Imagine my surprise when, upon noticing some newish-looking wires connected to a breaker box in the basement of the long-abandoned Brooklyn Naval Hospital, I flipped the main power switch and a string of lights lit up the first floor! For a moment I was nervous - it was still early in the morning; could anybody notice that suddenly this building, tucked away in an abandoned back lot on the Brooklyn Navy Yard, was illuminated? But then I thought of the grand stairwell, and realized that there might be an amazing shot there. I threw caution to the wind - some say I do that too much - and ran ‘round to the staircase, trying a number of compositions and exposures until I got this. Then back to the breaker box to kill the lights. Nobody seemed to take notice; yet again, my calculated risk-taking had paid off, and I walked away with this capture. It was only months later that I realized why those lights were there, why that breaker box had been installed - in 1999, the building was partially stabilized - and being almost completely boarded off, the lights were there for the workers.
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