Mo-tel Ho-tel, Great Ocean Road, AUS Print - Limited Edition of 10

Antonia Jane Allan has been photographing abandoned places all over North America for over a decade, primarily focusing on the Westcoast of the United States. In June of 2017, she packed her two dogs into a 1989 Chevy camper van and took off on a five month road trip that would take her in excess of 36,000 km around the United States seeking out places that have been left behind by people due to natural disaster, financial disaster or personal disaster. 2017 seemed like the appropriate year to explore the concept of an abandoned america in a new immersive fashion. The resulting photographs echo the loss that lead to each abandonment. Personal possessions left decaying in kitchens and bedrooms of empty houses, medical records on the floors of hospitals, books on library bookshelves, a visual echo of lives left behind. Forever on the quest for beautiful light and shadow, Antonia's photographs are shot using only natural light; no reflectors, no lighting set up. Every location was shot exactly as it likely still sits today; decaying in the background of its abandoned town, rotting in windswept, roofless homes and discarded buildings of places long forgotten by its former residents. As with all of Antonia's work, Abandoned X focuses heavily on the strength of light and shadow to create powerful images with the goal of invoking an emotional response in its viewer. This project is ever evolving, with new work being shot constantly. In 2017, I began the exploration of abandoned places. Fin Forever on the quest for beautiful light, my 'In The Shadows' portrait series is shot completely using natural light from one window in the basement of my home. I believe in the process of slow portraiture. I speak with each subject until they forget I'm holding a camera. This allows me to capture more vulnerable images of my subjects with the goal of evoking something in the viewer. I concentrate heavily on the strength of light and shadow to create powerful images with depth that hopefully gives the viewer an immersive experience into each subject.