Eastern State Penitentiary

When you think of Philadelphia, you think of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, or maybe the Philadelphia Museum of Art or the zoo. What does not immediately spring to mind is a moldering old prison.

The Eastern State Penitentiary was built back in 1829 and remained in operation until 1972. It has sat there ever since. Various plans were introduced, including turning it into luxury apartments or a another shopping mall, but eventually a group of folks got together with the intent of preserving the place. Rather than restore it, they wisely decided to maintain the site as a standing ruin. This makes for some fabulous photographic opportunities.

 The name "penitentiary" actually originated with this prison. The idea was for inmates to reside in solitary monastic confinement and seek penance from God.

A restored view of the original interior. The small door leads to the outdoor exercise area.

The rooms are reasonably small and each have a thin skylight (presumably so God could look in on them). Each cell also had a tiny outdoor space in which the prisoner could "exercise."

A sunbeam slices through the decaying cell interior, showing decades of neglect.

The ancient doors are all but falling off their rails.

When it first opened, the inmates were hooded before they entered the facility, so they had no idea as to the layout of the place. They were also kept from talking to other inmates. Guards wore special shoes with felt soles so even the sounds of their footsteps were muffled.

An old cabinet, worn with use, attached to the crumbing wall.

Looking down the corridor of one of the two-story wings.

This prison was also the origin of an incarceration management innovation: the radiating spoke shape of the wings. This enables the wardens to keep watch of each wing from a central location at the hub. Each wing was designed to be a single story, but the state soon decided to change the plans to include two-story wings as the prison was filling up much too fast.

Today, most of the wings are partially restored, with some cells hosting museum exhibits and photographic galleries. A few wings are cleaned up but still in a state of decay, but a couple of wings are left in their original state, untouched. These ruined wings are sealed off from the public.

This wing has been closed off for decades.

When it was built, Eastern State had toilets in each cell. This was at the time when the president of the United States was forced to use a chamber pot in the White House!

The view from inside a cell.

The guard tower as seen from inside the walls.

Detail of the paint peeling from the walls.

You can see more images (including some garishly tone-mapped examples) here.

 The afternoon would have been a smashing success but for one thing. For some reason, the caretakers feel they need to charge a special permit fee for the use of a tripod (or monopod). The supervisor explained that tripods are seen as a nuisance and they want to discourage their use. They believe that they take up space and people have trouble going around them and they get in the way, etc. How much does it cost for all this pain and suffering to go away? Ten dollars, nearly the same price as admission ($12). So, they feel tripods are a nuisance but will look the other way if you give them some money. I sardonically pointed out that they should charge more money for teenagers too, as they tend to get in the way and can be a terrible nuisance. Old people are slow, do they have to pay more? I explained that if they are troubled by tripods getting in the way, they shouldn't be punishing the visitor because they have a tripod, they should punish the bad behavior (getting in the way of other visitors). The supervisor was not happy with this line of reasoning and kept falling back on the old "It's policy" response.

 Eastern State Penitentiary is an interesting tourist attraction and they're doing their best to promote the place. So why alienate a group of people who can help promote the site? Very few photographers use tripods. Those who do are very serious about their craft and tend to share their images and talk about where they were taken. If anything, Eastern State Penitentiary should be encouraging tripod photographers, maybe giving them access to otherwise closed areas. I don't mind paying a bit of extortion money if it's a little bit, but charging nearly the same price for the tripod as for admission is stupid and not getting any added value for the extra money is simply ridiculous.

Philadelphia Comic Convention

To use the elevator in the hotel, you need to insert your room key-card before choosing the floor. The guy in the elevator with me was stranded without his key. I used mine to get him to his floor. "You here for the convention?" he asked.

"What convention?" He was in his mid twenties and bit scruffy looking. I didn't know of any convention. They had a flower show and a car show already this year, so I knew I could rule them out.

"Wizard World, the comic book convention." I shook my head but said I might have to check it out. The next morning I got the run-down on the show. It ran for three days, 10-5, Friday to Sunday. Entrance was $28. That seemed a bit steep for someone who just wanted to wander around for an hour to see what it was like, but I decided to check it out. I arrived at 10:30 in the morning and didn't leave until it closed. I expected the place to be crawling with geeky guys in their late teens and early twenties and plenty of kids. I was quite wrong as there were almost no kids at all and the rest of the conference goers were as diverse as any crowd that size ... and there was quite a crowd. Thirty minutes after the show opened, the line ran half a block down the street. Inside, fortunately, it was not crowded so it was easy to move around. I expected to see lots of people in costume, but there only a few - including a small gathering at the entrance to the show.

Nightmare Armor Studios, out of Atlanta, creates helmets and complete costumes for those willing to lay out big bucks. They have get-ups from various games and Animi creations. The products are very slick and professional looking. They had a team of five people attired in Gears of War battle suits. While they didn't enter the costume competition, a guy who bought one of their creations did ... and won.

For many of the artists, this is their big opportunity to promote their work and make some significant sales. With professionally drawn comics going for as little as a dollar and custom drawings offered, created right on the spot, it was hard to resist providing financial support for these folks. But, as I explained time and again, I'm not a comic guy, I'm attending the convention simply to appreciate the art.


One of a group of producers half jokingly accused me of wanting to photograph the artwork so I don't have to pay for it. When I shook my head and explained that photographs of art look nothing like the original, he and his colleagues actually applauded. I know that I could have surreptitiously taken any number of photos of posters and graphics, and I'm sure that plenty of people had, but there's no satisfaction looking at a photo copy as compared to an original. I enjoyed seeing the artwork and left it at that. I was more than happy creating my own original work in photographing the people I met.

I spent the next six hours meeting the various artists and writers and learning about the comic trade. The number one concern of the comic creators was obscurity. They have the product, but very limited means for getting their work known. I was fascinated by the number of artists who were re-creating Marvel characters. I asked a sales guy from a different publishing house how it was that so many people were borrowing their images. He said that Marvel basically turned a blind eye to it. When I asked if the same technique would work to promote their own characters, he was adamant that they would not let other artists infringe on their work. "Even if it gets you more exposure?" He was concerned the images would be misused, as was the case with some of Marvel's characters. Better to have complete control over a obscure character than have marketing success by risking your character appearing in uncompromising positions, I guess. Meanwhile, Marvel is swimming in dough.

The highlight of the day was meeting Greg Hildebrandt. As I teen, I marveled over the fantasy images he and his brother Tim created. He's moved to a different type of fantasy art, retro style pin-ups. I asked how he did them. He comes up with an idea and does some rough sketches. Next, he gets models to pose and photographs them. He then arranges the photographs (particularly important if there is more than one person in the image) and creates the painting. You can see more photos here.

A walk across the Ben Franklin Bridge

An impressive suspension bridge connects Philadelphia to New Jersey. A walkway enables pedestrians to cross the span. Not too many people make the attempt in February, but I was determined to see if I could get a good shot of Philadelphia and see what was on the other side.

As I started onto the bridge, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd experience what too many other photographers have reported, harassment by security people by daring to take photos of public property. For some reason, taking pictures of bridges is looked upon as somehow supporting terrorism. I noted the sign on the pedestrian walkway pointing out that both roller skates and in-line skates are forbidden; no mention of photography. As I walked, I looked around for photogenic subjects.

It wasn't until I was two-thirds the way across that I found a worthy scene, the city skyline framed by the bridge superstructure on one side. It was nothing special, but I set up my tripod, took the photo and started down the other side. I kept the tripods legs extended in case something else of interest should appear. It didn't.

Philadelphia from the Ben Franklin bridge.

What did appear, a few minutes later, was a cop on a bicycle. He rode up and asked me if I was taking pictures. I said I was. He said I had to stop. I asked why. He gave me a "because I said so" kind of answer and made the mistake of asking me if that was a good enough reason. I sighed, set my feet and told him it was not satisfactory, that I wanted to know if there was a law that forbade photographing public property. I was about to add "... in the land of the free" but didn't think the irony would be appreciated.

He started with the typical lame excuses of security and terrorism. I diplomatically countered each of these. He recognized the futility of his argument, admitting that photos of the bridge could be found in any number of books or downloaded from the web. I mentioned that there were no signs forbidding photography, but someone made it a point to actually differentiate between roller skates and in-line skates on the posted rules.

He was used to dealing with tourists who buckled under the slightest show of authority, but it was obvious I wasn't going to fall for that. He finally admitted that I was spotted by the bridge security cameras and he was forced to ride all the way over to "check it out." He pointed to the port authority office where I could complain. I grinned and told him that he should be the one to complain if they were making him ride up there.

He was pretty tired of having to make the ride up the bridge for every art student and photographer who came along. I told him I'd gladly change jobs with him (imagine getting paid to work out!). The confrontation became friendly and he told me about some of his encounters on the bridge (including catching illegal aliens). We exchanged introductions, shook hands and went on our way.

It seems to me that too many security people are forced into this sort of situation. A rare few see the futility of this method of security, but all are required to put up with it. Unfortunately, far too many approach this task with the same zeal as they might in catching a criminal red-handed. Sadly, unless a lot more citizens put their foot down, risking a trip to the police station, we're going to see a lot more of this rather than a lot less. Lord knows the politicians won't step in to do something about it.

Here's a couple of shots from an interesting site on the other side of the river, the battleship New Jersey.