Photos of abandoned properties show beauty in decay

Beds are still made, photographs sit dusty on mantles and china plates lay on dinner tables that haven't been used in decades.

Many of the rural Virginia houses John Plashal photographs offer a glimpse of what everyday life was like for people who lived there.

"Often these places are left to rot, either through family dispute if it's a home or a congregation of a church runs out of money and it costs more money to take things out, so it just sits forever," Plashal says.

The father of three is a suburban explorer on the weekends, winding through Virginia and parts of the East Coast in search of abandoned churches, homes and prisons.

Plashal says he never "explores alone," because many times the abandoned properties can be dangerous.

"There are risks involved. A lot of times in the old hospitals and insane asylums you have people in there scrapping metal or homeless folks that reside in there," he says.

He says the code among photographers who capture images of abandoned proprieties is to "never steal or vandalize and to take only pictures and leave only footprints."

Photos: Abandoned properties 

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