80 Impressive Examples Of Urban Decay Photography
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair. It’s essentially the art of capturing beautiful photographs of a subject that is inherently not beautiful, and – for those of us who live near a city – it can be an easy form of photography to explore. In today’s showcase, we have collected 80 impressive examples of urban decay photography to encourage you to head out to the derelict parts of town!
institute de chemie
The stamp factory
bureau centrale
spiral of loneliness
conserved in spiderwebs
education lost
the forgotten staircase
leave this life
house of pain
forgotten tragedy
DETENTION
the pastors chair
untouched memories
red forest
] strum [
Hardcore Chair for a Hardcore Place
#jailhouse#
Abandoned Packard Plant
Denbigh abandoned asylum
Cane hill abandoned asylum
Stories Told In The Dark
MT Psychiatric Center, NY
MT Psychiatric Center, NY
Eternal staircase
Opel Olympia
the last drops are dried
the old winery
residence of oblivion
craving for saviour
crematory
hotel of decay
HK2009 – 12
Down the well
Cinema Theater Varia
Tyersall House
Tyersall House
Towards The Doorway
the final curtain
st curvy pano
Cane hill abandoned asylum
Lonely beams
Cane hill abandoned asylum
Gravity Confusion Anonymous
the intruder
Piano
R00M
Hallway
Abandoned church, Detroit
Sink
Sweet Dreams
Chatillon (Grand Cimetière)
66 Imperial 66
Urban Decay: American Auto
detroit waltz
CPS Library
Shutter Penitentiary (prison)
House of Horror
è quello che sai che ti uccide?
Maltings ‘S’.."Elegance Unravelling"
Detroit book depository
Leaving the jail.
Villa Maggiordomo
the UFO house in Sanjhih
Red Alligator
Trains
Urban Decay
That Train Don’t Stop Here Any More
Urban decay
Abandoned Houses
Urban Decay
Aubes perpétuelles
Urban Exploration
Other Resouces
Here is a collection of links to resources and tutorials elsewhere that can help you get started with this type of photography:
- How to Photograph Abandoned Places
- 9 Tips for Urban Decay Photography (With Cool Examples)
- Tips for Urban Decay Photography
Share Your Images!
I’d love to see a few examples of your own urban decay photography, so feel free to share your insight and experience in the comments. Just post a link to your photo either on your own website, Flickr, or anywhere else!



















































































Truly compelling and divine photos!
Urban decay is one of my favorite subjects in photography. Good collection!
Fantastic post with some wonderful photos!
One of my own urban decay photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/br1nd/4902891679/
Great shots. Nice to see abandoned buildings without half-naked models in them….though that’s nice too.
Here’s mine from Paterson, NJ. I can’t imagine growing up in this environment:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arclightimages/2536917255/
Not bad baby, not bad
) I miss more people and more optimistic look, but pics are really great anyway and decay is not really optimistic. It reminds me walks in old town of bratislava when I was younger taking also “urban decay” pics. I have them in photoalbum for years…
MY FAVOURITE THEME! LOVE THIS KIND OF PICTURES SO GOOD FOR HDR PP! GREAT!
These photos are all so eerie, but at the same time, I see a ton of opportunity for rebirth.
Wow, what an amazing collection. Thank you for putting the time into making this gallery of examples. Very inspiring. You sit there and wonder what those places were like in their prime. Thumbs up on this!
Wow… Just WOW!
Thanks for including no less than FIVE of my urbex photos – I’m honoured to be here with such an impressive collection of work – and some of those locations are to die for!
Great 80 shots!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tedguy49/5428300207/
Nice collection of decay.. Love it..
here’s mine.. http://photoblog.nikoskantarakias.com/category/abandoned/
these beautiful photos. Does anyone know what effect has been using in the first few photos?
Oh I love these beautiful images, and I know, there’s a long way to go for me, ’till my pics will look as good as these ones. But anyway, I’ve started to practice:
http://augenblicke.armin-andres.com/2011/klotografie/
http://www.skaghk.com/cms/index.php/album/kunst/259-klotografie
Wonderful collection, it was nice to have a technical detail about how those images was taken and/or good tutorial about how to develop a good inner HDR scene like this.
Thank you
Great pictures! They all have kind of like the same image treatment applied to them, it would be nice if you did a tutorial about, that image processing style.
Wonderful collection
a wonderful collection .. technical details are pretty …
photography is really impressive ..
A very nice collection!
Check my Flickr for some abandoned locations in the former East-Germany: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrej