Westerners are puzzled by the recurrent nostalgia for communism that is found throughout the former Eastern Bloc. Apart from the fact that every generation looks back on the years of its youth with rose tinted glasses, there is a longing for the trappings of the old, failed economic system that can be hard to understand … Continue reading On the Merits of Authoritarianism
Whatever you may think of meditation, you might be surprised to know that almost everyone does some form of it at some point in their life. It may bring up images of yogis sitting crosslegged on mountaintops, but all meditation is, in essence, is bringing a calm but steady focus and concentration to a task. … Continue reading Reverie in Blue
The Yaniv train station outside Pripyat isn’t very impressive. If you follow some rails into the woods, however, you’ll soon be greeted by the sight of railcars and locomotives rusting away among the pines. Since some of them are quite radioactive, they were allegedly derailed intentionally in order to permanently strand them in the Exclusion … Continue reading Of Rust and Rail
The Exclusion Zone has an eeriness to it which is heightened by the giant power plant looming at its center. An already massive building housing four reactors was made even more so once the Sarcophagus was slid into place over it late in 2016. This gleaming new dome, at over three hundred feet tall, is … Continue reading The Chernobyl Reactors
Continuing the theme of the previous post, these are more photos from the Exclusion Zone around Chernobyl featuring stunning overgrowth of the last three decades. This last rooftop shot really shows that “drowned’ quality of many of the buildings. Our guide had told us that winter can be a better time to visit, as … Continue reading Back Under
Abandoned places get overgrown; the town of Pripyat is no exception. But there is simply more here, a case where a quantitative difference leads to a qualitative one. When hundreds of square miles are left untended, the result is that these once-inhabited areas don’t just feel overgrown, they feel submerged. The place where I felt … Continue reading Submergence
It is an oddly satisfying thought that the total amount of time I’ve spent in abandoned churches as an adult may, by now, have exceeded the time I spent in active ones as a child. From an outing last winter: Continue reading The Sacred and the Profane
A panorama of waste in an abandoned high school Continue reading Bookscape
Some of you, primarily midwestern, urbexers out there are familiar with the Armour meatpacking plant in East St. Louis. Word was, after roughly a half century of decay, it was coming down. Rumor became fact a few days ago when it was brought down in a controlled implosion. (See it here) I’m not sentimental by … Continue reading So long, Armour
From a balcony of an abandoned 19th century medical facility. I liked this spot so much I stopped to have a solitary lunch here, warmed by the September sun. Continue reading Of Ivy and Oxide
T A B U L A R A S A photography 