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Orphans of Time: Photographer travels the world for five years to capture the beauty of decaying places

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How do you feel when you pass a decaying old house? Is it just an ugly ruin or you see something more? Photographer Rebecca Lilith Bathory sees beauty in these objects most people just seem to pass by or even avoid. Sure, they are sad, ruined, chaotic and even scary – but Rebecca finds beauty and art precisely in these things.

In 2012, she stepped into an abandoned school and instantly fell in love with the beauty she found in decay. Five years and over 500 abandoned locations later, she brings a stunning photo series of truly wonderful abandoned locations in her project Orphans of Time.

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Photographer documents abandoned places in Fukushima in this devastating photo series

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The very thought of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster can bring tears to your eyes. It’s been more than six years since this event, and consequences still remain visible.

Many photographers have tried to explore this place and document the aftermath of the terrible accident. Very few of them have succeeded, and one of them is Rebecca Lilith Bathory. She managed to get the necessary licenses, and she was granted access to the site of one of the worst nuclear disasters in history. In her series of images and a recently published book, she tells the moving story of Fukushima, where time stopped on March 11, 2011.

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Animated photos from Fukushima show how abrupt its evacuation was after nuclear disaster

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Looking at Fukushima not easy. The place has been evacuated on 2011 after 4 of its nuclear reactors melted down.  Tohuku earthquake raised a 13 tsunami meter wave that was just 3 meters too high for the 10 meter wave gate that the power station had in place. The meltdown reached a level 7 on the International nuclear event scale, which has only been matched by the Chernobyl accident, and never repeated since Fukushima.

Photographer Rebecca Lilith Bathory traveled there and came back with unsettling photos that were animated by designer Chris Lavelle.

While the photos are extremely beautiful, they also put the viewer at extreme unease. Rebecca told DIYP about the motivation for the trip:

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Images From Desolated, Disaster Stricken Chernobyl 30 Years Later

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When I am thinking of sad places, Chernobyl always comes to mind. A place that was vibrant with life, up until April 1986. Then Reactor number 4 of the power plant exploded causing the evacuation of more than 350,000 people over the span of huge area and over 15 years.

Today the city is mostly a ghost town, aside from a few remaining residents.

Rebecca Litchfield is no stranger to the Soviet Union in general and to Chernobyl in particular. She has done two trips to the area, one in 2012 and one in April this year. The photos she brought back are some of the saddest I’ve seen.

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Gorgeous Photos From Bulgaria’s Dark Underworld

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A perennial favorite, Rebecca Litchfield, never fails to impress us with her beautifully crafted photos, and the collection she has just published from a recent trip to Bulgaria is no exception. On the second day of her travels to Buzludzha, Bulgaria, the skies opened up and dropped a foot of snow, providing the perfect prop for her photoshoot with model, Dorina Georgieva, at the former communist monument.[Read More…]

Melancholic Conceptual Artwork In Decaying Buildings In Belgium

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One of our UK favorite artists, Rebecca Litchfield, recently returned from a photography tour in Belgium. Why you may ask, because Belgium has some of the most amazing abandoned buildings in the word, and Rebecca has long relationship with old and decaying buildings. But while her previous big project – soviet ghosts – was focused on the buildings and their decay, this time she was accompanied by model Jen Brook and they produced some of the most melancholic and inspirational photos I’ve seen.

Armed with a full set of Elinchrom Quadras a Mamiya Leaf and an EL adapter (to make use of Elinchrom’s modifiers) Rebeca visited a few abandoned houses and churches and even a derelict spa. The results really show what a dedicated team of creatives can accomplish in a short amount of time if vision and preparation is there.

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An Epic Photography Shootout: Benjamin Von Wong vs. Rebecca Litchfield

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Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to participate in a project that brought photographers to Israel to share some of its nicer sides. The project was hosted by Kinetis and brought together an amazing team: Benjamin Von Wong, Rebecca Litchfield, Simon Pollock, Mike Kelly and Adam Lerner and Jared Polin of Froknowsphoto.

With so much talent condensed in such a limited geographical area, I knew I have to do something fun. The concept evolved to make a crazy shootout between Benjamin Von Wong and Rebecca Litchfield. We planned on presenting those two very unique photographers with an ‘identical photo’ themed challenge. Only instead of having them create a single photo, we upped the ante and decided on three different themes they will have to shoot in: A Fire Challenge, A Feathers Challenge and a Flour Challenge.

So, theme was identical, props were identical, wardrobe (donated by Rebecca) was identical, hair and makeup were shared, and the timeframe was tight for both. But…

Having Ben and Rebecca almost on the opposite sides of the spectrum should be pretty interesting: Ben shoots Nikon, while Rebecca shoots Canon; Ben like massive strobes, while Rebecca usually use small constant lights; Ben comes from epic and surreal while Rebecca is keen to fine art… you name it, they differ on it.

The final photos are found below for your enjoyment… (and both Rebecca and Ben will share some more detailed info about the photographs on their own channels as well so stay tuned).

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Photographer Illustrates The Beauty In Abandon And Decay In Stunning Urbex Collection

How is it that when an average person spots the decrepit remnants of a building that is long past it’s days of glory, they find it repulsive, spooky even. But, when a photographer like Rebecca Litchfield (previously here and here) comes across such remains, they are capable of seeing something much brighter, more beautiful than most humans are capable of. What makes that gift truly remarkable is that, in Litchfields photographs, she is able to capture the beauty she sees in a way that easily translates decay into beauty to even the most untrained eye.[Read More…]

Photos Of A Soviet Union That Once Was

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Fine art photographer Rebecca Litchfield was commissioned earlier this year to photograph the abandoned buildings of the former Soviet Union and its Satellite states. In a long trip spanning over 10 countries and a year of many individual trips, Rebecca shot buildings in Eastern Europe, The Baltic’s, Ukraine and Russia.

This was not a random roaming around, Rebecca shares her goals which were pretty specific, while leaving space for creative freedom.

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Gear Addicts! How Many Pieces Of Gear Can You Name?

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Here is a fun challenge for everyone who considers themselves a Gear Guru.

A while back we interviewed fashion and Urbex photographer Rebecca Litchfield and it was one of the most popular interviews that we ever had. While Rebecca shared some of the gear she was using regularly, she was recently interviewed by In My Bag and shared her entire kit (seen photo above).

Now comes the challenge, in the comment below name As many pieces of gear as you can identify without looking at previous comments. As an (obvious) hint, Rebecca shoots Canon ;)

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