Lights, camera....

Video photographer Josh, has brought insight to the world about urban exploring. Mentioned in one of his videos was the fact that when he travels to these places he sometimes notices things that look too perfect. This is called a "setup". No not like an FBI undercover investigation, but for taking photos. Photographers, for example, will travel to an abandoned school and set up the desks to take a certain style of picture.

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Things like that are fairly common. However, there are those that go... shall we say a bit, OVER the line. Baby clothes hanging from the ceiling and walls to beheaded doll heads in the bathrooms. There are all sorts of art I guess...

 

 

 

 

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From road to rust.

These vehicles have been left to deal with the elements by their owner. For almost 30 years, they have encountered hundreds of rain storms, snow fall, and blazing sun. They were found on a farm and are still there. This photograph shows the perfect contrast of the orange-rust color of the sky as well as the decaying aspect of the cars.

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Homless in America

When you go to a city, one of the first things you might notice are people standing on the side of the street asking for money. Although it could be viewed as "sketchy" the number of homeless people in America is surprisingly high. Many of these people are then unable to afford school, clothes and struggle to find shelter, especially during the winter. For our journalism class, I teamed up with a few of my classmates to create a documentary about this devastating problem to raise awareness.

The most important item  homeless people need during the winter are socks. Socks are the most needed item for homeless people and the least donated to them. People on the streets need socks more than anything to protect their exposed feet from frostbite, fungus, and in extreme cases, blood poisoning.

Simply donating a pair of socks, something we take for granted, will change somebody else’s life by giving them warmth and hope.

Without the necessity of socks, people could develop trench foot or even frostbite. Although many people take shelter away from the elements in abandoned houses or under bridges, they are still exposed to the cold as well as litter that surrounds these places. Think broken glass, used needled, and mold.

“One homeless man named Kiwi told me socks are more important than food. He said that he knows of many pantries and shelters where he can get food, but that there’s no way he can walk the streets of Toronto without socks.”- Costello (Points of Light)

To Learn more about this check out our video. Homeless In America

Thanks Ali and Victoria for allowing me to collaborate with them. Check out their blogs too!
Diamonds and Denim and  Beyond the Education.

More pop culture

Fun fact! There's now an abandoned house emoji. It looks like this. 🏚

 

Not sure the use for it but for this blog I think it's pretty cool! 

Forgotten and famous?

Movies, music videos, modeling shoots. Abandoned places seem to pop up everywhere. They add a certain vibe to an image. Mystery, urban, post apocalyptic. Whatever you're going for, it can be achieved with the beauty of the decaying world. 

Take for example photographer Brian Cattelle who traveled to all 50 states to photograph a nude woman. In each state he used an abandoned building or vehicle as a back drop. As a result he now has a collection of over 100 pictures of creepy yet beautiful images. Each with a different story behind it. 

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Place of the week #9

Between the Bronx and Rivers Island in New York lies a small island that was once taken over by humans but is now retired to nature. The "North Brother Island' was once a quarantine spot for people with small pox, the flu, or even AIDS. Later it was used as a facility to house teenagers who were in need of drug rehabilitation. Today the forgotten island is used as a bird sanctuary.

The island today.

Back in the day when the island housed the sick.

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Squatters

The name may sound funny but this is no laughing matter. Squatters are becoming more and more common in cities and urban areas. They are people who don't have a home or who have ran away. These people take refuge in abandoned houses, apartment buildings, mills; basically anything with a roof and shelter from the wind.

Places like Detroit who's homeless population keeps rising struggle with this issue. Abandoned houses are the answer to some but others stray away from them. Normally the floor can be littered with used needles, used condoms, and dead rodents. There is also the risk of another squatter occupying the same house and hurting another.

Many buildings can be burnt down by squatters, sometimes on purpose. Thousands of trash fires cause many tragic deaths a year.

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