Urban decay photography has been around for awhile, and I like some
of it. It's a strong, emotional genre. It's also a powerful
demonstration of how viewers bring their own thoughts and emotions to a
photo, and use them to experience it for themselves in their own unique
ways.
Take this photo of an old mental institution:
On one level, it's just some old tile and metal and porcelain. An old building quietly falling apart. Nothing very remarkable about that on a scientific, logical level. But on another level, it's so much more. Infinitely more.
Most people's brains, when seeing something this, probably flood with all kinds of thoughts from all kinds of places, dark or otherwise. Things like what it smells like, what would they do if trapped inside it, what if they go insane and have to go to a place like that, did patients die there, were the orderlies mean to patients...and on and on.
Andi if thoughts like that aren't powerful enough for you, I don't know what is. Maybe not all photos are equally as powerful, mostly because not all invoke the powerful emotions controlled by fear. But all good photos do similar things in the viewers' heads; it's just that some are more forceful, others on the subtler side.
So it's worth thinking about what kinds of emotions your photos might trigger. It's why you're making them, after all. I don't think you'll find a haunted house to get inside and photograph, but there are plenty of haunted heads to get inside with your images.
Take this photo of an old mental institution:
On one level, it's just some old tile and metal and porcelain. An old building quietly falling apart. Nothing very remarkable about that on a scientific, logical level. But on another level, it's so much more. Infinitely more.
Most people's brains, when seeing something this, probably flood with all kinds of thoughts from all kinds of places, dark or otherwise. Things like what it smells like, what would they do if trapped inside it, what if they go insane and have to go to a place like that, did patients die there, were the orderlies mean to patients...and on and on.
Andi if thoughts like that aren't powerful enough for you, I don't know what is. Maybe not all photos are equally as powerful, mostly because not all invoke the powerful emotions controlled by fear. But all good photos do similar things in the viewers' heads; it's just that some are more forceful, others on the subtler side.
So it's worth thinking about what kinds of emotions your photos might trigger. It's why you're making them, after all. I don't think you'll find a haunted house to get inside and photograph, but there are plenty of haunted heads to get inside with your images.
