Matt Emmett from Reading has travelled around Britain and Europe photographing the eerie beauty of abandoned buildings and derelict industrial sites.
He says you can feel a sense of history in the stillness; everyday items left behind by the long-gone workers allow a glimpse into the past.
Condensing pond inside the IM cooling tower in BelgiumMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyInside the IM cooling tower at an abandoned power plant in Belgium. This tower would have been able to cool around two million litres of water a minuteMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyInside the IM cooling tower at an abandoned power plant in BelgiumMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyDisconnect: an old telephone inside the abandoned power station in BelgiumMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyThe control room at the abandoned power station in BelgiumMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage Photography
Emmett often chooses to withhold the exact locations of the buildings he photographs, so as not to encourage graffiti artists and metal thieves.
However, the locations are often an open secret among other urban explorers (though he prefers to call himself a heritage photographer).
An abandoned power station in LuxembourgMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyA view of the abandoned power station in Luxembourg from inside a neighbouring derelict steel rolling mill. The closing of one plant also meant the end the other; the power station had used the gases created by the steel plant to power its turbinesMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyInside a steel rolling mill in LuxembourgMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyInside the vast structure of the power station in Belgium, filled with pipes and turbines.Matt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage Photography
Some people have criticised this type of photography as "ruin porn", but he points out that once these sites have been demolished, photographs are the only record of their beauty.
One of his favourite sites was the National Gas Turbine Establishment in Fleet, Hampshire. This was the world's leading jet engine testing centre. Concorde, the Harrier, Vulcan Bomber and Typhoon EuroFighter were all tested here. Now it is gone – demolished to make way for a a huge retail distribution depot.
A blast nozzle at the National Gas Turbine Establishment in Fleet. This was capable of producing winds in excess of Mach 1 inside a chamber where pressure could be lowered to simulate high altitude. The Typhoon aka Euro Fighter was tested in hereMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyLooking into the open mouth of what was the world's most powerful jet engine test cell. Built to test the jet engines of Concorde at a wind speed of over 2,000mph and at an atmospheric pressure of 60,000 feetMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyThe National Gas Turbine Establishment in Fleet, Hampshire, was the world's premier site for the research and development of gas turbine jet engines before its demolition in 2013. Britain's major aviation and naval engine projects were housed here including Concorde, Harrier, Vulcan Bomber, The Typhoon EuroFighter, Sea King Helicopter and many moreMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyThe doors in this photo are not an original fixture of the National Gas Turbine Establishment in Fleet. They are a prop left over from the filming of the 2005 movie Sahara, starring Matthew McConnaughey. They're actually made of fibreglass and spray-painted to match the rest of the tunnelMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyThe fan in the largest of three wind tunnels at the Royal Aircraft Establishment Matt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage Photography
Emmett says he hopes his photography might inspire others to go out with a camera and discover neglected sites around their local area.
A flooded area of the basement at an abandoned coke works in South WalesMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyA fern grows in the gloomy interior of a derelict coke works in South WalesMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyA detail from the decommissioned blast furnace in eastern BelgiumMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyA blast furnace in eastern Belgium, near the German borderMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyAutoconer winding machines at a derelict textile mill in south west EnglandMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage PhotographyDetail of a control panel on an autoconer winding machine at a derelict textile mill in south west EnglandMatt Emmett/Forgotten Heritage Photography
