Abandoned buildings have always been an obsession of mine, and I've spent much of the last year realizing how quickly they're disappearing, and trying to photograph as many of them as possible before they succumb to the wrecking ball, or to beady-eyed wastes of oxygen who burn them down. There are other forums where I usually post this stuff, but there are so many great photographers here that I thought I might attract some useful criticism.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorites for anyone who's interested...

1. Tuberculosis hospital


2. Tuberculosis hospital


3. House in the woods. Road was abandoned when a reservoir flooded the valley.


4. Another random house in the woods.


5. Mental hospital - most of them in Massachusetts were closed in the early 1990's.


6. Farm building


7. Same farm building - stables.


8. Abandoned mansion in the Hudson Valley.


9. Same abandoned mansion. This place was taken by eminent domain by the state of New York in the 1960's, and promptly left to rot.


10. Another mental hospital. It will be torn down in the next couple of years.


11.


12. Abandoned canvas factory - raw materials.


13. Canvas factory


14. Canvas factory


15. Canvas factory


16. School building about to be torn down for condos


17. Chapel on one of the coastal South Carolina islands. It burned in the late 1800's.


18. Cool ceiling!


19. Stables


20. Abandoned carriage house

 

NICE WORK!!

 

Wow! Amazing photos!

Hard to believe some of the places are abandoned. I'd love to restore a couple of them-they'd be amazing (if I had the money/time!)

 

Those are some great photos. You should list the locations too. It's a shame those old beautiful stone buildings have been left to rot.

 

Thanks for all the compliments!

I'll add some brief captions, but I never post detailed locations on the internet, as there's always the chance it can attract/hasten vandalism.

 

Chris, numbers 5, 10 & 11 look like former mental institutions, Kirkbride buildings. I'm big on the old Asylums and grew up near one. Do you have more photos online somewhere? I love that stuff.

And yeah its a shame about the deterioration. It does not take long for a building to go to crap once its not being lived in anymore. Then add teenage vandals and you have a recipe for disaster.

 

Dingdingdingdingding! 10 and 11 are what remains of a Kirkbride building, most of which burned in the early 1990's.

 

Really, really good work.

 

Cool shots. I like to know locations too (that's why I love the map function of flickr). I've been by one or two of those mental hospitals nearby, thankfully just on the outside...

 

Great pics

 

Dammit that work blocks Photobucket, Flickr and other photo hosting sites!

I'll have to tune back in when I get home (and have 'net access again hopefully).

Reading the comments and the original posts, this is one of my favorite photo subjects. I belong to several Livejournal photo communities dedicated to this, namely 'abandonedplaces', 'rural_ruin', 'rundown_town' and quite a few others. I love exploring abandoned buildings, houses and such. Like chrisneal stated, one of the tenets held by those like us who enjoy finding and exploring (and photographing) these abandoned gems is never advertising locations for fear of inviting vandalism, increased security or even retribution ffor those who posted pictures. It's a cool, hidden, almost secret world that is often right in your back yard.

 

Great photos. I love abandoned/old buildings i general too. It is really a shame that most of them will be torn down to make way for a new condo or strip mall. :(

 

Amazing pictures!

I love how much beauty there is in the slow destruction that time brings.

 

Makes me think of what Half-Life 4 might look like some day.

 

Chris have I mentioned how much I hate you!? LOL
Great stuff! Seriously. If there's one thing I miss about the east coast and haven't really found out west is the abandoned buildings. Now that I'm better with photography I wish I could revisit a lot of the places I have been...time to find some new ones

 

Beautiful shots. I guess you haven't seen any of the new horror films. Those would be great locations to film in but scary to go shutter bugging around.

 

Thanks everybody... I don't have Photoshop (one of these years...), so Google Picasa is pretty much the beginning and end of my editing capabilities right now.

The saturation on #16 is all crazy because it was my first time shooting with my new Nikon, and I didn't realize that taking it out of my bag was rotating the mode dial. I have somewhat gotten the hang of the DSLR, though, #s 12-15 were shot with it a few weeks back.

Greatbear - I have no idea what a Livejournal photo community is, but I'm intrigued! Sending you a PM...

Thanks, I hate you, too. You'd probably be shocked at how many of the abandoned buildings you remember have been bulldozed, burned down, or converted into condos. It's really reached a crescendo in the past 18 months especially, with this absurd real estate orgy driving up land prices into the ridiculo-sphere.

Here are some great western shots, though. My sister took these. It's a huge old copper mine, abandoned in the 1930's. I'm hoping to check it out next year, since my sis and her husband own land nearby.

 

Chris, the copper mine pics are very cool. What part of the country is that in? I ask because of the mountains in the background.

 

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that... It's in Alaska. Big mountains indeed.

 

Richard Buswell is a self-educated fine arts photographer of the American west. I believe he's from Montana (galleries in Helena at UM represent him) and his photos are amazing for all those who appreciate the photography of abandoned buildings. Like Chris, he never gives full locations in order to protect the sites but the west is chock full of them.

Chris, gorgeous! The only thing that I could possibly suggest would be from a documentary perspective with regards to tying the building (or ceiling) to some sort of ground plane so that we can appreciate the full volume of the space -- which we ABSOLUTELY do in photo 7 (my fave). I know that's frequently impossible, however.

Really, really lovely shots

 

Awesome work!

 

Exceptional photography ...and subjects. I especially like this one:



Thank you for posting them. They are a treat to see.

dean.

 

Fantastic! So stark and lonely. I'm glad you saved these buildings if only on film.

 

Some very excellent shots! The school building is a funhouse of textures. Almost surreal. I'd be scouring every last corner of that copper mine if I could.

 

If I were you, I'd be so wigged out in the mental hospitals. We have one well known one around me, 'haunted', and my friends have went there many times, but I couldn't go because I was too scared .