My Canadian friend Holly was in town last month, and, since had never explored Chicago, we made plans to meet up for a day of shooting. She had also found out about an abandoned, but still accessible, stretch of Route 66. It was shut down to vehicular traffic a few years ago as an adjacent … Continue reading Get Yer Kicks
(part of the Utah series) A pause now before the next post returns us to another one of Utah’s stunning national parks. Though those were the main focus of this trip, we will always make time for some old human relics. As much as I loved the desert landscapes, it was places like these that … Continue reading Spirits, Echoes, and Things Left Behind
The far northwest corner of Illinois is its own little ecosystem of despair. Aside from the cutesy tourist town of Galena and the pockets of Chicago exurbs featuring gaudy McMansions, this region feels like a part of the rust belt. A couple months ago, we visited a town in the area which I’ll leave nameless. … Continue reading Driftless
A return to Gary, the struggling steel town about 45 minutes outside Chicago, is always welcome. I spent so much time here when I started in photography that there isn’t much here I haven’t seen, and yet I feel I always come away with some fresh shots. And, as my avocation has become more ambitious … Continue reading Gary, Winter
This is the last post in a series on last month’s trip to Italy. I hope to finish on a high note, with some of what I think were my best photographs from the churches we visited, and likely the trip overall. The first shot is a one off. This church overlooked a steep hillside … Continue reading The Churches of Italy, Part Two
The fourth part in the series on last month’s trip to Italy. Here is an interesting factoid. On last year’s trip around the north, villas were the most common type of abandoned building we saw. Hands down this year, it was churches in the south. One might be able to draw some conclusions about the … Continue reading The Churches of Italy
The third post in a series on last month’s urbex trip to Italy. To start, here is a former military hospital in southern Italy. Built at the height of Mussolini’s fascist rule in streamline moderne style, it covers a large swath of land in the middle if Bari. Though the buildings are mostly barren and … Continue reading Abandoned Italy
I thought ghost towns were largely a stateside phenomenon, but as it turns out, Italy may have us beat. One source I saw claimed that the country has six thousand of them. I can’t say why there seem to be so many, but I’d speculate that the old Italian propensity for settling on hilltops may … Continue reading The Ghost Towns of Italy
Two years ago, I got a chance to shoot this abandoned arena in Memphis. In an arrangement similar to what I wrote about in my last post on the Sterick building, a group of photographers were allowed to shoot the place in return for some photos. In each case, the owners were looking to drum … Continue reading Mid-South Coliseum
The Sterick building in downtown Memphis has the demeanor of a deposed queen, who, despite having lost her power and much of her wealth, has lost none of her grace and haughtiness and remains the focal point of the city’s skyline. When finished in 1930, she was said to be the tallest building of the … Continue reading The Sterick, Dowager Empress of Memphis
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