A French photographer duo which work primarily with a large-format camera and they concentrate solely on photographing urban ruins. They both live and work in Paris and at first they worked individually but met online just before their Detroit project in 2005 which Steidl then published is 2010. They have also made a book called Gunkanjima and have done a project which is all about capturing American theatres that have decayed or been abandoned or even been completed transformed.

I find all of their photos intriguing as they all capture places that have been abandoned for a period of time and are decaying. It would be interesting to find out the stories behind all the images of the abandoned theatres and the images taken after the Detroit incident. Most of their images create an empty feeling as there is not a lot happening in them and most of them are plain but interesting.

About the theatres

In the early 20th century, following the development of the entertainment industry, hundreds of theaters were built across North America. Major entertainment firms and movie studios commissioned specialized architects to build grandiose and extravagant auditoriums.

From the 60’s, TV, multiplexes and urban crisis made them obsolete. During the following decades, these theatres were either modernised, transformed into adult cinemas or they closed, one after the other; many of them were simply demolished.

This image is interesting as it shows an abandoned theatre which could have once held exciting shows and events. In this sort of image including the rows of seats I picture the theatre being full of people and I picture how the theatre would have been before it was abandoned and becoming almost lifeless. You can see the dust on the seats and the decayed look from the paint having come off parts of the walls. The image is being lit up by natural lighting which is coming through the windows and you can see the light casting on certain areas of the rows of seats. You can also see the organisation of the seats and how they are put into organised rows which is Aesthetically nice to look at.

The ruins of Detroit

Image analysis

I find this image super interesting because of all the old equipment thats is included and how some of the stuff in the image is decaying and falling apart. There are certain objects, like what looks like a gas mask sat on top of the tv which gives the image a story and meaning. From the image title we know that this is an old evidence room from a police station but was abandoned because of the Detroit incident. The image looks organised but also messy. You see the organised look because of the filing cabinets which are creating organised and straight lines and the Tv being a square shape. But then you see the things falling out of the filing cabinets and how they have a rusty and old look. You also see how the Tv is covered in dust and how there are things piled up and things lying around causing mess and clutter. The lighting in this image look natural as it is not to bright and not dark. There are shadows casting from some of the objects in the photo and there are some dark spots like underneath the desk.