All photos by Andy Lee. Used with Creative Commons permission.
There’s always something about abandoned houses and even ruins that make them perfect subjects for emotive photography. In fact, that’s precisely why there’s a genre — urban exploration photography — especially dedicated to it. We’ve put the spotlight on several photo series set in these abandoned locations, and today, we’re adding the Abandoned series of Pembroke-based Andy Lee to the pile.
In this supposedly ongoing series that Lee started in 2015, he specifically picked locations around the world with some ruins and abandoned houses to capture sweeping vistas with a striking point of interest. His goal? To show that there’s a certain beauty in decay, especially when nature has also set to work to reclaim them. So it’s vital that these locations are either remote, sitting close to nature, or both. To make the scenes even more moving and surreal, he chose a mostly monochrome and minimalist color palette for this series. It’s actually impressive how this series has essentially created an emotive spin to landscape photography, drawing our eyes to the drama added by abandoned houses to the sprawling vistas.
It’s actually hard to choose a favorite in the collection, as our featured photographer here did exceptionally well in both (subtle) color and black and white (some captured in infrared). The punchy monochromes play with light and shadows really nicely to put just a little extra emphasis on the abandoned buildings. In the near monochrome color snaps, there’s also a touch of texture that complements the main subject of his snaps.
Whether you’re interested in the emotive and sometimes nostalgic imagery of urban exploration, or are drawn to visual explorations of man’s relationship with nature, this collection must have surely made an impression on you. There’s one thing though — let’s hope Lee will be ready with the next installment soon!
If you’d like to see more works inspired by urban decay and abandoned locations, we suggest checking out the works of Christian Richter, Ajda Schmidt, Kevin Bauman, and Ying Yin as well.
Don’t forget to visit Andy Lee’s website and Behance portfolio to see more of his photography projects.