A photographer’s haunting images of America’s abandoned homes look like they’re frozen in the past
Bryan Sansivero was driving on a long, windy road about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when a dilapidated home caught his eye.
“I was so intrigued,” he told Insider.
He said he pulled over in an apple orchard and made the trek up to the stone home, which he estimates was built in the 1700s.
Sansivero, 36, recalls peering through the only open window of the house. Amongst the crumbling and decaying walls, he spotted an elegant piano.
“This is so strange and it’s beautiful,” Sansivero remembers thinking.
So naturally, he stepped inside to snap a few photos.
Sansivero said he’s always gravitated towards the eerie and unfamiliar.
In college, where he said he majored in filmmaking, he made a documentary about an abandoned hospital.
The house in Pennsylvania reignited his interest, he said.
“Naturally, I was just drawn to wanting to photograph and explore things off-the-beaten path or the not-typically-seen kind of things,” he said.
Sansivero said he takes inspiration from other photographers on Instagram, and uses Google Earth, word of mouth, and aimless trips in his car to find abandoned homes in different parts of the US.
