In this blog I would like to show you one of the scariest churches I have visited back in March 2015. The church is located in a small town in Czech Republic and has been built in the 14th century. Since the 1960’s the church has been abandoned, until a few months ago. When the ceiling collapsed during a funeral service locals became afraid and boarded up the building. Since then services were held outside. The ghostly figures inside are actually from an art project and represent the ghosts of Sudeten Germans which played a role in the history of the town the church is located in. The ghosts were placed hoping to attract ‘tourists’ so that they could raise money for renovation works (thus this visit was with permission). Those works have been taking place in the last couple of months and will continue to go on. The altar area, where you see scaffolding in my photos, has already been renovated successfully.
I was surprised by how small it was. It first started with 9 ghostly figures and there are a lot more of them inside now. One was placed right behind the door so once I entered I was greeted by this ghostly figure, and I have to admit it scared me for a second. The figures look real and have been created very professionally.
Some photos have been processed ‘darker’ than other photos in this same set. I’ve tried to create a combination of overviewing this beautiful old structure and emotional close-ups to create different atmospheres.
In this case I’ve used the Canon EOS 650D with a Sigma 10-20mm lens to shoot the photos. When shooting abandoned buildings, I mostly use my wide-angle to try and capture as much of the room as possible. Close-ups have been shot by using the same camera but with a Canon 50mm lens.
More info: romanrobroek.nl
Looking towards the back of the church.
Holding each-other.
Dark edit of a shot from the side.
Looking towards the front of the church.
Overviewing the church.
Regret.
Praying.
Ghosts.
