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The perception of what the world would look like if humans disappeared has been widely explored by scientists, as have many post-apocalyptic movies.
However, French photographer Romain Veillon has set out to capture in photographs the possible outcome of a man planet.
The 38-year-old has spent years photographing deserted places around the world that have been battered by nature, with disturbing results.
For his recent e-book “Green Urbex: The World Without Us”, published in 2021, he photographed a series of abandoned and/or forgotten places, adding a ghost to the Namibian city, an abandoned cinema in Brussels, a ruined Tuscan villa and a disused railway in Ukraine.
Veillon, who is running on the book’s moment volume, hopes the haunting photographs will serve as a reminder of the “need to live in accordance with our habitat,” as well as highlight the importance of running with nature rather than opposing it.
“We’re all fascinated with this post-apocalyptic vision,” he says. “Maybe we want to witness what we have and the time ahead. “
The book, which lately is only available in French, is divided into 3 other sections. The first highlights abandoned sites that remain well preserved and the timing focuses on dilapidated sites in a much worse state.
Finally, the third segment consists of photographs of places long forgotten and absolutely overgrown.
“All the photographs were taken in the last 10 years,” Veillon told CNN via email. “It’s a combination of all the options I’ve documented since I started. “
His fascination with deserted stalls began at an early age, when he discovered an abandoned truck factory near Paris.
Although the book, which consists of more than two hundred images, provides an old review of various sites, the photographer says he tries to offer as little detail as possible so that other people can “make up their own answers” to any questions they may have.
“Each story will be another of the other, and that’s what I like,” he adds.
However, capturing abandoned places in so many other remote corners of the world is far more confusing than simply picking up a camera and hitting the road.
Veillon spends months researching lesser-known sites and pinpointing their precise location, not to mention asking permission to photograph some of them.
“I spend hours looking for old clues that can help me locate the position I need to photograph,” he says.
“A lot of time is spent on Google Maps looking to see if some buildings may be buried under vegetation. And simply driving when you’re in a new domain can also bring big surprises.
Having friends around the world has also proved helpful for the photographer, who receives recommendations from other travelers and, infrequently, from his followers on social media, about potential sites to include in his work.
One of the highlights of the book is a symbol of Buzludzha, an abandoned Soviet monument in Bulgaria, which Veillon says is one of his favorite places to photograph.
“Buzludzha is certainly the most ordinary and exclusive post I know,” he says of the former headquarters of the Bulgarian Communist Party built on the most sensitive part of a mountain.
“From the outside, it looks like a UFO, and you locate the most beautiful mosaics. “
The old Romanian casino in Constanța, designated an ancient monument through the Romanian Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, also left a lasting impression.
“I was very surprised to see the remains of the old casino scene, the magnificent chandeliers or the ornaments of the grand staircase,” he admits.
Veillon of Japan’s Nara Dreamland haunting photographs, taken roughly a decade after the theme park’s closure in 2006, have attracted the utmost attention.
“It’s the best example of what I mean when we say ‘nature takes over,'” he says. “You can see ivy slowly covering the roller coaster as if it’s being eaten. The park was destroyed [between 2016 and 2017] some time after my visit, which makes the photograph even more iconic, I think.
While pandemic-induced restrictions have meant Veillon has been in short supply lately, he plans to make a stopover in Peru later this year and also hopes to make a stop in the ghost town of Akarmara, a former coal mining village in Abkhazia, Georgia, that has been overtaken by trees. in the near future.
However, Abkhazia remains closed to visitors.
“This is [Akarmara] the only one I deserve to have done a long time ago,” he says.
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