Kyle Thompson @kylejthompson - Tumblr Blog

“Moth and Flame” From my new photo book, “Sinking Ship.” 120 pages for $39 plus shipping, go grab a copy!!

For the past year and a half, I’ve been quietly working on my new photo book, “Sinking Ship”, which is available starting today! The book is comprised entirely of unreleased work, and I am extremely excited to finally be able to show it off! The images in this book were photographed in abandoned towns in the American grasslands. Over the past six years, I have grown an attachment to a particular ghost town in the midwest, and have visited every other year. I wanted to investigate the towns past, so I began to reach out to people living alone in similar towns, and asked them about their towns history; why every one left, and what life is like there now.

I then began visiting these ghost towns, and living there briefly, alone. I'd wear the clothes left in the closets, and temporarily resume the lives they left behind. I'd build sets using the items found on scene, and take self portraits, using myself as a vessel to portray the past residents through their belongings.

The book does go much deeper, but it is hard to explain everything so succinctly. I'm extremely proud of this book, and it is definitely the most cohesive body of work I have ever produced. The book is 8.5 x 12 inches, 120 pages, and is selling for $39. You can find a few more images and purchase it here: https://shop.kylethompsonphotography.com/products/sinking-ship

Untitled - Kyle Thompson

Kyle Thompson

Tunnel (with stage) - Kyle Thompson (instagram)

How do you find all these cool abandoned places?

At this point, I usually just use Google Maps. I scroll around country highways in a pattern until I see something that looks abandoned (meaning a scuffed up roof normally). Then I switch to streetview and see if it looks abandoned from street level (broken windows/doors, broken mailbox, long grass etc). It works pretty well.

Swamp (Open Stage) - Kyle Thompson

Grave - Kyle Thompson (Instagram)

Greenhouse - Kyle Thompson

I’ve disappeared a bit as I’ve been working on my new series, Open Stage. I’ll be exhibiting the series in Italy this month and next. If you’re in Milan or Caserta, you should come view the work and say hi

Pileup - Kyle Thompson

My family visited me and we went to the coast

throwback to the time I got poison ivy in my bloodstream and my face exploded

windy day Kyle Thompson

Top photo is a group of ruined cabins/sheds in Poland. There were sheep inside hiding from the rain.

Bottom is a 600-year-old abandoned chateau in Slovakia. Much of the inside was tagged with spraypaint, but a small hidden room at the top remained mostly untouched, with a chipped away fresco painted on the vaulted ceiling.

Untitled - Kyle Thompson

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