Beauty in Decay: Photography of Urban Exploration

"QUANTUM SHOT" #482

The Abandoned and the Rusted-out Carcasses of Things Long Gone seem to be a fitting theme for this week - much of doom and gloom has occurred in economy, and most people are concerned about the future. So we're just going to play on these apocalyptic sentiments, and serve you a bunch of depressing pictures... Sorry.

Desolate places with a soul

We were quite impressed by explorations of Julie Shiel, and her eye for colorful abandonments - so we asked her a few questions, and here is what she has to say about her art.
(most photography is offered as prints for purchase on her site)

Photo taken in the abandoned town of Centralia, PA, which has an ongoing underground coal fire - an inspiration for the movie "Silent Hill" and the book "Strange Highways" by Dean Koontz, among others.

"I find beauty in decay. I like to see nature conquering what man has left. I believe that old buildings have a soul, and when I photograph these places I try to capture a piece of that soul."

This is a rusted lock on the back door of an abandoned International truck

Simply beautiful. This photo was taken at an old Boy's school that dated back to the 1700s.

"Most people will never see these places, although they often have a long and interesting history. There are numerous abandonments from hospitals whose doors have long been shut to simple country houses, and each of them has a story to tell."

"The Dryad's Retreat" at the remains of a church dating to the 1800s. "They call this the "good church", and there is another close by that is known as the "bad church". The history says that these churches served a small mill town on the river. This church was Catholic, built in the 1800s, but destroyed by fire in the 1920s. The nearby church was I believe, Presbyterian. The mill town was destroyed during a hurricane."

Some of the staircases are pretty evocative, too... Who knows maybe the ghosts of past are still proudly sauntering up and down these stairs:

Nature comes through - the vines grow through the window of an abandoned tuberculosis hospital.

In the same tuberculosis hospital we find a corridor bathed in an ephemeral greenish light. Perfect for first-person-shooter game designer's inspiration:

Do the "ghosts" come down to sings into these microphones? These are the old lamp stands, though -

"Finding places to explore isn't difficult if you are willing to do research, and to me that is part of the fun. It's a treasure hunt, and the reward is getting to see and experience places most people never do."

Exam Room - at an abandoned state school and hospital for children.

"A lot of old institutions still stand simply due to the cost of cleanup. They are riddled with asbestos, mold, rotting floors, and sometimes home to squatters. Instead of spending the money to clean them up, they sit and decay a little more with every passing year."

"End of the Rainbow" - found in an abandoned Boy's School from the 1700s that was later used as a Naval academy.

"The urban exploration community is close mouthed about their locations with good reason. I know of an old tuberclosis hospital that is widely known. It has become a party hangout and has been completely trashed. It has been set on fire numerous times and scrappers have destroyed the structural integrity of the buildings through stealing copper wiring. They even cut down the telephone poles. UE people love and respect these locations. We want only to document them, to enjoy their beauty and to discover them and it is a horrible thing to see one of our locations be destroyed, whether by people who don't respect them or by a corporation putting up a strip mall."

"Frozen in Time" - Who knows how many years ago this clock stopped? - and the silent operator phone...

"These old buildings often have amazing architecture that is not often seen any more and we know that their time is limited, so we photograph them."

Get a load of this... very spooky icecream cone in the middle of bewitched forest: picture taken in the abandoned amusement park (see a lot of them here)

"It's my favorite thing to do, in spite of, or perhaps in part due to the dangers inherent in exploring. I hope that I can capture photos that represent these places and share them with others."

Mystery Cage at an abandoned Asylum. "I don't know what was the cage was originally for, but a tree has grown up through the middle of it, and ivy surrounds it." -

Want even more disturbing photos? Check out the abandoned (forgotten?) crib here and bizarre schizophrenia-induced tree carvings here.

Most Fascinating Photography of Abandoned Places

For those who missed our mention of Moscow's abandoned subway tunnels, here is the creepiest panormaic shot (click the image to go to 360 VR)