Meet Romain Veillon; the Photographer Who Loves Capturing Abandoned Places

When Parisian Photographer Romain Veillon visited Japan in 2016 he discovered an amusement park called “Western Village” which was abandoned years ago. It was themed around 1800s America. Like he always does, Veillon captured various shots of the neglected park and every captured shot had an untold story of its own.

The “Western Village” park is completely isolated with not a single living soul or creature near it which lends it a ghostly appearance. Most of the places in the park are unsettled and covered with layers of dust. The presence of mannequins that appear human-like in some of the isolated rooms emits a feeling that they would come to life at any moment. The abandoned park is encircled with wildly growing shrubs and untamed trees all around. The cloth that had been used for covering some of the rooftops and walls have stood the test of time and have withered away due to extreme weather conditions. The captured images clicked by Veillon strongly indicate that the park was once bustling with life and activity.

"Exploring these places is like traveling in the past," Veillon tells CNN Travel. "It is something incredible to get lost in there and imagine what could have been the life of the inhabitants and what might have happened when it was full of life. Every abandoned place tells a story”, he adds.

Romain Veillon is a French photographer who specializes in photographing abandoned places. He began his photography journey by photographing abandoned places in Paris first. He took his passion further when he started visiting other places around the world. Veillon came across an increasing number of abandoned and urban decay places in every corner of the world and he found it intriguing to capture them.

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So, what made Veillon take up such an offbeat profession? Veillon believes wandering around an isolated location say a desert or an abandoned building makes the mind brim with questions. Numerous untold questions arise and the fact that they are unanswerable makes the place all the more intriguing. "Why was this place abandoned? What happened to the former owners? What used to happen in this room? People make their own kind of answer. Each story will be different from one another, and that's what I love," Veillon tells CNN Travel.

Romain Veillon has visited several abandoned parks during his stay in Japan which includes the Nara Dreamland. This amusement park took a post-apocalyptic vibe in its later years and was finally demolished in 2016. He then spoke about the ‘Western Village’ amusement park which was built in 1975 and was abandoned since 2007. Now, the park has become a hotspot for photographers who want to capture the rawness of the place. Veillon spent several hours wandering the park and exploring every nook and corner of the place. There was not a single soul while he surveyed the place which made the experience worthwhile.

Was the photographer scared to wander in the eerie abandoned place which is akin to a ghost town? While many of us would consider wandering in an abandoned place to be a strange idea, the answer was a plain ‘No’ for the photographer. "I know a lot of people love to say [it] was an eerie place with a strange atmosphere, but it wasn't the case for me," he says. “It was very peaceful and very unreal.”

What he found eerie though was the park was home to some robots, automatons and teddy bears everywhere. Probably he got the feeling that they would come to life any second in a park which bears resemblance to American sci-fi series “Westworld.”

The French photographer aims to create a dialogue with the past, present and future with his photography. He aims to bring out the authenticity, beauty and rawness of these places which have an allure of their own. He has also published a book ‘Ask the Dust’ which is a compilation of his work. You could also visit his personal website or FB page to explore some of his creative work.