Beautiful Desolation

I have always been captivated by the image of ruins. There is something hauntingly beautiful in the image of a human construction standing empty when it should be bursting with life and activity.

Many a evening have been whiled away staring at my PC screen when I accidentally find a link to images of abandoned buildings, ship skeletons or ancient ruined cities and the fascination is so strong, the pull so compelling that I have often wondered about this.

I pondered, analysed and debated. You have to think about something when driving..and I have a long daily commute.

To my  amazement and somewhat humiliation I had to admit that the fascination was very similar to that felt when seeing erotic advertising.

I think for me it is a similar kick most men find from seeing a suggestion of the female form. Not porn. Porn is crass and to the point. Erotic photography on the other hand, now there is something that can keep the male mind busy for hours. It is mental flirtation, an intellectual fantasy.

It is the suggestion that is also the fascination, show me a subtly lit shoulder  and the mind will fill in the blanks, tracing all the curves and constructing the face . In many cases the fantasy is so much more alluring than the reality and this is what grips the mind and pushes the imagination into overdrive.  No wonder the ads work.

So back to the ruins. When I see these empty images my imagination tries to reconstruct the lives that should have been in the image, children that should be playing and people moving and working. I think it is the potential of life that is lacking that makes these images so captivating,  the undercurrent of disturbing emotions at seeing the decay glossed over by the imagination with what could have been.

I will be posting some of my favourites starting with a very famous one: Prypyat.

Everyone knows the Chernobyl story, well Pripyat was the town that was affected.

The reactor

one of my favourites - the swimming pool

The following images can be found in their original location here:

http://villageofjoy.com/chernobyl-today-a-creepy-story-told-in-pictures/

The community centre - yes COD players - that one:

These images are barely a drop in the bucket as you can see here and if you want to explore via Google maps

you can go here