Then & Now: Hybrid Images of a Deserted School in Detroit

detroit classroom then now

It is one thing to see a building in a state of disrepair and imagine what it would have been like when it was occupied and vibrant. It is quite another to overlay a photograph, taken from the precise same spot, bringing into sharp focus the difference a day, week, month, year or decade can make.

detroit hall empty pic

detroit highschool class image

DetroitUrbex takes documentation to new depths (and heights) in this series of collages that show historical use and present conditions in abandoned structures through the lens of students and teachers overlaid with the haunting shots of an urban explorer.

The hybrid results span decades, including a combination of more-recent color photographs and archival black-and-white ones, capturing ordinary activities and everyday people and putting them in a strange and haunting context.