What Would Earth Look Like if We Weren’t Here? Abandoned Photographer Exhibits Us

From zombie apocalypse films to alien TV reveals, there’s a morbid obsession with what it will be like if people vanished from the Earth.

Prominent deserted photographer Romain Veillon faucets into this fascination. He travels all the world over looking for areas which have been forgotten — and are slowly being reclaimed by nature.

“The title, The World Without Us, is a perfect illustration of what I wanted to show,” Veillon says in reference to his new e-book, Green Urbex 2.

“I wanted to convey an environmental message in my book by showing what the world would be like if we weren’t there anymore, meaning that if we continue on this way, humanity’s disappearance could be one of the consequences.”

The French photographer explains to PetaPixel that he cut up the e-book into three sections that seize various phases of decay: the primary reveals deserted locations that stay intact as if people lately vanished, just a few mud gathering on the ground; the second half reveals partitions cracking as these locations begin to crumble; within the third and last part nature reclaims what people made and the viewer can solely guess there was ever any clever life there.

“That’s what I prefer working on, when ivy takes over everything,” Veillon explains. “We can see what the world could look like if humans disappeared from Earth. We are all fascinated by this post-apocalyptic vision.”

Veillon traveled to Myanmar, Namibia, Ireland, Georgia, Japan, Guyana, Portugal, and plenty of extra locations as he explored homes, castles, palaces, church buildings, factories, theme parks, hospitals, railways, greenhouses, and colleges.

“Without a doubt, Kolmanskop was my favorite,” the photographer says. Kolmanskop is a ghost city within the Namib Desert of Namibia, which flourished originally of the twentieth century after diamonds had been found there. In a traditional increase and bust story, of us moved out because the diamond discipline depleted and located extra fruitful pastures close by.

“I was there for a week shooting, the atmosphere is somehow unreal and magical, like time has stopped there years ago,” Veillon says of Kolmanskop.

“That is my most well-known photographic series and it is also the perfect illustration of what I want to show. Moreover, it is a unique place where you feel you could be on another planet or even on another timeline where mankind has disappeared.”

Veillon says he’s been fascinated by deserted pictures since he used to discover a decaying truck manufacturing facility near his grandmother’s home, the place he would keep every summer season.

“I would imagine that, like many people, discovering the decaying house at the end of the street is a memory we all have deep inside of us,” he says.

“When I encounter such a place, my goal is that everybody can travel in the past with me and make up the stories they decide they want to: Why was this place abandoned? What happened to the former owners? What used to happen in this room? People make their own kind of answer.”

“It makes them go into their imaginary world and become the hero of their own adventure,” he continues. “Each story will be different — and that’s what I love. To me, my photos act as a new kind of Memento Mori; they are here to remind us that everything has an end, and that we should enjoy it while it lasts.”

Veillon’s e-book, Green Urbex 2: The World Without Us, is obtainable at bookshops in France, including Amazon. He continues to be trying to find an English writer to purchase the rights — (in case you are such a writer, then please contact Veillon).

More of his deserted pictures might be discovered on his website and Instagram.

Image credit: Photographs by Romain Veillon