Goodbye to 2018

As we say goodbye to 2018, I find myself looking back on the year for a moment. I will jump right in with some of my most fond memories and photos;

• An insane 2 week road trip in USA; 4000 miles, 10 States, 57 locations
• An Old African-American funeral home, in gaudy pseudo-Egyptian decor
• Caught in a thunderstorm at some Abandoned Trolley Cars in USA
• An unforgettable Italian trip over the summer, visiting many of the  villas and asylums along the way
• Meeting some epic Americans (and a Canadian!). We will be back soon!)
• Some fantastic vintage abandoned Americana; a rusty steam train, a diner car, yellow school bus, junkyard with classic cars, drive-in movie theatre
• An ecstatic friend squeaking with joy as she finally got to see natural light rays in an NY State theatre
• Visiting many Welsh Chapels, each with their own quaint charm!
• A last-minute trip to RAF Stenigot, only days before the dishes were scrapped (never put things off, people!)
• Having felt like I hadn’t had enough French Chateaus in 2017, we visited so many this year I lost count!
• As always…never overlook checking the front door.
• 3rd time lucky getting into Bureau Centrale!
• Some stunning overgrown greenhouses, which made me ridiculously happy
• An unusual collection of arcade and slot machines stored in an old car dealership/garage
• An amazing Easter trip around Eastern Germany finally saw all those stunning ballrooms

An epic USA Road Trip

This has truly been a bumper year for travelling far and wide!

We finally got our long-anticipated trip to the USA (Part 1, Part 2)! Definitely proving to be the best and most exciting trip to date. Filled with awesome people, breathtaking buildings, huge amounts of Monster Energy drink…and some seriously close-calls. So many moments from this trip will stay with me for the rest of my life, and as I write this I cannot help but smile to myself 🙂

European Road Trips

I kicked off the year with a northern France trip. After returning home to enjoy only one night in my own bed, I then flew over to Germany for a whirlwind tour of the old Ballrooms in the old GDR.

An amazing summer-trip to the south of France and Italy took full advantage of the summer sun and long daylight hours. Living out of our car, and camping every night and cooking our food on little aluminum stoves. We filled the daylight hours with as many locations as we could fit in, on a route that covered well over 4000 miles.

Destruction and Loss

The beautiful Harbourne Royalty Cinema in Birmingham was totally gutted by a fire in September 2018; a sad loss of this stunning Art Deco theatre. I visited the Royalty in early 2017, shortly before graffiti began to appear. The photographs and some history are available here; Royalty Cinema, England.

Akron Rubber Bowl outside Cleveland was also demolished in the summer of 2018. We visited a few months before the demolition, photographing the location just as the seating was being ripped out in preparation for the destruction. American Football Stadium, USA.

Love it, or hate it. Chateau Secession has been a popular location over the last few years. This French mansion burned to the ground in December 2018. This was the first real French chateau I visited, many years ago. Chateau Secession, France.

Other locations lost this year are; Church of Decay, Steampunk Commander, UFO Pool, Lost Coffins, Ghost Rider Biker Club and Château Martin-Pêcheur.

Little Black Book of Decay, and Online Shop opening

I opened my online shop at the tail end of the year, starting with the sale of my first self-published book; The Little Black Book of Decay. I will soon be adding options to buy various formats of Fine Art prints, also. This was a step forward in the development of my website, and something I really enjoyed implementing.  Take a look at my Shop, all of my photographs are available as Fine Art prints to decorate your home.

I will look back on 2018 with so many happy memories of travels with some of the most trustworthy, and amazing friends I have ever had in my life.

Happy New Year to all, and a wonderful and prosperous 2019!