I’m a photographer and sometime videographer living in Northern CA. My favorite subject is abandoned buildings. Initially, my attraction was based strictly on aesthetics. I was mainly interested in capturing the minute details of corrosion and decay. I was originally attracted to abandoned structures by the peeling paint, patina and rust that congregate on the exteriors of such places.

It didn’t take long for my view to widen from the close-up details to the structures themselves. I recall looking through the windows at the sealed-off world inside, wondering what kinds of mysteries might be lurking. My initial explorations inside some of these places were often unplanned, a hole in a fence or a door left open invited me in. Once I roamed the galleries of a long-dead drydock facility, or the massive void of a cavernous military factory, I was hooked.

I like to use the phrase “interior wilderness” to describe these spaces – perhaps a bit pretentious, but it sums up well the feeling I have while exploring abandoned environments. They are inverted deserted islands which bear the traces of their former inhabitants, sometimes only faintly, but the sense of humanity pervades them regardless. Architecture is as human as language.

 

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