Lately, Stumble Upon has been sending me links to photo collections of abandoned buildings. I am completely fascinated by them. The decay makes for interesting textures. I think it would be neat to shoot a catalog, or a stylized family portrait, in a place like this. What do you think? Are these images more beautiful or more creepy? Doesn’t that piano break your heart?
I have recurring daydreams of taking abandoned industrial buildings and turning them into amazing living spaces. Do you ever think of things like that?
Here is another abandoned photo collection. And here’s one more.
P.S. — If you’re a fellow Stumble user, my username is gabrielleblair. Shall we follow each other?
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I think the photos are stunning. They suck me in and make me wonder about the context. Who last sat in those chairs? Why is the piano so heart broken? What caused someone to leave such beauty behind? (seriously, how could those arches be abandonned?)
Those arches! I feel like they don’t build building that beautiful anymore.
Abandoned buildings are indeed fascinating. So much history, so many stories, many of which we may never know.
Yes. I wish there was an informative book accompanying every photo.
There was a show on the History channel called Life After People. It documented what would happen if people were to disappear from the planet and how long it would take for everything we made to crumble. It was truly fascinating, both to see how long (and not long at all) different buildings and cities would take to fall to the ground. it was also fascinating to see the ways in which we have already altered the world permanently, so that even if we disappeared the damage could not repair itself. At any rate at various points through the series they would go to deserted towns and buildings and show how the places had decayed. It always would give me a very creepy thrill.
That sounds amazing. I’m going to look it up.
http://www.history.com/shows/life-after-people
You can get the epis on iTunes. These got me through some very long nights with a newborn. :)
I did my whole senior exhibition with photography of abandoned barns– a series called Vacancy.
Ahh the Midwest is ripe with abandoned treasures. I’ve continued the project since then as a hobby. A fair amount of buildings I photographed even seven years ago have been torn down or restored since.
What a cool hobby, Mary! I think I might have to copy you.
Oh, and the sea forts? CREEPY BEYOND BELIEF.
They look like something out of a Star Wars movie.
I was obsessively Googling for pictures of a local abandoned mental hospital one day and came across Opacity.us – I think I spent a full work day in the archives. I LOVE abandoned buildings and locations, especially unusual ones like theme parks and theaters.
Every time I see a “sad” house or building I dream of fixing it up and making it a warm, welcoming place again. It’s practically a medical condition.
Oh my goodness! Just checked out http://www.opacity.us/
It’s a gold mine! Thank you for the link.
ack… dang you, suzanne!!! i’m now completely obsessed with that opacity website. been on there for hours now during nap time. now my kids are forced to watch annoying tv programs just so i can look at a few more picture galleries. this is crazy?!?!?
I think they are a bit sad, but beautiful. We had our family photos taken outside some abandoned warehouses in the old garment district here. They turned out awesome!
Someone up the road from me took an abandoned school and created a house. I still think it looks like a school though….
Best,
Tina
I’ll bet your family photos are great!
They were so cool.
I think I shared one with you of my tot from that photo session.
I love them so much!
Best,
Tina
Those places are amazing! Too bad they’re abandoned… always makes you wonder why! We saw a building like that in Southern Virginia a while back. It was a huge brick building with tall spires and it looked like it may have been an old school house. But it was boarded up. Very sad.
Yes, sad. But then I get to daydream about restoring them!
They are a mix of beautiful and creepy to me…guess it depends on whether the sun is shining or not! This reminds me of a really cool remodel in my town:
http://www.unionstationdepot.com/index.htm
A train depot turned into a sort of bed and breakfast. I wish there was a walking video tour to really do it justice. There are no pictures of the bed that requires a full-lenth ladder to get into!
That piano makes me want to cry! It’s just beautiful and tragic at the same time.
the art historian in me is drooling at these gorgeous photos!!!
I feel the same way! Have you seen the photo essay done on abandoned buildings in Detroit? So beautiful and so terribly sad. I wish I had money to save buildings and do good things with them!
I live in Metro Detroit. There are many beautiful places in the city but you mostly only hear about the bad in the media. There are many people working to revive the city and some of these old buildings.
I’m equally fascinated by abandoned buildings and their hidden histories! I just saw an intriguing photography exhibit entitled “Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom” at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, PA – so interesting and poignant! http://www.michenermuseum.org/exhibits/ellis.php
Isn’t that one of Jim’s photos from sweet-juniper.com? He’s here in the Detroit area and I love his work. TFS!
I wouldn’t describe it as creepy. Maybe beautiful and sad. I have the same dream about converting an old school or church into a home. Maybe someday…
Reminds me of the movie Great expectations. Beautiful sorrow is evoked in me.
i completely and wholeheartedly agree with you. there is just something special about those old dilapidated buildings and structures that intrigue me. and i do think they are beautiful and haunting in their own special way. i would love to do pics in a cool scene as the first pic. love it!! my husband and i are actually doing some interesting pics in some ‘rough’ settings for our 10 year anniversary. i’m putting my wedding gown back on, he’s dressing up, i’m doing my hair a little wild with some dark gothic makeup (totally opposite of what i looked like on my wedding day over 10 years ago) and we’re taking fun, interesting pics with my photographer friend. just to celebrate 10 years of marriage. sort of a ‘trash the dress’ kind of thing.
The Detroit abandoned school photos that Jim at Sweet Juniper took break my heart though… http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n2/htdocs/schools-out-forever-625.php
Where have these been all my life?? I LOVE these abandoned buildings. Check out that architecture! I’m seriously craving some old-school architecture lately. I think I need a trip out East to my homeland… or maybe abroad… :)
I love these pics too. I wish there was some place fantastic like this here in Phoenix to shoot my family photos this year.
Check out the work of ROBERT POLIDORI! A Canadian-born artist whose work features the most haunting images of devastated and abandoned sites in New York, New Orleans, Lebanon, Chernobyl, and oddly,Versailles. My family and I were lucky enough to see his large-scale photos on display at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art in May 2009. The packed gallery was silent with the odd sniffle, as we stood in witness of these places and awe of his work.
http://www.macm.org/en/expositions/59.html
I never imagined that such beautiful buildings like those would be left to decay! The theatre is really heartbreaking. So many of those buildings have so much potential, I wish they could be restored.
I LOVE abandoned buildings!!!! I drove past an abandoned factory and I was ITCHING to go inside!! Something so intriguing about a vacant place that used to be so hopping. Thanks so much for sharing these. I’m not on stumbleupon, thanks. My favs were the empty pool and hospital bed with overhead light. Whoa-makes me sad in a lot of ways. As in it still has potential for use? I don’t know for sure.
I have a feeling you’ll like this idea too. (I shared it on SU.) ;)
http://zonezero.com/magazine/essays/diegotime/time.html#
beautiful, definitely!! such a great place for a family photo shoot!
I remember checking out a website called Forgotten New York. It was amazing.
When I was in Sicily, I visited a friend who lived in a building that was hundreds of years old. It had been damaged in WWII and had never been torn down nor repaired. The dilapidated stairway curved its way up to a roof with a hole blown in it by a long ago bomb. There were pigeon…ummm… presents everywhere and I thought “how can anyone live in such squalor?” Then we entered his apartment and it was just an amazingly beautiful place. The ceiling were probably 30 feet high and everything had been restored and the decor was an eclectic mix of beautiful things. It was like cracking a moldy walnut and finding a diamond inside. These old building are so gorgeous. And, it seems, virtually indestructible. A little love and they are good as new.
J
PS – ties on the way…
Oh they are just stunning. It’s all that history being forgotten. Would make a fab photo shoot background…. but I just wont go at night!! ;)
When I saw that first picture I immediately thought family portrait. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one.
Honestly, they just make me very sad. So much beauty, with no one to look after it…and no way to make it beautiful again. It makes me want to start a works progress branch to rehabilitate old homes and properties that are broken down; put people to work, get something physically wonderful out of it…
wow, these are really gorgeous. Stark and desolate and beautiful and sad. Thank you for posting!
Stunning photo, the first one in particular. Imagine getting a hold of a place like that for…. anything.
check out Scouting NYC by a film location scout in New York… Some of the forgotten buildings he comes across are amazing:
http://www.scoutingny.com/
Wow, thanks for these amazing links. My family likes to go “ghost towning,” and I get the same feeling from these pictures.
Have to admit I’d like to give this a shot… though many of those photos would be terrifying at dusk /night.
We saw an amazing exhibit of Ellis Island, which I believe was by this photographer
http://christopherbarnes.com
Check out Forgotten Detroit, which I believe is the source of the piano image
http://www.forgottendetroit.com
see also
http://www.modern-ruins.com
yes, that piano does break my heart. but that photo is gorgeous.
Excellent post. I also find these buildings awesome in many ways. The stories that accompany the decay, the voices you can image, and the life that still exists as the paint cracks and the structures move over time. Amazing. Yes yes yes – photoshoot. I could definitely see shooting my families portrait in one of these structures, representative of our current state of existence – a shambles at first look, but beautiful at the core.
The images are both beautiful and creepy; ideal for photo shoots…senior portraits, for example (how cool would that be?).
P.S. I’d love to hear a little “101″ from you on StumbleUpon – why you love it, what you use it for, etc.