Abandoned Ontario Factory Black and White Photography

Repeating Concrete Frames Inside a Derelict Industrial Interior

What pulled me into this scene was the repetition. One massive concrete opening leads to another, then another, drawing the eye steadily through the abandoned factory until the architecture seems to disappear into darkness.

I found this industrial ruin in Ontario, where years of neglect had stripped the interior down to its basic structure. Rough concrete columns dominate the foreground. Beyond them, worn floorboards, scattered debris, broken material and a large leaning panel interrupt what was once an orderly working space. There is very little left to soften the building. That emptiness is part of what interested me.

I chose black and white because the photograph is really about structure, texture and depth. Without colour competing for attention, the repeated rectangular forms become much stronger. Light catching the edges of the concrete separates each successive opening, while the darker recesses keep pulling the photograph farther back into the building.

I have always been fascinated by abandoned places because they reveal architecture in a way occupied buildings rarely do. Once the machinery, people and daily activity disappear, the bones of the place become visible.

Here, those bones are almost geometric. The heavy vertical columns, horizontal beams and receding doorways create a surprisingly ordered composition inside a space otherwise defined by decay. For me, that contrast between precise construction and gradual collapse is what gives the photograph its character.

© Dan Kosmayer, 2006