Johnny Joo (pronounced 'yo') is a 24-year-old photographer and urban explorer from Ohio. He began to explore abandoned structures when he was 16, becoming fascinated that these spaces belonged to someone's past.

"People were here once, living and working and now they are gone, while the collapsing ruins remain," he says. "It opened my eyes to a whole normally unseen part of life and the world around me. It captured me in such an incredible way, and I now attempt to capture it just as well as it has me."

Here at IBTimes UK we are big fans of his work, having previously published his haunting photos of an abandoned mall. Joo has kindly sent us a selection of the photos he took in 2014.

Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
The roof has fallen into the Silverdome and the formerly domed venue - once the largest stadium in the NFL - is open to the elements www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
Moss grows on a tabletop inside "The Main Event" - the diner connected to the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. The complex opened in 1975 and closed in 2006 www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
A moss-coated room atop the infamous Old Riverside Hospital in Toledo, Ohio www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
Vintage streetcars, anywhere from the 1930s to 1970s lay scattered throughout these tracks in the forest www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
A well preserved morgue inside a former NY psychiatric ward www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
One of the oldest abandoned churches in Cleveland, St Joseph Byzantine church was built in 1933 www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
The dental chairs inside a former asylum controlled by The District of Columbia www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
The hemming stations, where dresses still remain now collecting moss and mould, stationed away in the basement of these asylum grounds www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
A stretcher sat neatly in the hallway of the former Forest Haven www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church in Detroit. The architecture inside is beautiful www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
Hillandale Park in Euclid, Ohio. Still a regular park, though not in the best neighbourhood, this was a failed attempt to create a type of closely-knit community organisation throughout this park. With the crime rates rising, the project was left and never touched again. Holes now cover the top of the bridge, so don't go walking at night or you might fall through... or off www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
Sidaway Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio. Originally built as a 500-ft long footbridge to connect two parts of town, used until 1966. After a feud between a Polish-American neighbourhood and African-American area, the bridge was ordered to be shut www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
Looking directly up inside the former Warner & Swasey space observatory in Cleveland, Ohio. Around the 1970s, light pollution had grown far too bad to continue seeing the night sky from this location www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
A former prison cell inside the Mansfield Reformatory of Mansfield, Ohio. The Shawshank Redemption was filmed inside this prison www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
The tunnels originally built beneath the streets of Euclid, Ohio. Do not go venturing too far beneath the streets in places like this, the methane could knock you out www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
A moss-carpeted bathroom inside the former Georgia State Lunatic asylum www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
The rusted and eerie Ferris wheel of Shawnee Lake Amusement park in West Virginia www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
A curiously hidden temple in Cleveland's East side. This temple has sat for many years, rotting away. I feel that it may not have much longer, but is one of the few remaining in this architectural form here www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
A countryside school abandoned since the 1960s. With such a low local population, and only a few classrooms, any students here were bused into larger schools with children from surrounding areas. The walls have been rotting away, some to the point where they have completely fallen down www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography
Empty Spaces, Abandoned Places, Johnny Joo, UrbexUS
Inside a forgotten countryside home, an entire wardrobe has fallen to the ground, sinking through the soaked wood, getting heavier each time it rains. I am sure very soon it will come down completely. The clothing created an almost egg-sac appearance hanging into the kitchen below www.facebook.com/JohnnyJooPhotography

See more of Johnny Joo's photos at his website, or pre-order his book, Empty Spaces. He is currently seeking funding for a planned trip across America, exhibiting his work and photographing more abandoned spaces along the way. See his Ohio to Oregon crowdfunding page for more details.

Related
Arts pictures Travel pictures