Red Rowboat Against Wall | Limited Edition of 10

Abandoned Rowboat Leaning Inside Urban Decay

There’s something about photographing close to home that feels different. The thrill isn’t in the distance—it’s in the patience. This scene, tucked away inside an abandoned factory in the Haliburton Highlands, not far from my studio, had been sitting there for years, quietly decaying. The first time I stepped inside, I walked right past this boat. Maybe I wasn’t ready to see it yet.

But one overcast morning, I went back. Light filtered in softly and thin, and that’s when it stopped me. A rowboat—upright, leaning against a discoloured brick wall beneath a broken concrete stairwell. It was surreal. A vessel made for water, marooned in an industrial shell of rust and ash. The boat’s paint was peeling away in streaks—mostly red, with mossy green and bare wood underneath—almost like it had been crying colour over the years. 

I have no idea how it got there. Maybe it was hauled in for repairs long ago and never made it back out. Maybe it was symbolic to someone. Or maybe it’s just one of those wonderful contradictions you find when places fall apart. That’s what drew me to the frame—not just the object, but the tension between purpose and placement.

That tension, it turns out, resonated with others too. This image was selected for publication in Black & White Magazine’s Colour Special Edition, back when they were exploring curated colour work alongside their renowned monochrome features. It was an unexpected honour—not for ego’s sake, but because someone else saw the strange beauty I’d felt standing in that crumbling room.

Photographing scenes like this, I don’t try to clean them up or romanticize the decay. I just listen. There’s a quietness in these forgotten spaces that speaks volumes if you let it. The staircase led nowhere. The wall, stained with years of industry and abandonment. And this boat—this decaying arc of memory, frozen in a drydock dream.

There’s no glamour here. No dramatic light or staged perfection. Just silence, texture, and a quiet resilience. It’s a scene that asks you to slow down, to see what’s still standing and what’s still trying to hold on.

If you connect with that kind of visual storytelling, take a look through my Abandoned Photography Collection or dive deeper into similar scenes in my Urban Decay Photography Collection. I’ve spent years chasing these moments—not because they’re pretty, but because they’re honest.

© Dan Kosmayer, 2006