This was the Domain version of the Sydney Morning Herald feature, published in early 2016. Domain is the Fairfax property arm; the SMH piece was the print original. The Domain version had a much wider digital reach.
Seeing your own words on a major outlet is an odd experience the first few times. Things you said in plain conversation come back to you as pull-quotes. The intent is usually intact; the register is not always what you'd have chosen.
What I remember most clearly is that this article ended up on the desks of people I worked with at the day job. That was the moment where it became obvious to me, and to the people around me, that the rest of my working life was going to head in a different direction.
"Once, Australia's abandoned buildings played a huge role in people's lives, as factories, power stations, hospitals, abattoirs, brickworks. Now they're deserted, waiting for a new life or simply forgotten. But to one photographer, they're still beautiful.
Driving around in his work as a service technician, Brett Patman became captivated by the sight of so many abandoned buildings around Sydney and Melbourne."
Read the Domain piece at domain.com.au.
