Ani – Ghost City of 1001 Churches

Ani – some call it the City of 1001 Churches, others the City of Forty Gates.  Yet no one has called it home for more than three centuries.

Abandoned by its once prosperous and powerful inhabitants, it is situated on the Turkish side of a militarised zone between the border of Turkey and Armenia. The city of Ani is no stranger to death, destruction and desertion.

Image Credit Flickr User antonioperezrio

Image Credit Flickr User Snotch

It is a ghost city today but once its Armenian inhabitants numbered close to 200 thousand.  In its heyday it was a metropolis which rivalled Constantinople, Cairo or Baghdad as a center of culture and enterprise.  Although it was never on traditional trade routes its sheer size and power commanded visits by merchants from all directions.  Yet what happened to reduce this once magnificent and regionally dominant city to virtually dust?

What if an Epidemic Emptied London of People?

Can you imagine London without people?  That is quite an ask, particularly if you live there: the one constant you have is the presence of another person in the vicinity.  Yet Clare&Max have done this in Miasmatic and the result is eerie, like 28 Days Later without Cillian Murphy – or any zombies for that matter.  Yet watch closely -  there is still a barely detectable presence here. Find out how they did it here.

No Joy

Take a trip to Wichita in Kansas and visit the old, bankrupt and abandoned Joyland Amusement Park.  This wonderfully made short film comes courtesy of Mike Petty who shot is using a Canon 7D.

The color is pushed with MB Colorista II – Petty wanted to exaggerate the hues of the place as parks like this are hyper-colorful in people’s memories.  The result is quite stunning.