This is what happens when your girlfriend wants to go on an adventure and your best friend has the day off of work; a couple hours of procrastination turns into a full day of exploring abandoned buildings. It went from 'let's get up early and explore a few buildings' to 'let's see how many we can explore in one day'. Well twelve hours and only one coffee later we had explored eleven abandoned buildings. Most of these buildings we had never been in before and even though I had forgotten my tripod plate (I always forget something) and had to shoot free hand all day, I think I ended up with a handful of solid photos. Thankfully the Mark III keeps the noise to a minimal even at high ISO.
First stop was an abandoned observatory.
Second location was a factory that is full of garbage, household garbage, dumped illegally by garbage trucks. When it's hot out this building smells so bad of rotten trash. Kaylah and Brandon laugh at me for being so grossed out by this place, but seriously bacteria filled garbage water is everywhere. I've put my Palladium boots through a lot but I did my best to keep them out of that muck.
Cleveland's worst neighborhoods have the best abandoned buildings. Not sure what exactly this building was. A restaurant, apartments, and who knows what else. One thing is for sure, it's been abandoned for around forty years.
Brandon squeezing through a hole in the wall.
Our next stop was an auto parts supply store, which also housed apartments at one time.
I think it's important to explore and photograph places like these for so many reasons. First of all curiosity might have killed the cat, but I'm not a cat. As far as I'm concerned I think a little bit of curiosity is healthy. Too many people are happy being complacent and apathetic. Get out and discover something! Secondly, buildings like these are like an endangered species. These buildings tell the stories of our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and their parents. This is where they worked, where they lived, and where they shopped. For an infinite number of reasons we leave these buildings to rot, choosing to ignore their history, and the beauty of their architecture; because it's easier and cheaper to build new buildings of plastic and cinder blocks devoid of aesthetic. These relics of the past need and deserve to be remembered and that's my goal when I'm out exploring. Preserve the past through my photos and memories.
Photos taken with a Canon Mark III, with a Canon 20mm f/2.8 lens.
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