For centuries, church buildings have been a mainstay feature of villages, towns, cities and rural areas throughout Europe. From luxurious and majestic cathedrals to quaint country chapels, many places in Europe are home to religious sanctuaries. Today, some of the religious buildings are maintained in pristine shape, regarded as national treasures, while others meet a rather different handling. Whether on a busy city corner or being taken over by nature somewhere in the countryside, there are many religious buildings slowly getting lost to time and fading from collective memories.
100 photos show the decline of the Church in Italy
Church buildings have been a mainstay feature throughout Europe for centuries. From quaint country chapels to luxurious and majestic cathedrals, the “Old World” is home or has been home to hundreds of churches. Some of them are maintained in pristine shape, highly regarded as national treasures, while others meet a rather different ending, being left in the hands of time and its relentless way of decaying things. Italy is a perfect example of a country that, although greatly valuing its history, architecture, culture, and connection with the Church as an institution, still features its share of abandoned churches. In this post, you will find 100 photos of abandoned churches and chapels that I photographed throughout Italy.
Female photographer explores the hidden and forgotten relics of abandoned worlds
It’s been a while since I last photographed an abandoned place. It’s been quite a long time since I even last wrote about it. So, when I discovered Janine Pendleton’s work, I was instantly reminded of how much beauty and mixed emotions one can fit into urbex photography. And this is exactly what Janine’s images are filled with. So, if you’ve been looking for new urbex photographers to follow, let’s dive into Janine’s work.
The Sarcophagus’s Labyrinth: Photographing the unseen parts of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
It’s been nearly 10 years since I first visited the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It was a great experience for me. I could finally see the place I’d previously only known from books and TV and the tart taste of the Lugol’s iodine I had to drink a few days after the disaster. After many visits to the plant, I was finally even allowed to enter the damaged Reactor 4 and see the notorious control room. It was here that the failed experiment resulting in the reactor exploding and the uncontrolled emission into the atmosphere of terabecquerels of radioactive isotopes was conducted. A decade ago, obtaining the necessary permits to see the epicenter of the events of April 1986 was extremely arduous and complicated. Today, this place is a must-see on most tourist excursions.
Today I return once again to the plant. This time, I want to see new places that I haven’t yet photographed. When I got permission after several months of efforts, sending letters and making phone calls, I was very excited. As one of the staff members in charge of my visit said, I had been granted exclusive access to the nuclear power plant. I can’t wait to find out what this actually means. So, I will be spending the next two days taking photos that I hope to use in the next HALF-LIFE album. It probably won’t be done any time soon, so in the meantime I’ll share with you my thoughts about my visit to the power plant and tell you what it was like to photograph it. But, who knows, maybe 10 years from now, you’ll be able to see these places with your own eyes.
Sarcophagus and other most radioactive places in Chernobyl
It’s been 3 years since the giant, more than 36 000-ton New Safe Confinement, better known as the Arch, was put over the old sarcophagus, which was damaged and collapsing. In a way, this symbolic moment also summed up my 10 years of work documenting the Chernobyl Zone, which result in the release of the photo album HALF-LIFE: from Chernobyl to Fukushima. However, just as the building of the new sarcophagus did not finish the work inside related to eliminating the radioactive threat, I still have a reason to come here. This time, I was taking advantage of the fact that in July of this year the French contractor transferred the Arch to its owner, i.e. the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, I sought permission to enter and photograph this gigantic structure.
Photographer captures what happens when nature takes over human-built structures
In a clash between man and nature, it currently seems that nature is losing the battle. But when humans are not around – it doesn’t take long before nature starts taking over. French photographer Romain Thiery has traveled around Europe for nearly ten years, photographing abandoned human structures. Here are some of his images which show what it looks like when nature starts reclaiming human-built structures.
Forgotten app shares abandoned places for photography, killing urban exploring for everyone
This is one of those things that’s definitely going to split people up into two camps. In one, there’s those who’ll think it’s awesome, and in the other, there’s those who believe that the types of locations to which this app allows access should remain secret.
You guys can discuss the camps to which you belong in the comments, but let me introduce you to Forgotten, a new mobile app for iOS and Android. It’s an app to help you discover new place to shoot or “sell” your locations. It’s the latter part of that which Forgotten says makes them different from similar apps and services that have popped up in the past.
Philadelphia urbex photographer killed after flash flooding swept her away
A 30-year-old urbex photographer Rebecca Bunting died after flash flooding swept her away in on 2 June. She was reportedly shooting photos in Pennypack Creek when the water level quickly rose and carried her away.
I took a trip to Chernobyl’s exclusion zone and photographed it in infrared
We always hear praises of the might of Mother Nature, how it renders useless mans’ creations, and bears life above the ruins. Well, it’s something that is always felt, but never on such a huge scale. This place IS the place for these contrasts. It’s pretty hard to describe the overall atmosphere I experienced during this trip. Despite the events of 1986, the ruins, and the rust, I didn’t have grim feelings while traveling there. On the contrary, it felt like I was in a “kind of” paradise on a different planet.
Dying for Likes
In the usual places we’re seeing the monthly “Urbex (urban exploration) photographer dies in fall” story making the rounds. These are guys that trespass on rooftops, on ledges, in abandoned buildings, and so on, to take photographs. You’ve probably seen their pictures. The peeling paint covered over with graffiti, the rooms filled with mysterious junk, the long long hallway. Sometimes they bring a hot model along to decorate the scene, sometimes not.
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