Theme # 351 "Warnings"

This secured gate and fence surrounds the 2921 acres of the old Grumman Aircraft Flight Test Facility located in Calverton, NY. At one time when Grumman was still in operation here this gate was the primary entrance for Plant 7 and the Flight Control Tower. The previous image of the F-14 Tomcat was taken no more then a half mile down the road along this fence in Grumman Memorial Park. From this vantage point one cannot see the enormous hangers which housed all the aircraft when being built and flight tested. The reason I mention this is that when TWA Flight 800 went down and parts of the wreckage were found the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) needed a facility large enough to try to piece together the aircraft. At that time Grumman still had possession of this property and allowed the wreckage to be pieced together in one of the hangers. If you want you can see this in some of the pictures that are in the link I provided in the previous post. I personally went thru this gate thousands of times while gainfully employed by Grumman.

I believe that this pretty well fits the theme but I wanted to add a foreboding look to the image so I played around in Lightroom, converted to Black and white and finally settled in on a sepia toned image as I thought it added a dramatic effect telling one stay out or else. I added a little vignetting effect to focus in on the sign and barbed wire fence. At one time these fences were paroled by armed guards and no photographs were allowed. It's really funny because as I was taking this image I kept looking around for the guards which are no more. I guess it was ingrained in my memory bank absolutely ... NO PHOTOGRAPH'S.

Nikon D90
2009/02/11 13:54:06
RAW (12-bit)
Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G
Focal Length: 12mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/125 sec - F/20
Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 250
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A