Tuesday night Liana, a good friend and one of my favorite models, took me downtown to shoot in the infamous “Springfield tunnels,” known as a frequent hideout for druggies and vagrants. What a perfect place to shoot!
We arrived shortly after sunset, and had to hike a few blocks from our parking spot. The “tunnels” are actually storm drains that, while normally on the surface as drainage ditches, pass underground when they approach the downtown area next to the railroad tracks.
Although it had not rained for a few days, there was still water running through the tunnels. We were able to nagivate our way in to a point where we found solid ground and hiked through the darkness to the first bend where we set up to shoot.
A minor accident of some sort caused us technical difficulties with my secondary flash unit, forcing us to make do with a single source of light. Undaunted, we modified a few things and continued shooting. It was chilly and damp, as you may imagine, and the noises that emanated from above were eerie in spite of knowing what the noises were coming from.
In particular, there was the few moments when a train was passing overhead. The depot was nearby and it was inside the city, so the train was probably moving no faster than 6 miles per hour. Some of the sounds we heard during those couple of minutes did not sound like a train: they were haunting and mysterious, and I can see why filmmakers of horror movies use these sounds as background noise. Poor Liana was freaked out the whole time.
As you can see, the creepy environment more than lightly influenced the results of that night’s shoot. And, as unsettling as it was, we are both eager to return and do some more!
