Arkitekturë
Meet Romain Veillon, the French photographer of abandoned buildings
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Just a few days ago, one of the largest architectural sites on the internet, ArchDaily, published an article featuring the fantastic work of photographer Romain Veillon, from Paris.
Unlike other photographers, the love for the architecture of the abandoned places made Veillon hit the road to many countries of the world to capture dusty and outdated architecture, highlighting its beauty.
For Ndërtimi.info, Veillon has confessed his difficulties and passion for photographing old buildings.
“You need a permission to photograph, but usually I just go to them. As they’re abandoned, it’s complicated to find the right person to ask. I am very discrete so usually no, but it happened sometimes… I have been caught by cops a few times but it ended pretty well. The same with owners, usually they are nice and tolerant if you explain your approach: That you are only there to take pictures and that you respect the places you explore. Even if a house is abandoned, there is always an owner behind it, a history, so you have to understand that people can get upset”, says Veillon.
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Although as a 15-year-old Veillon had started photography as a way to keep the memories of his travels as a report, he had long since departed from reporting to focus on a more aesthetic approach.
This was not all by chance. In fact, as a child he had been quite curious about the abandoned places, exploring their past and imagining the livelihood of a building’s history.
“When I was a kid, I used to wander around the abandoned truck factory of my grandmother. It was full of relics of drivers and worker’s life. I loved spending whole afternoons trying to discover what used to be the life of these of people and how the place was like back in time. Imagining these stories is what I really like about these incredible places”, he explains.
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Among these lines, he highlights something interesting.
“Also, being a witness of the power of nature that always takes back what’s ‘hers’.
He does not prefer to travel alone, because these buildings can be dangerous, and in case of an emergency he needs someone to help. Also, he believes it is better to share adventures with friends to create lasting memories.
Among all the countries he has visited, including France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Namibia, Guiana and Myanmar, abandoned buildings in the Kolmansklop mining town in the Namib desert, in Namibia, has made a huge impression to him.
“Kolmanskop! It was a mining town in the middle of the Namib Desert in Namibia. Driven by the huge amount of diamonds, people basically created this town out of nothing and made it a prosperous city. In 1954, diamonds started to decrease and the population moved south where a new vein had been found. It became a ghost town, and now it is completely filled with sand. I was there for a week shooting, the atmosphere is somehow unreal and magical, like time has stopped there years ago”, says Veillon.
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His intention to document the condition of these buildings is pure. In his eyes everything is beautiful, even if it is a ruined and neglected building, he also wants us to be grateful for what we have now, including time.
“Introducing people to abandoned places across the world where beauty emerges from decay. Places we have left behind us where time seems to have frozen and where vegetation slowly reclaim what’s hers. Each chapter shows a different kind of place: The place where we live, where we worked, where we had fun, where we thought about death. My pictures interrogate us on what the world could look like if humans disappeared from earth. We are all fascinated by this post-apocalyptic vision. Maybe we need to be the witness of that to enjoy what we have and the time in front of us. As I said before, the main thing for me is that people create their own stories when they are watching my photographs. They all carry something different in my opinion depending on the history and what you want to see in them. On the other hand, some pictures have clearly an environmental message”, points the French photographer.
Undoubtedly, the message that is “written in the forefront” of each photograph, indirectly tries to raise awareness of what mankind is able to cost to nature.
“When you see how humans created a giant garbage in an underground cavern or how nature can be strong and beautiful when Man is not around, it’s a way of reminding us what can happen”, concludes Veillon.
Veillon’s photos had gone viral on the internet world for its aesthetic beauty and the messages they represent, these techniques he has acquired for long time now.
You can read the article in Albanian here:
https://ndertimi.info/njihuni-me-romain-veillon-fotografin-francez-te-ndertesave-te-braktisura/
Enjoy the photos captured by Romain Veillon below:
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REKLAMA
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