The Don Jail in Toronto

No, the jail's not named after me, just wanted to get that straight off the top :-)

The jail is 145 years old. Decommissioned in 1977, it was the site of 34 hangings during the years that Canada allowed capital punishment (1908 through to I think the late 60s). Prisoners were housed in 3' by 8' cells that had no plumbing. Toward the end of it's use, each of these tiny cells held as many as 3 inmates.

We got to enter the jail as part of a photography competition. Each photographer had one our in the building to take pictures. We needed to pay a $25 donation to get in, were asked to submit up to 5 photos and a print and the Don Jail gets full rights to the images. Hey, what a deal :-)

I wanted to get something a little different than what others might try so I brought a flash along with my tripod and camera.

	The medial ward of the facility. I thought I would use a long exposure to catch me as I walk through the frame. At the end of my 5 second walk I turned just in time for a flash to light me up. The flash was placed in one of the cells, sitting on the floor and pointed up. Strobist info: a single SB-900 speedlight placed in a cell to camera right. I timed my walk so that I would stand for a moment beside the cell and the firing flash would light me up. Oh, I set the camera to rear (trailing) shutter curtain flash to do this. Triggered using FlashWaves.
	Many rooms had exposed pipe, but it was often rusted out with green, flaking paint on the walls. This room was relatively white and monochromatic which is why I decided to play. I wanted to add a bit of interest to the lighting so I light up the door with a flash to the side. Strobist info: a single SB-900 speedlight placed at camera left. The flash was on a tripod and set to wide angle. Triggered using FlashWaves.
	An unidentified room, this one had pillars separating it from the room next to it. I thought that blasting some light from the room off to the right would make for some interesting shadows. Strobist info: a single SB-900 speedlight placed on a tripod in the next room with the diffuser panel down for the widest spread. Triggered using FlashWaves.
	Death Row really struck me as a somber place, especially since prisoners did their final walk down this hall to the gallows (the open, iron door) for execution. Strobist info: a single SB-900 speedlight with a red gel placed on a tripod in the gallows at camera left, pointing out through the door. Triggered using FlashWaves.

It was great to see this old building and to be able to explore it with only 9 other photographers there at the same time as you. Being in death row and in the gallows, though, really had an impact on me and I had a really hard time sleeping over the next few nights.