Abandoned Pennsylvania by Janine Pendleton #Photography #AbandonedPlaces @ObsidianUrbex #TuesdayBookBlog

Author: Janine Pendleton

Published: December 2019 by Fonthill Media LLc

Category: Photography, Abandoned Places, US History, Book Review

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The cities of Pennsylvania are littered with the redundant relics. Behind closed doors and hidden deep in forests, there are decaying secrets waiting to be discovered. At the start of the twentieth century, migrants were drawn to the up-and-coming industrial giant that was Pennsylvania. There were jobs and opportunities aplenty. Then, the economic bubble burst. Factories and steel mills closed, one by one. Families left in droves in search of work and a better life elsewhere. After the mass exodus, a wealth of infrastructure was rendered obsolete. Abandoned churches lay discarded, as small scattered congregations merge together. Schools and hospitals are left to rot. Forgotten theatres, once hosting sell-out performances, now lay silent and lost. The steam locomotives and trolley cars lie rusting and disused, obsolete in the face of new technology. One by one, these hidden treasures are lost as time and the world moves on around them. This book explores the beauty that lies in these forgotten places, often hiding in plain site on the streets of Pennsylvania.

Abandoned Places is a fascinating look at dereliction. Janine Pendleton has travelled through Pennsylvania, discovering abandoned and decaying objects, buildings and structures. Some beautiful, now derelict, buildings that must have been amazing in their heyday and still have a particular charm – churches and theatres among them – and even a VW graveyard.

The photographs are incredible, very atmospheric and sometimes eerie, for example: a hospital, prison and a wooden rollercoaster completely taken over by foliage, to name just a few. There are many more.

It’s intriguing and quite compelling seeing once grand buildings and objects abandoned and, in some cases, left for nature to claim. The short written pieces about the photographs add more background and interest. Well worth buying.

I bought the book from the author’s website, and included were two prints of my choice which I’ve mounted and framed. So glad I saw this reviewed on Terry Tyler’s book blog.

About the Author

JANINE PENDLETON has been exploring lost treasures and forgotten places for five years. An impromptu excursion to an abandoned theme park at sunset was the trigger, sparking a fascination in all things derelict.

She travels the world in search of abandonment and deterioration, to document what is left behind when people move on. Based in England, she regularly explores the U.K. and Europe in order to capture the hidden beauty in decay. In half a decade, she has explored derelict places in over seventeen countries in constant search of strange and unusual places lost in time.

Prints and books, including self-published Fine Art Photography photo books, are available on her website: https://www.obsidianurbexphotography.com/