Sigh....yeah I know a few of my old haunts have been knocked down...it's really sad. That's why I need to hurry up and come east so I can photograph them before they're lost forever (especially now that my skills are better)

 

wow just amazing man.. thanks for the share....

 

yeah thanks for posting these I really like them, but how do you find the courage to go inside of them? There is no way in hell I would go in a old barn better yet a abondoned mental hospital , that is unless they said I'd have to sell my mini or see it get hit by an 18 wheeler then I'd be in there in a split second

 

meh... I don't know, I don't find dilapidated buildings to be inherently frightening. The only things that make me nervous are unstable floors (which aren't always obvious), homeless people (usually harmless), and cops/security (solution: run into the building ). I guess I got used to it a bit because my first job out of college was doing asbestos inspections in old buildings about to be demo'd. It kills me to think of the photos I could have gotten in some of those places. Usually I was with someone else, because much of the work was in New Haven, which has some really horrible neighborhoods.

Some wider angle shots for OmToast (I have just performed a cursory googling of this Buswell fellow, and he does seem to be a monstrously talented artist!):











I always try and get shots of the overall buildings, but usually they don't turn out to be my favorite/best photos.

 

These buildings are amazing , why tear them down, just some people trying to make thier pockets bigger. hmm There's this asylum that I want to go into called Waverly Hills and supposidly it's haunted to the max, and another place I want to go to in Romania an abondoned castle.
I'm going to have like 5 other people with me on that becuase I'll have a big adrenaline rush.

 

Were you aware that it is now possible to take a tour of Cherynobel? Some tour company offers guided trips by bus, not sure where from, Kiev possibly. In any case, from the article I read it is like one huge abandoned building with an element of Pompei added to it. The radioactive exposure from a short-term visit is considered negligble. There are a million other places in the world I would rather see first, but if photographing abandoned buildings is your forte then the Ukraine may hold the greatest bonanza you ever find.

 

I have perused many a website of Chernobyl photographs, which are indeed fascinating. If I had an infinite travel buget and infinite vacation time, I'd definitely go, but it's really a whole different atmosphere from the stuff I usually go for. Besides the obvious mammoth of a tragedy that looms over the whole place, it's a bunch of decaying concrete Soviet soulless blockiness - I tend to gravitate more toward buildings that started off with some architectural intrigue (interesting building materials, ornate woodwork, cool windows, cool staircases), since those are often the elements that decay most dramatically.

 

I love your pictures. I like to photograph old buildings, too, not necessarily abandoned, though it does help lend character to them. Here are a couple of my favorites from a 2004 Rome, NY trip.

 

Thats quite an intricate roof on the 1st one davavd.

 

That's why I love that photo. If that doesn't leak, why should ANY roof leak?

 

Wow, that's a really amazing house! I can't imagine what the cost of replacing that slate roof would be. Luckily they last for decades. That brickwork is pretty cool, too.

I do also take photos of unabandoned buildings. I don't think I would like the decaying ones so much if I didn't have a love for achitecture in general.

 

I've seen many photographs of early electric powerplants, both abandoned and still in use. What strikes me in some of the cases is that instead of finding a utilitarian structure, many of the buildings have a soaring, cathedral-like quality. Ornate steelwork, arches, cupolas, immense arched windows, intricate masonry... you name it, it's there. At the turn of (last) century, I suppose the feeling was that the buildings housed something that was thought of as being very special at the time, which it was, if you think about it. Old factories and steel mills abound with machinery and buildings that seem to show form a bit over function. In very rare cases (such as VW's Transparent Factory) does a modern factory or other utilitarian structure go beyond a boring rectilinear form.

 

These photos are like crack to me....it's making my skin itch to go find a building....argggg...I just want to run out the door. I wish my photos weren't in storage so I could post some of the ones I found back in the day. Being old and delapitated doesn't scare me either, I've been in some pretty icky places, gotten cuts, bruises and creepy rawlies landing on my head (but I grew up in Maine, I guess it's natural habitat for me )

 

If you ever have a chance, visit the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC. It is the main shop complex of the old Southern Railroad. The train shed (kind of "out back", as I recall) is incredible. Big enough to put trains in, cathedral-high, all brick and steel, with 5 zillion enormous steel windows. I love trains, but this building is what I really remember.

 

chris - these photos are amazing... i also want to go out and find some old buildings. there are actually some amazing old buildings in downtown memphis... fortunately some are being saved by demolition, only to be brought up to code and turned into condos... i guess that's better than losing them altogether.

have you considered doing a book project of these buildings?

 

my fav as well... oh and that mental hosptial with the big tower.

 

Thanks for sharing your photos.

I usually shot only old barns when I think about shooting buildings, but you guys have broaden my scoop.

 

Your pictures are outstanding. I especially like the exteriors.

There's an old pump house around here that is visually interesting. I think I'll go take some pics of it.

Zip

 

Here are some of my "abandoned" photos. I dig old stuff too.

Aquaduct in New Mexico.

Adobe house somewhere in NM.

Bridge near Hoover Dam.

Railroad bridge in Prescott. Since this was taken, the restaurant that was burnt by a vagrant, and the r.r. car have been taken away.

Chino Valley, middle of a soon-to-be subdivision.

I shouldn't forget Two Guns on Route 66.

Yea, I guess I like abandoned buildings too. The urban settings are more grand. I admire the stonework. But you notice a theme with mine?

Thanks for starting this thread!

 

Very beautiful shots

 

Outstanding work!! Think I need to go a' huntin!



Love this one. Reminds me of:

"They're creepy and they're kookey.
Mysterious and spookey.
They're altogether together ookey.
The Addams Family.

The house is a museum.
When people come to see'em.
They really are a scre-am.
The Addams Family.

Neat

Sweet

Petite

So get a witch's shawl on.
A broomstick you can crawl on.
We're going to pay a call on.
The Addams Family."

Jim

 

89AKurt, very cool shots! I really like the one of the little shack beneath the huge cottonwood tree, even though they're both about to be leveled for a subdivision. One of the great things about photography is the ability to document places like that before they are lost forever.

 

+1! I even heard the theme song in my mind as I gazed upon that piccie! wink:

 

Ooooooooooh... love! They're all great, but this is my fave

 

I love Kirkbrides. I wish there were some near me. I've been getting more into urban exploration over the last two years, and it's fascinating. I'll post some of my pics in a few minutes