When nature takes over: Abandoned America where nature has reclaimed its crown

By Michael Scott

These abandoned buildings have become a thing of beauty – after being derelict for so long that mother nature has reclaimed the site.

Photographer Johnny Joo, from Cleveland, Ohio, has travelled the United States photographing derelict sites – from fairgrounds to shopping malls.

Johnny Joo/Caters News : Abandoned Overgrown Mall in Ohio, USA.

Johnny Joo/Caters News: Derelict and overgrown plant nursery in Ohio, USA.

The resulting set of images capture an unexpected beauty in the crumbling structures.

In one picture, ivy crawls up the side of a ferris wheel that hasn’t turned in years.

And another shows bright green sprigs of bracken covering an old railway line.

Johnny Joo/Caters News: Abandoned Overgrown Train Tracks in New York, USA

Johnny Joo/Caters News: Abandoned Overgrown Fairy House in Ohio, USA

Johnny, 27, said: “I think it’s incredible, and beautiful how powerful and unforgiving nature is to the structures that get left behind.

“My favourite image is the one of the greenhouse – I’d been visiting since I was 12, I believe before it was even abandoned, and then more often between the age of 15 to 25.

“I was able to see the changes nature was making in the space, and how it was taking over so quickly. Trees grew up through the glass. It was peaceful there, and I loved to spend evenings there enjoying the evening sun.

Johnny Joo/Caters News: Ivy Climbs the Walls of an Abandoned Factory in Ohio, USA

Johnny Joo/Caters News: Abandoned Home Consumed by Ivy in Ohio, USA.

“The asylum was one of the largest places I had ever explored – over 20 buildings abandoned and being taken over by nature just like that one. It was something incredible to experience. I spent well over 12 hours there.

“I really like how much it shows nature’s strength to regrow, reclaim and live on even through all that we are doing to it.”