Photographer Creates Flooded Ghost Town in His Backyard

Photography Tips

Sinking furniture in a pool in your backyard doesn’t sound like a usual part of the photography process but photographer Kyle Thompson did just that. Thompson created ghostly scenes of a flooded town in his own backyard using an above ground pool and props from thrift stores. The result is a collection of eerie photographs depicting people in flooded rooms that each tell a story about the former “inhabitant”:

Thompson would first build a set before flooding it with water. To make the water murky he used dirt and food coloring, and since it would settle to the bottom quickly, he would stir it up right before getting the shot. All the portraits are either of his roommates and friends or are self-portraits. While he tried to shoot the photos during the summer to make it a more comfortable experience for his friends, the project lasted a bit into the fall. Thompson says despite the temperatures getting colder his subjects were still good sports about it. To add to his collection he also visited an actual flooded ghost town in Utah to get shots of the exterior of a house (seen in the gallery).

The farthest Thompson went inside the flooded house in Utah.

Thompson says he waded barefoot around in the swampy house during a camping trip and is lucky that he didn’t pick up any parasites. Now that’s going the extra mile for a shot!