Reim Photo Image: April 2016

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Monday, April 11, 2016

St. Louis Urban Images in Black and White - And some in color!

I have been out again driving and shooting photos around my fair city of St. Louis for decades. St. Louis has its share of dead and decaying urban buildings. Many impressive buildings left over from a time when St. Louis was a booming metropolis in par with any major city in the nation. Buildings that have lost their luster but still are rich in detail and beauty. In the past few years however I have noticed a depressing trend. The copper thieves have been decimating buildings that while vacant for many years had weathered their abandonment fairly well. That is until this scourge of copper thievery. The copper thieves will go to great lengths scale walls, climb on roofs and dangle from steeples to rip off gutters, fascia, trims and other details. Building parts that would and did last almost indefinitely when left only to the elements. Once the copper thieves are finished the gaping wounds that are left behind allow the elements to quickly destroy these buildings. For a few dollars gained at the scrap yard beautiful old historic buildings, buildings that have endured long vacancies, are quickly being destroyed. The lengths these people will go for such small amounts in return are amazing. They will risk life and limb. For a hundred bucks in scrap they cause immense damage in the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. I hope you enjoy these photos. Some of these buildings are going to be gone soon.