The art of decay

A friend recently sent me a link to an urban exploration web site that has the most amazing photos of abandoned factories, hospitals, castles and asylums. Forbidden Places is an urban exploration data base filled with hundreds of photos. Had I the stamina, I would join those who take risks in order to sneak into rotting buildings. I find abandoned sites so compelling in their stillness and slow decay. With this Urbex web site and others like it, we can go along on the exciting and often dangerous trips into these beautiful, crumbling worlds.

Here are a few photos of a forbidden site in Kitimat, B.C. where I got close to some amazing, corroding logging machinery. Sometimes, I luck out and an off-limits site can be found close to the road and only a short walk away.

February: working with it

Finally, a new post. These past few weeks have slipped by in a haze of stomach pain, nausea and fatigue. I still don't know the cause of my abdominal pain, nor is anything helping it. I do hope that somebody can crack the code. Complicated, aren't we?

I haven't posted recently because I haven't really felt very creative this past month. It's hard to push through chronic illness to get to fresh images and ideas. Winter's gloom can add to empty palette syndrome. I know I'm not alone in feeling the February blues as winter lingers on. Here in Vancouver, we've had cooler weather than usual and this month isn't yet bringing us the early flowers we've come to expect (and brag about). Not only does an early Spring do a body good, but knowing that most of the rest of Canada is still slogging through snow gives one a certain mental boost. I've seen a few Snowdrops and some green shoots coming up, so I figure we've made it though the worst, but it's still a bit cold for my liking. Last year, during Victoria's Flower Count, people managed to count over 3 billion blossoms between February 25 and March 1. Warm up already!

Until the weather improves, it's blue-grey out there and cold. Instead of fighting it, I'm working with it. This then is inspired by the dark and the muck and the chill that is February.