Shutter Mike Photography

When I photograph a building I try very hard to make it look its very best.  I wrote a post a while back on 5 Quick Architectural Photography Tips where I discussed some very simple things you can do to really highlight the main feature of an architectural photograph, the building.  But sometimes the architectural photograph is about telling the story of the building and its environment more than about making it look pretty for a magazine or brochure.  So instead of cleaning up you might leave it as is and let every element of the scene speak for itself and tell the story.

This is the case with abandoned buildings.  Why is this house or former school or whatever sitting empty now?  What is its history?  Who once walked its halls, lived under its roof and called it home?  Every building has a history and a story of its owners an occupants that brought it to where it is today.  To capture that story in a photograph can be a challenge but when you do it the end result can be awesome.

So along those lines, I discovered the work of a Detroit photographer, Kevin Bauman.  For better or worse, Detroit has more than its share of abandoned architecture.  The recent recession, and even before, has taken its toll on the city leaving home after home as well as businesses, schools, churches and industry vacant and crumbling.  Kevin has captured 100 of the abandoned homes of Detroit in a series he simply calls 100 Abandoned Houses.  The images were taken in various seasons of the  year and of abandoned houses in various stages of decay.  Some are burned out while others range from completely covered in overgrowth of vegetation to the point where the house is no longer visible to those where someone is still mowing the lawn of an otherwise obviously abandoned and almost forgotten home.  The images can be haunting yet thought provoking.  They make you wonder what these homes once held and what led to their demise.

This is a great series if images to peruse and contemplate.