urban decay photography
Following a link from this post at Skepticlawyer, via TIME to the photographer’s website, I came across these excellent galleries of urban decay: Detroit in decline; East-German industrial wastelands; and abandoned theatres. It’s certainly interesting to reflect on how our civilization would look as interpreted through its ruins.
Unlike, say, the Romans, many of our large buildings are only built with a 50-100 year intended lifespan – perhaps the ultimate monument to consumer culture would be a civilization whose relics crumble to dust as a result of designed obsolescence, while the relics of far older peoples still stand.
One ruin which does seem to be lasting quite well is Pripyat in Russia, home to Chernobyl. These pictures are incredible (especially if you happen to have played this).
Those Pripyat photos are pretty moving. So much destruction from what was just a cock-up during safety procedure testing.
What’s weird is how un-destroyed it is, I reckon – just abandoned. Very eerie.