every time I go there is a new collapse, so until that happens I will continue to document this beautiful abandoned place
I’m Johnjoe Nugent, a mostly Irish but also Canadian photographer who lives in Tarragona, Spain. You can follow me on Instagram @moments_oublies (digital BW photos) and @anotherfilmcamera (for film cameras and film photos) I got into film photography about 4 years ago because I love shooting with old cameras, it’s just so satisfying shooting with cameras such as the Yashica 124G with its awesome bright viewfinder and the Konica Hexar RF with a Voigtlander 12mm and an ultra-wide viewfinder. When I started studying photography in Barcelona, I discovered a cool international analog film festival, Revela’t (https://revela-t.cat/2020/en/), it takes place every year north of Barcelona, the next edition is scheduled from June 5 to 21, 2020. There, I found a friendly, supportive and fun community of film shooters. I highly recommend going if you get the chance.
