Photo Book Reviews

It’s a sad fact of life that nothing lasts forever and in every city, town and neighborhood various abandoned structures can be found. Once they were filled with life and bursting with activity but these factories, homes, apartment buildings, schools, hospitals theaters and churches have all fallen to ruin, silently waiting to be torn down and replaced with newer (more modern) structures designed to fit the needs of the ever changing community.

Noted photographer Eric Holubow has a passion—and clearly a talent—for exploring and documenting these forgotten places. Holubo’s new book is titled Abandoned: America’s Vanishing Landscape and his photographic journey of discovery has taken him across the USA to capture these decaying locations before they vanish from the landscape forever.

Many of these places were built around the turn of the last century and the last traces of their glittering ornate decorations and lavish architecture—although now faded, torn and dusty—can still clearly be seen. The hulking factories with rusting machines and silent school buildings with broken windows and stacks of worn textbooks, each of his images marks their lonely passing while honoring their unique story, ensuring them a place in history.

Abandoned: America’s Vanishing Landscape; by Eric Holubow, foreword by Joshua Siegal; Schiffer Publishing; $50; (ISBN: 978-0-7643-4660-6)

You can order the book and see more info here.