{"id":560,"date":"2014-01-11T10:50:30","date_gmt":"2014-01-11T16:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/decidedlygrim.net\/forlorn\/?p=560"},"modified":"2014-09-04T12:02:43","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T17:02:43","slug":"melted-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/decidedlygrim.net\/forlorn\/?p=560","title":{"rendered":"Melted Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Date of Visit: December 22, 2012<\/p>\n

There’s a reason why I don’t reveal much information about the places I photograph. \u00a0It’s because, Bastards.<\/p>\n

I have genuine love for these old structures, and a fascination for the stories they can tell me. \u00a0When I go to a new location, I research as much as I can about it. \u00a0I have reams of useless information about defunct corporations and the people who built them and the forces that destroyed them. \u00a0As I’ve mentioned before, I’m obsessed with the concept of impermanence: that something that obviously meant so much to so many people can end up meaning nothing in the end. \u00a0But as long as these buildings still stand, there is something to remember them by. \u00a0Something to make people stop and wonder – \u00a0who worked there and what did they do in that factory? \u00a0As long as they stand…<\/p>\n

But there are a lot of Bastards out there in this world – mostly male, mostly young. \u00a0They don’t share my love and fascination for these places. \u00a0They see them as playgrounds for mindless destruction and greed: walls upon which to spray paint their ugly scribbles; porcelain fixtures to shatter; furniture to tear apart and topple over; ornamentation, signs and equipment to steal and sell on Ebay. \u00a0Revealing too much information only provides these Bastards with new playgrounds for destruction.<\/p>\n

And then there are the worst Bastards of them all: the arsonists. \u00a0Sometimes fires in abandoned buildings are caused by homeless people who set a fire to keep warm that got out of control. \u00a0Those are awful, but they are somewhat understandable. \u00a0But the ones that are deliberately set? \u00a0They infuriate me more than anything.<\/p>\n

Such was the case a few years ago when two teenage Bastards broke into an old factory and set it on fire. An old factory that had stood in its place for over 100 years. \u00a0Which at its peak of production in the 50’s employed more than 4,000 people. \u00a0A historic structure that may have stood empty for over 30 years, but which still held memories and hopes for reuse for the population of the small town in which it stood.<\/p>\n

And in the flick of a match, two Bastards decided their idea of fun night mattered more than the memories and hopes of the people in their town.<\/p>\n

Over 50% of the factory was destroyed that night. \u00a0There are still some things to see there, but nothing like what it once was.<\/p>\n

I wish I’d had the chance to see it Before. \u00a0But I am grateful I at least had the chance to see a little of what was left After.<\/p>\n

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