This broken-down house looks as though someone beat it up with a baseball bat, photographer Nyla James says. | Photo: Nyla James.
Nyla James finds beauty in abandoned places. Camera in hand, she seeks out forgotten farmhouses, deserted churches and vacant motels, peering past broken windows, slipping through dim doorways and padding up crumbling staircases draped with ragged wallpaper and dusted with dry leaves.
The Arroyo Grande photographer likes to imagine what life was once like in those now-forlorn spots. Can you imagine Mom calling the kids in to sit around the table? she asked. This was someones home. It had a lot of love in it at one time.
James shares some of her discoveries in her exhibition Abandoned in America, April 1 through May 1 at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. Its one of two shows being presented this spring in conjunction with the Central Coast Photographic Society; the juried group show Up Close & Personal, which features macro photography, runs May 6 through 29.
Board member BeJae Blake said the Central Coast Photographic Society selected James after seeing her Abandoned in America photos on display at the Santa Maria Public Library in May 2015.
Shes an outstanding photographer, Blake said, praising Jamess carefully composed shots and her unusual subject matter. Shes also showing things that we havent seen [before].
--
--
James has been exploring the world through her lens since age 16, when her mother bought her a Kodak Instamatic 124 camera. The Morro Bay High School graduate has honed her craft at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo and Brooks Institute in Ventura.
Ive always loved photography, said James, who is the president of the San Luis Obispo Camera Club and recently finished her fourth term as president of the Santa Maria Camera Club. I eat, think, breathe it. Everywhere I go I see pictures in my head.
Her fascination with photography coincides with an interest in architecture.
James spent much of her childhood in the coastal community of Los Osos exploring construction sites in the company of her father, a builder and general contractor. He was building houses down the road from my school, she recalled. I'd stop on my way home from school and hang out with him until it was time for him to get off of work.
When she wasnt climbing the rafters of a half-finished home, James would sneak into abandoned buildings with her younger brother and sister and build forts.
The photographer experiences a similar thrill of discovery whenever she stumbles upon a shambling shack or desolate schoolhouse. I got back to being a little kid searching for secret hiding places, she said. Its the excitement. Its a little bit of a risk. Its really fun.
Nyla James got down low to take this dramatic photograph of a decrepit farmhouse. | Photo: Nyla James.
Over the past five or six years, James has dedicated herself to documenting the dilapidated places she encounters on road trips around the country. Her quest has taken her to such out-of-the-way spots as Yeso, N.M., a former trading post turned ghost town, and the pastoral Palouse region encompassing parts of southeastern Washington and north central Idaho.
James is most attracted to abandoned houses, in part because they represent the human urge for comfort, safety and love. Theres no place like home, right? she asked with a wry smile.
She has this love affair with going on a road shes never been on before and has absolutely no idea what shes going to find, said Ruta Saliklis, exhibition and development director at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. She gets out [there] and finds these beautiful compositions.
I never take these trips to find this stuff but it's always in the back of my mind. I can't help it. We drive down the road and I go, Oh, you've got to stop. There's something awesome, said James, whose boyfriend, photographer Bob Ginn, serves as her chauffeur and navigator. Bob is awesome. He'll just turn around and go back.
The empty stairway of an abandoned school beckons. | Photo: Nyla James.
Ginn is more reluctant to step inside those sites, however, while James insists on exploring every corner. Hers, she acknowledged, can be a dangerous pursuit.
She could cut her skin on a shard of broken glass, bang her head on a low-hanging doorway, tread on a rusty nail. One false step, and a seemingly stable floor could buckle beneath her feet.
Ive actually walked up stairs on the outside [edge] thinking, Well, its probably safer to walk on the edge than in the center, the photographer said with a laugh. I dont know if it works or not. But mentally it makes me feel better. (So far, she added, shes yet to fall through any floors.)
But the risks are worth it for James. And the results speak for themselves.
Once, she and Ginn chanced on an abandoned church in a tiny settlement just as they ran out of gasoline. Unable to find a gas station and running on fumes, they tracked down a friendly U.S. Forest Service ranger who gave them five gallons from his own pump.
Nyla James couldnt resist stopping to snap shots of this deserted church. | Photo: Nyla James.
But before they left town, they returned to the church so James could snap some photos in the glow of the setting sun. Those black-and-white images reveal an empty sanctuary awaiting a phantom congregation: clapboard walls covered with peeling paint, pointed arched windows open to the elements and a peaked, shingled roof topped with a bell-less steeple.
The pair found Yeso by accident as well. We were driving on the road and I said, What was that? It looked like a pile of rocks, James recalled.
When they stopped, they discovered an entire settlement of ruined stone structures. That was a lot of work for people who put their whole lives and their hearts and all their dreams into building th
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
This broken-down house looks as though someone beat it up with a baseball bat, photographer Nyla James says. | Photo: Nyla James. 
