I, the miserable and the abandoned

"I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on"

Here is my current project looking the dips into the idea of urban exploration of abandoned buildings/areas that once were thriving and supporting the local areas that have now turned their backs and left it to rot.
My work displays building that were once so crucial to the local areas supporting them either in a medical way such as hospitals, supporting the areas financially meaning either suppling food, selling food, or people living on such land owned by that building.

The images below are from an abandoned summer camp for catholic school boys during the early 1900's it opened on August 8, 1925, the camp offered them an escape from the polluted and unhealthy atmosphere of industrial towns and a place to play and be free, as well as being close to the nearby beach.

The buildings included a dining hall, dormitories, a gym, swimming pool, workshops and a church. There was also a full-sized cricket pitch, putting green, tennis courts, football and rugby grounds and a pavilion. A War Memorial in the centre of the complex commemorated men from the coalfields who had lost their lives in the two World Wars.

The camp was requisitioned in 1940 for military use but returned to civilian use in 1946 and remained that way for a few more years however after the late 1960-70's the boys village was closed, in my research I have not yet managed to find why the 'Boys Village' was closed down which has a left a major curiosity within myself and hopefully that has been reflected within my the work shot here.

My work has been heavily influenced by Mark Blundell, In Blundell's work has numerous pieces of work that look into the idea of urban exploration and ''seeking what is behind the no entry signs''. All though there is a major difference between my own work and the work of Blundell that being I am working on different formats that incorporate black and white film (35mm, medium format and experimenting with 6-9 slide film)

Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre have also been extremely inspiring to me and their project called 'The Ruins Of Detroit' which displays massive abandoned spaces and buildings throughout Detroit. Marchand & Meffre capture beautifully of what remains from these such great buildings that you can tell were once so crucial to the local areas.

'The Boys Village'

This set of images are going to show a different building that i have explored capturing things that will in for seeable future never be able to be seen again.

This building used to be an old Catholic Boarding school that was shut down due to 'financial difficulties' how ever it has been rumoured that it was due to a death within the school due to the lack of professionalism of staff but i don't have hard evidence of this.

The school was built has a house originally in 1630 for the Morrice family before Thomas Gilbert moved there and then the school was founded in 1763 by William Errington, at the recommendation of Bishop Richard Challoner where it remained as a scholl for many years. It wasn't until 1987 when the school closed due to the 'financial difficulties' mentioned previously. Ever since 1987 it has been left there to decay and rot which i see as being such a shame the building has survived 384 and ''the foundations are still rather strong but due the exposure of the building without care it may be more expensive to save than the demolish'' this is a quote that i read about the building.

The school has now been sold and im unsure what is going to become of the school in the near future which is why this beautiful building is never going to be the same again, as we all no that more recent ideas of development is to flattern an area and building a housing estate in the old land.

However, Enjoy the work and hope it is as beautiful to you as it is to me.