Photography

Lee Plaza was built in 1928 and exemplified the popular Art Deco architecture of the era. The building, rising to 15 floors, was first used as an ornate high rise hotel, then an upscale apartment with hotel services. It was last used as a senior citizen's home in the 1990s before finally closing its doors.

Not long ago, this grand piano occupied a place in Lee Plaza's first floor ballroom. Over the years, the piano decayed naturally and by means of force. It recently met its demise at the hands of some vandals and their experimentations with a bomb.

In 1981, Lee Plaza was registered as a historic site by the state of Michigan and was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places.

This is the abandoned Cooper-Bessmer locomotive repair shop in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. The building has been vacant since 1989.

This structure was originally built by Grand Truck Railway in 1907. Canadian National Railways eventually bought Grand Truck Railway in 1923 and by the 1960s had converted the buildings to production of boilermakers.

This is one of the few abandoned locations I've seen when it was active. My uncle worked in the shops as a welder in the 1980s and helped to arrange a field trip for one of my grade school classes.

Many thanks to ABC News for their feature piece today on my urban exploration and photography!

"Urban explorer Chris Luckhardt has traveled the world to document abandoned railway stations, theaters, factories and other structures.

An avid photographer, Luckhardt manages to capture a certain beauty in the ruins of these forgotten edifices that have suffered the ravages of neglect and the elements."

Urban Decay: Structures in Ruin

This is the control room of the Bethlehem Steel North Office in Lackawanna, New York (a few minutes south of Buffalo). I can remember the first time I explored this room in 2007; it immediately reminded me of the iconic Chernobyl control room, though on a much smaller scale.

In recent years, the City of Lackawanna has desperately attempted to demolish the building. However, preservationists have so far been able to stop their efforts. Preservationists have argued that the building should be saved and become the centerpiece of a renewed waterfront and local economy.

I always found the control room to be difficult to photograph. The room has incredibly contrasting dark and bright areas. This photo is my best effort to capture a wide, symmetrical view of the desk and wall.

Bethlehem Steel North Office's control room.

This photo and many of my other photos from the Bethlehem Steel North Office were featured on TotallyCoolPix's website.

If you like listening to podcasts, then check out Picture This, a photography podcast I co-host on the Motionblur Media podcast network. The show is also available on iTunes.

We kicked off the 2nd season with guests Marc Lafreniere and Alex Boone of the myx100 group to the show. We discuss Marc and Alex's new FujiFilm X-E1 and x100s cameras and the continuing trend of vintage film effects being applied to digital photography.