A Photo Walk through the Old Johannesburg General Hospital

Today I joined the Joburg Photowalkers for the first time (along with 70 other people!) to take a photo walk through the Old Johannesburg General Hospital in Hillbrow. It was pretty interesting seeing the buildings in various states of disrepair/rebuilding, but I wish we could have gone into the locked (and ‘too unsafe to enter’) section which still has medical equipment lying untouched from the 80’s. The complex is now under renovation to become the new Hillbrow Health Precinct.

Part of the Esselen hospital, now the Joburg Clinic by Architect Wilhelm Bernhard Pabst

Just outside the Esselen hospital, now the Joburg clinic by architect Wilhelm Bernhard Pabst.

Outside the clinic on the street in Hillbrow.

A fellow photographer shoots out of a window

Climbing the stairs of one of the buildings under renovation.

A shaft in the building brought fresh air and natural light to TB patients.

The buildings from across the complex.

This week I really tried to push myself and try some new compositions and elements out, including low key photography and breaking some of the rules of composition to try to get some interesting images.

The darker parts of the complex provided nice areas for trying out different moods

A fellow photographer looks out the window.

A set of apartments painted in various colors just on the edge of the hospital.

The front of the old hospital.

Steam hissed out of vents in corners and alleys.

Winding pipes grow rusty.

A building across the street from the hospital complex

A hand-written exit sign, which has clearly not been used in a while. I wonder why the writing?

Extensive barbed wire- don’t go up the stairs!

Now empty fire equipment.