Oh joyous day how I love abandoned places. I don’t like how dangerous they can be – say away! But I do love how the photographs of these places look once they’re taken. It’s fabulous to see nature take back what is hers, and although this location’s not been desolate for a giant amount of time, you can see it falling apart already.

According to Hot Costa, this mining facility in Alquife, in Granada, Spain, was shut down in February 1997. I suppose that is almost 20 years now, isn’t it? That’s long enough for quite a bit of rust and plants to set their butts on in. The project we’re featuring here is a photo project of the mines as done by the fabulous Alejandro Maestre Gasteazi, who mentions that the project is not done to tell the tale of why the mines closed, but to explore and document what’s left. Of course, in a Jane Fossey sort of way, he tells the story anyway.

This project is titled “El abandono de las minas de alquife” aka “The Abandonment of The Alquife Mines.” and it comes with some details about how it’s produced: Printing Features — Limited edition of 10 prints per image. Dimensions: 50×33, 3 cm. Inkjet printing with pigmented inks on 100% Cotton barium support of 315 g / m².

Keep your eyes open for the church; certainly the most exquisite building in this photo area set is this holy place left for tiny animals and birds to worship in. All rusty, all pretty.

To get in contact with the photographer Gasteazi, head on over to his portfolio site and give him a ring up! Give again my compliments to the chef, also, if you speak with him.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies unnatural nature category.