gor[b] Paul Gorbould: Words and Pictures

Beautiful decay

Tim Neesam, a CBC.ca colleague of mine, takes photographs that are off the charts in terms of what Flickr calls "interestingness".

Tim's specialty is decaying buildings. He gains access to crumbling industrial facilities - Toronto's brickworks, the old Inglis factory - and takes stunning pictures of their eerie beauty.

It's a tricky business. The low light levels mean extraordinarily long exposures (20-30 seconds, in some cases) Then there are the more practical issues: crazy vagrants, tresspassing laws...

I've seen a lot of cool stuff on Flickr, but Tim's work is nothing short of spectacular.

Be sure to check out Tim's Flickr site, and his variations on the theme - his Twins series (double self-portraits amid the decay) and HDR photography, a new technique of merging over- and underexposed images of the same scene.

For those of you in Toronto, Tim is participating in Reconstructed, a group show that closes on Sunday at Gallery 1313 (1313 Queen Street West.) He'll be there all afternoon on Saturday, itching to hear what you think.