First Steps
How does one get into the world of chasing decay? It is a question many have asked over the years and I still come back to a singular event.
On a road trip heading east out to Niagara Falls ( My wife’s home town), we came across the catalyst that would impact me the rest of my life. Heading towards Sault Ste.Marie the balmy March weather was a welcoming relief from the ice storm that had blanketed the surrounding area the night before. As the forest whipped by us the endless green inferno opened up to reveal a large abandoned road side motor inn. We flew past it, only a glimpse - but something in me screamed, shouted and rebelled; turn the car around!
Without hesitation I stopped dead on the highway, looked at my wife - and she knew. “Were going back arent we?”
She was right. One second your flying down the highway - the next your standing in front of the smashed out doors of a giant blown out motor inn. Every fiber of my body said go in - this internal desire and need to explore was overwhelming, thrilling and in the end sealed my fate.
There wasn’t much left of said property. It seems it had been standing in a state of decay for some time. The peeling paint, the mossy steps, the vandalism, all lent to an appreciation of the abandoned. Why did it close? How long before it ended up in its state? What is its story? Those questions are the fundamental drive that continue to fascinate me, hunting down the decayed and abandoned to this day.
All photos taken with an Iphone 5C - Adventure 1: March 2016
