On of the great things about these old buildings is they aren't moving... so you can do all your zone system metering, right it all down and come up with a correct exposure. Plus those white churches are great exercises for the zone system.
By the time you get the camera set up, shift the lens, tilt the lens, refocus, figure out the exposure and find your filter pack the building is almost ready to fall down.
I have been shooting ghost towns for a while now. Decay is an ongoing process and I feel someone should take the time to record the-way-things-were before they're totally gone. That, and the lack of curious people asking if my 4x5 is a new digital camera. I like solitude...
Lets face it...old is better than new. Old has more character than new. Old looks better in b&w than new. Old has more history than new. Wood is better than fiberglass. (oops, got off the track there....but you get the idea.)
Clearly there are different strokes for different fokes but for me decay is real life. Decay isn't old it is new. It is nature reclaiming. I have no interest in photographing manicured things or attempts at avoiding nature with paint and concrete and potted plants. I like to see how nature makes creative use of everything. Nature is unstopable. Decay is life.
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... I feel someone should take the time to record the-way-things-were before they're totally gone...
I admit that this is certainly part of the appeal for me as well as what I mentioned in my previous statement. I've always been drawn to documentary photographs and making my own came as naturally as tripping the shutter. My own collection contains largely documentary photographs and my direction in life has always been steered by an insatiable interest in history.
Hmmm... I had no idea that so many others enjoyed photographing old, decaying things. Now I could joke and say that now I feel so 'connected' to all of you and 'no longer alone' but seriously, I think that is where the appeal lies.... Images of decay allow us to enjoy a small feeling of connectedness with days gone by, with people who were here before us and the marks they left on this Earth. And I think a big part of the human condition is a strong desire to feel connected to one another.
I would agree with those who've said it's because older architecture and machinery is just more varied and interesting than modern. Yeah, I could go out and shoot the next Tyvek wrapped cookie-cutter house to pop up, or parking lot at one of the millions of shiney new strip malls with a Tim Hortons, Wendy's, and a WalMart, but why would I want to?
I think it's partly because you start with a well-defined object, with some degree of regularity, then it's allowed to "perform". Just a little irregularity adds color and tone. Personally, I also get the Ozymandias musings, about who or what was here when the buildings, etc, were in their prime.
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My father, who retired from teaching to return to farming, is driven to distraction by this trait, btw. He periodically complains that nobody except farmers pay any attention to barns until they're about to fall down, then they're surrounded by photographers.
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