Who is he?

Johnny Joo born in Cleveland Ohio focuses on photographing places that have been forgotten through his camera. Joo is an urban explorer but aims to highlight the effect and beauty of places left behind that are not often seen without human intervention creating eerie effects whilst reminding viewers that all things must come to an end. His photos are meant to make the viewers aware of how humanity’s waste impacts society and nature when left behind through the destruction present throughout each image.

Joo photographs a range of abandoned areas from malls, stadiums, schools, hospitals etc with many images going world-wide. His work has been at the attention of many media outlets, much of his work is inspired by Salvador Dali from how the colours used pop out and wants to incorporate this into his own to create a realistic surrealism. Most of his work consists of the influence nature has over human structures and how eventually they will be re-claimed, but much of it has to do with a lack of human influence in an area and how this creates haunted and eerie images as a result due to it not being conventionally normal.

Here are some examples of his imagery:Once looking over his images I decided I should analyze it to see what made it effective as an image, to do this I would take into consideration the technical, visual and conceptual aspects of the photo. By doing this it would enable me to direct it to my own images and how I could relate this specific style into various shoots. The photo I chose to analyze is called Silent Hill:

Technical: The piece uses a high shutter speed to create a broad overview of everything in the theatre and capture the whole picture. Joo has used a higher exposure to capture parts of the shadows around the seats and ceiling to emphasize the sense of  eeriness around the idea of abandonment, by doing this it removes much of the sense from a light-hearted area. The use of including part of the floor before the seats creates the impression of long-term abandonment due to the rubble present throughout.

Visual: Visually the piece uses symmetry in its composition to not only create aestheticism through the use of patterned seating arrangements, but also to make the viewer understand the scale of the effect of abandonment in areas left behind or forgotten. The focus points consist around the entrance door lights which instantly draws the viewers attentions to the seats surrounding them.

Conceptual: The piece is meant to highlight the issues regarding forgotten places and how damage and neglect can ruin areas completely, however it is also meant to focus on the hidden beauty that arises from these areas in the process as the places photographed are rarely seen by the public eye. Joo also wants to make evident how nature always takes back what was built on it and the effects of it doing so.