John Plashal’s book captures more than 80 abandoned buildings throughout the Commonwealth.
When John Plashal, who has made a living selling medical equipment in Richmond for 17 years, turned 40, he decided he needed a hobby. He picked up photography, and while driving down a back road in central Virginia one day, came across an abandoned school. Intrigued by the area’s aura of blight and decay, he started taking pictures. More than 1,100 buildings later he had enough material for his first book, A Beautifully Broken Virginia, which was published last year. The book’s more than 80 images show deserted houses, crumbling insane asylums and decaying churches, often with strangely beautiful furniture and fixtures that provide a window into the past. Plashal scouted locations by hanging around small towns and knocking on doors: “Virginians are extremely accommodating and want to help. Ninety-nine times out of 100, when I approached these people, I was invited into their homes,” he says. $39.95. JohnPlashalPhoto.com
Upcoming Storytelling Presentations and Book Signings
Nov. 3 — Stories of an Abandoned Virginia, Caravati’s Architectural Salvage, Richmond
Nov. 27 — A Beautifully Broken Virginia Storytelling Session, Central Rappahannock Regional Library, Fredericksburg
