Abandoned places

Yes, you're right.

I've just started a series which I'm calling 'Desolation'. Not strictly abandonned places, but empty places. Empty car parks and the like.

I find something odd about a supermarket with hundreds of metres of aisles and no shoppers.

Perhaps I've just been reading too much JG Ballard! I'm starting his 'Super Cannes' this weekend.
 
Jon Claremont said:
Jonas: You're kidding. A lot of my photos when I'm not doing Desolation are With People.

Of course, I was just kidding.

I must say I like "empty" places better than "neglected". A lot of Robert Frank's photographs have empty places... And The Americans is one of my favorite photobooks ever.

Neglected, well, it's become a bit of a cliche lately, everyone seems to shoot it. Haven't found much interest in it, myself.
 
It's not just photographers...

Exploring, recording and analyzing abandoned places is a time-honored discipline. Many people have made it their life's work to search for and/or study places like Incan and Mayan ruins, Stonehenge, the Pyramids, Roman ruins, Pompeii, ancient Troy, the lost Jamestown colony, Native American burial mounds, etc, etc.

Some of that could be attributed to treasure hunting, but there also seems to be some deeply seated human need for us to understand why these places were once occupied and why they were later abandoned ...
 
Hi. If someone finds a better place on this topic than
http://www.abandoned-places.com
please let me know
Regards
Joao

RF: Zorki-1, Zorki-4, Fed-5, Sokol (Automat, 2), Junost, Iskra
TLR: Komsomolyets, Lubitel-2, Lubitel 166B, Flexaret
SLR: Zenit (3M, E, EM, ET, TTL, 12XP, 122K,19, Photosniper), Kiev-10, Olympus OM-2
Other: FED-50, Kiev35A, Smena (7, 8M), Estafeta
 
Joao-
Here's a good one-
http://oboylephoto.com/ruins/index.htm
I started doing this stuff on my own, as I'm sure a lot of people have. Here's my excuse.
After working as a machinist for many years, I got the photo bug. Immediately, I started shooting junkyards, preferably the industrial variety. Soon it became abandoned industrial sites generally, and for reasons I'll get to, abandoned mines.
So what's the attraction? For me, I feel my country (USA) has abandoned the very thing that has made it strong and successful- manufacturing. It depresses me, both psychologically and financially. My country is living in denial, on its credit card and savings; if we don't produce anything how do we expect to remain solvent? How secure are we as a people if we can't produce for our own needs? Who do we think we are? In short, I've got an axe to grind.
I enjoy the adrenaline from visiting dangerous places. I feel a connection to the people who worked in them, as I've done myself. I feel a curiosity- How was this product made, back when we used to make it here?
In 2002/2003, I took a photography class at the local university (U.W.) My black and white teacher wanted a series on a theme, so I chose industrial ruins, with the idea that the theme was to be the life of metals, from womb to tomb. While the series didn't get its first picture (the inside of an abandoned mine) in time, I carried on with the theme after school and ended up making a hobby out of finding abandoned mines and shooting their interiors and ruins. It's been life changing for me, and I'm still quite active in it.
I'll post a few examples in the next day or two, starting with these:
They are of the Sherwood Uranium Mine, on the Spokane Indian Reservation, near Spokane, Washington. The series is a too long for a single post, and I'll send them in order of entry to exit. Comments welcome.
 

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Silver4ever said:
there also seems to be some deeply seated human need for us to understand why these places were once occupied and why they were later abandoned ...


Couldn't agree more...while it may all be a bit cliched as a subject, I have a particular fascination with derelict/old/abandoned places - mostly because of the questions they raise about their history - imagining them in their heyday, the people whol lived/worked there and the story behind the decline.

As a subject area, it seems perfectly suited to black and white as well...though rustworks can look very atmospheric in muted color.

Filming wildlife in the far north of Canada back in July we came across an abandoned log cabin - an old trading post from the days of the Hudson Bay trading company - literally in the middle of nowhere.

Bryce - great shots - please keep posting them up... 🙂

David
 
Contax G1 Biogon 28 Porta160NC
U796I1158707261.SEQ.0.jpg
 
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