April 6. 2008
Our camera club was allowed to photograph the old and deteriorating Preston Castle in Ione, CA. It was originally built in 1864 as a home for wayward boys...otherwise known as a juvenile detention center...until 1960, when the state abandoned the building for new quarters for the boys. Now, the Preston Castle foundation is trying to raise money to bring the castle back to it's former glory. Our camera club had the place to ourselves and it was a photographer's dream with the ambient light streaming through dusty windows and everything in the place rusting, rotting and falling apart. What fun!
UPDATE:
For some reason my security settings changed overnight and I cannot make comments on anyone's photos...not even mine. So, I'll add the following:
I have some more photos of the place in my El Dorado Camera Club gallery.
Prior to this place being built, these boys (some of them as young as 7) were held at either San Quentin or Folsom prison. Much worse places. During it's heyday, this place taught the boys a trade so that when they were released they would have a job skill. The castle was also minimum security and it was a beautiful building. They had many amenities that the town boys didn't have available to them.
Merle Haggard apparently spent some time behind these walls.
Our camera club was allowed to photograph the old and deteriorating Preston Castle in Ione, CA. It was originally built in 1864 as a home for wayward boys...otherwise known as a juvenile detention center...until 1960, when the state abandoned the building for new quarters for the boys. Now, the Preston Castle foundation is trying to raise money to bring the castle back to it's former glory. Our camera club had the place to ourselves and it was a photographer's dream with the ambient light streaming through dusty windows and everything in the place rusting, rotting and falling apart. What fun!
UPDATE:
For some reason my security settings changed overnight and I cannot make comments on anyone's photos...not even mine. So, I'll add the following:
I have some more photos of the place in my El Dorado Camera Club gallery.
Prior to this place being built, these boys (some of them as young as 7) were held at either San Quentin or Folsom prison. Much worse places. During it's heyday, this place taught the boys a trade so that when they were released they would have a job skill. The castle was also minimum security and it was a beautiful building. They had many amenities that the town boys didn't have available to them.
Merle Haggard apparently spent some time behind these walls.
April 6. 2008
Our camera club was allowed to photograph the old and deteriorating Preston Castle in Ione, CA. It was originally built in 1864 as a home for wayward boys...otherwise known as a juvenile detention center...until 1960, when the state abandoned the building for new quarters for the boys. Now, the Preston Castle foundation is trying to raise money to bring the castle back to it's former glory. Our camera club had the place to ourselves and it was a photographer's dream with the ambient light streaming through dusty windows and everything in the place rusting, rotting and falling apart. What fun!
UPDATE:
For some reason my security settings changed overnight and I cannot make comments on anyone's photos...not even mine. So, I'll add the following:
I have some more photos of the place in my El Dorado Camera Club gallery.
Prior to this place being built, these boys (some of them as young as 7) were held at either San Quentin or Folsom prison. Much worse places. During it's heyday, this place taught the boys a trade so that when they were released they would have a job skill. The castle was also minimum security and it was a beautiful building. They had many amenities that the town boys didn't have available to them.
Merle Haggard apparently spent some time behind these walls.
Our camera club was allowed to photograph the old and deteriorating Preston Castle in Ione, CA. It was originally built in 1864 as a home for wayward boys...otherwise known as a juvenile detention center...until 1960, when the state abandoned the building for new quarters for the boys. Now, the Preston Castle foundation is trying to raise money to bring the castle back to it's former glory. Our camera club had the place to ourselves and it was a photographer's dream with the ambient light streaming through dusty windows and everything in the place rusting, rotting and falling apart. What fun!
UPDATE:
For some reason my security settings changed overnight and I cannot make comments on anyone's photos...not even mine. So, I'll add the following:
I have some more photos of the place in my El Dorado Camera Club gallery.
Prior to this place being built, these boys (some of them as young as 7) were held at either San Quentin or Folsom prison. Much worse places. During it's heyday, this place taught the boys a trade so that when they were released they would have a job skill. The castle was also minimum security and it was a beautiful building. They had many amenities that the town boys didn't have available to them.
Merle Haggard apparently spent some time behind these walls.
See photo in gallery
