Collective Hub reached out for a feature on Lost Collective just as the project was at a turning point: I had decided to leave a 17-year trade for full-time photography, and we were on our way to Japan. The trip was meant to be a holiday. It quietly turned into a hunt for abandoned buildings.
Three weeks across the country.
The brief came through at Hong Kong airport, halfway through the layover. Did I have any Japan-related work for an upcoming issue? At that point: no. I had a rough idea of where we might go, but nothing locked in beyond five days in Tokyo. We made it work.
The first place we went specifically to find abandoned buildings was Yubari, on Hokkaido. We drove out from Sapporo each morning and shot for four days. Two sites were locked in before we arrived: the abandoned Asahi Elementary School (later known as Family School Fureai), and the Hokutan Shimizusawa Power Plant. The rest of the time was for whatever the streets gave us.
Driving into Yubari from the highway tunnel, you can almost feel the vacuum. The city's population has fallen 94% from its 1960 peak. The stillness is in the streets, the empty shop frontages, the snow on roofs that haven't been cleared in years.
"It feels like you can see and hear everything with total clarity. Everything slows down. I generally try to work my way through as fast as I can. Noises like doors slamming and corrugated iron flapping in the wind never help to calm the nerves. I never feel comfortable when I'm in abandoned buildings," says Brett Patman, an Australian photographer who specialises in capturing abandoned buildings.
Read the full Collective Hub piece at collectivehub.com.
