Scott Fortino & the GI showers

Found a book in the library called Institutional. Photographs by Scott Fortino. He is or was a cop in Chicago. The book is filled with interior shots from empty jails, schools, hospitals, etc. Color. Square format. The colors and compositions have an effect like abstract paintings even though the images are entirely concrete:

It's hard to explain why I find these so moving. Details like the camera in the top one and the in-boxes in the bottom one. The screen partly pulled down. Fortino must have done a lot of arranging to make them look so perfect. The spaces look oppressive, but at the same time, like they're waiting to be reoccupied.

I took my own stab at something like this for assignment four, in the men's showers in the basement of the GI. Mine, even if they were good, would lack the impact of Fortino's because my subject is all wrong. But it was a good exercise in trying to make nice compositions out of masses of unattractive squares and rectangles:

f/16
15 sec
ISO100
18-55 zoom at 18mm (~27mm equivalent)

f/16
20 sec
ISO 80
18-55 zoom at 18mm (~27mm equivalent)

Kaji thought it was strange that I shot these at such a low ISO. There was no special reason. Lower ISO's are supposed to produce the least noisy images, and I had a tripod and a remote, so I figured, why not?