Photographer captures Europe's decaying ruins in haunting photos
Netherlands-based photographer Hans van Vrouwerf searches all over Europe for decaying buildings to photograph.
According to his interview with Curbed, he finds the buildings by going through old news articles and finding the sites on Google Maps.
He's traveled from France to Poland and all across Europe in search of these abandoned buildings.
Once he finds the hidden sites, they're usually locked down tight.
To get the interior shots, he often finds himself climbing in through broken windows.
He told Curbed they are "almost eerie places that seem to grab you and just show you what happens when people leave and nature takes over."
While "all of them have their own charm," van Vrouwerf counts small houses, churches, and monasteries as his favorite buildings to photograph.
The favorite building he's ever photographed was a monastery in Belgium.
Van Vrouwerf called it a "real joy to explore and photograph" the building.
He says that religious buildings are great because they are so accessible.
It's now been re-converted, but the old building had character and its corridors were set up like a maze.
"Almost every building has its own character, and with the right amount of time and the correct light it can become extraordinary," he told Curbed.
Of course, van Vrouwerf doesn't hit the jackpot every time with his abandoned building exploration.
Buildings completely ruined by graffiti or destroyed by local trouble makers are van Vrouwerf's least favorite places to explore.
Van Vrouwerf told Business Insider he never stages his photographs.
This serene scene bedroom scene was captured exactly as he found it.
Van Vrouwerf has actually been caught many times while taking his abandoned buildings photography.
He told Business Insider that, one time, two police officers holding their guns caught him poking around an old cinema building.
Lucky for him, he wasn't arrested. Instead, the police officers heard his story, looked through his photos, and told him to be careful.
He's actually been caught many times, but luckily has still never seen the inside of the police station.
For all the eeriness of his photography, van Vrouwerf doesn't believe there's anything spooky going on. "I’m actually really down to earth and I don’t believe in a higher power or what so ever," he told us.
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