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Warden

@warden.wanders

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Not all those who wander are lost
Finding the Beauty in the Broken

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There's so much that's worth dying for.
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6 Deep on the Ritz is wild..
New Years Sends couldn't have possibly gotten much better than this. I'm talking, send, after send, after send, then we finally got to the roof.
And the moment we stepped out of hiding, Wilshire Grand was counting us down from 30 seconds.
I stood there, basking in the current moment.
Even with the thousands of boisterous fireworks rampaging below us, my mind felt incredibly calm.
After hiding from security multiple times, staying silent and only hearing the rhythmic thumping of my heart, combined with the occasional security boots stomping above our hiding spot.
In this moment, the world felt like it sat still.
Not only did it feel still, but it felt like the powers of the universe guided us here, to this exact moment, to experience exactly what we were experiencing.
Nothing felt real, while everything felt so vibrant all at once.
Completely awestruck by the fog, I stood there. With no intentions of breaking the spell I was under.
I realized that if it weren't for the crew that I was with, I would've never gotten to experience this moment.
And there went the clock.
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Happy New Year.
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Life is a myriad of moments. In each one, you get to choose how the story goes, and we are the ultimate storytellers to God's great book.
Every moment you get to enjoy is meant to be yours.
Enjoy it. And bask in the beauty that is now.
Choose to Live Now. Photo by Warden on January 11, 2025. May be an image of skyscraper, fog, night and text. taken in Los Angeles, California by @warden.wanders

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2 years ago

Stuck inside the ether, holding onto what's familiar. taken in Etheria by @warden.wanders

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3 years ago

My first time laying my eyes on this bridge, I was already there to climb it.
I had never done a suspension bridge, and I was terrified. But after sharing some beers with @ploars (who might just be the only person I've ever met to be more outgoing than me) and some random college kids in a park at midnight, I gained the necessary motivation to take on this feat. So, I hopped in the car and went to lay my eyes on the bridge for the first time, only 10 minutes before I started my ascent. As I began to climb the ropes, I turned my back to the river. I knew I had messed up. Having my back to the river made my blood feel stale, my head felt like a cloud. I knew I couldn't stop here. I shoved my body up and got on top of the cable. Then, in this moment, all I knew was left foot. Right foot. No time to stop to take pictures, my brain was running at too high of a speed to slow down now. I had to get to the top. Gripping the side cables with my sudden gorilla-strength grip, I couldn't decide whether I needed to stare at my feet for walking, or stop looking down, so as to not succumb to the impending vertigo. Then,
I made it to the top.
I walked my way over to the center bridge, and as I laid down, my head to the stars, I finally took a deep breath. My brain, now finally slowing down, I began to think.
With being so close to death, do my actions value the time that I have here, by making the most out of this life? Or do my actions show a lack of value towards life? Does being on the edge mean you understand how fragile our morality is, or does it give us a sense of false-hope? As if we're immortal? Giving us a mentality that is un-fit for human life.
I often feel I'm not meant to be where I am, like reality has just spun me around, and now I'm wandering through life, dazed and confused. But here, I feel still. Once I've made it to the top of this 600ft tall bridge, my brain finally feels still. I feel like I'm standing on the most solid ground I've ever experienced. I felt fearless
Then a semi truck drives under the bridge, shaking it, and reminding me once again, how fragile and uneasy my reality is. Just how easily a single experience can shake up your whole world. by @warden.wanders

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3 years ago

The Kansas City Star
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(2022-2025)
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The Kansas City Star was founded in 1880, and President Harry Truman even worked there for 2 weeks in 1902. With over a century of expansion, this facility was built next door to their historic 1911 Italiante HQ.
When it was built on Truman Road in 2006, this facility was a "state of the art" investment, intended to keep the printing of newspapers in downtown for decades to come.
It had an automated shipping and receiving facility that would take pallets of newspapers and load them directly onto trucks using their robotic automated system (pic 11/12). The printing would be entirely automated, with automated clamps carrying papers fresh off the press (pic 1/2) and into the sorting machines, where pallets would be created (pic 15/16).
The printing presses themselves would stand almost 5 stories tall (pic 8/9) and would be some of the most advanced presses in the world when created. However, the investment in newspapers came at a time of rapid expansion of online news development. Before 2006, the only way to obtain real world news was by watching the TV, or reading the paper.
By 2021, the losses incurred from the change were too much for the company to handle. The Star would send its printing to Des Moines and now, the company only holds offices in a small leased section of crown center.
The iconic glass building is now a hollow shell of its former self. The presses were gutted in 2025 and the "matrix" room followed it in 2026. Both rooms still sit fully vacant, only as empty shells.
The site has been redeveloped into an AI data center. The company "Patmos" managed to move in and begin operations before public opinion would drastically change on AI data centers. They claimed to have had plans for the printing hall, but they fell through.
When the Star was here, there were over 250 employed here. Today, Patmos AI employs roughly 50 in the same building.
If you visit the building today, you will likely be greeted by Patmos' robot security guard.
A sad fall from grace for such an iconic building.
This was a long overdue write-up of a place that I had taken more shots than pictures inside of...
Live Now. taken in Kansas City, Missouri by @warden.wanders

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23 days ago

Italian Ossuary
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These skulls date back to the 17th century.
During the Counter-Reformation and Baroque periods, European Catholic churches decorated rooms like these as "memento mori" (reminders of mortality).
The art style, like the one seen in these frescoes, focuses heavily on heaven, purgatory, and salvation.
Live now. taken in Italy by @warden.wanders

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2 months ago

Broken Down By Decay
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Libbey Glass Factory - Shreveport
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Opening in 1922, this factory was a massive deal for the Shreveport area, officially placing this small town on the map as an industrial hub. From the 1970's to 2020 they made actual glassware here. Then in 2020, due to pandemic economic shifts, the plant was to shut down and 450 employees lost their jobs, further plunging Shreveport into the modern economic hardship it faces today.
However, in 2025 it was said that demolition would begin on the 103 year old facility.
Today, it is still being demolished and turned into a "modern industrial site"... probably a big grey box.
Live now. taken in Shreveport, Louisiana by @warden.wanders

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2 months ago

Electronic Data Systems Global Headquarters
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This simplistic seeming structure transformed Plano Texas into the high-end technology hub that it is known as today.
Eventually large tech, insurance, and banking companies would station their headquarters here in the decades following this building's construction in 1992.
EDS was the first company to introduce "IT outsourcing". They invented an entire new field of work that employs millions today. IBM sold the product, while EDS sold the expertise and the staff to run the machines for large corporations. Through the 90's the company grew quickly and needed a new central hub for its employees.
This 1.6m sq ft building was only home to EDS for about 16 years before EDS would be purchased by HP Enterprise. HP would then slowly move out of the building for the next 10 years until selling the property to Nexpoint in 2018.
It would then sit vacant until 2023 when Nextpoint claimed they had plans to turn the building into laboratories, research offices, pharmaceutical space, and shared community amenities. They got zoning permits and development agreements with the city of Plano in 2025. However, seemingly out of nowhere, Nexpoint sold the 54acre property to AT&T and demolition began immediately, and rapidly. Today, demolition is still moving along in order to turn the site into AT&T's new global headquarters.
( The compass and the eagle seen in these pictures are assumed to be demolished and thrown away, aswell as the palm trees, rip palm trees. 🌴👼 )
Within weeks large portions of the site had already been demolished, and the property quickly became a ticket trap. The week following my visit to Plano, over 30 people had been arrested. And in Texas, you don't typically get caught by cops without getting charged. I'm just glad we made it out safe.
Live now. taken in Plano, Texas by @warden.wanders

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3 months ago

Temple Ohab Shalom of Bayonne, New Jersey.
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Ohab Shalom, meaning "love of peace" was adorned with hand painted ceilings depicting different zodiac signs, which served as a reminder that heaven and earth met underneath this ceiling. It had a beautiful, decorative wooden interior and specially designed stained glass windows that honored members of the congregation. (Shown in pic 3)
It was founded by a small, passionate group in 1915, until becoming an official congregation in 1919. In the Jewish community it was known at the "Uptown Synagogue".
This building turned out to be one of many Synagogues in and around the Jersey City area that welcomed in Jewish Holocaust survivors during and after the war.
In 2003, it was closed and immediately sold off. This was then followed by 23 years of neglect, until it was demolished in 2026. The stained glass windows were thankfully saved however, and will hopefully find new homes soon enough.
Live now taken in Bayonne, New Jersey by @warden.wanders

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4 months ago

First Baptist Church of Burlington, Iowa
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It was built in 1884 and was last sold in 2014 for $6,462.
Built by a local Burlington Architect, this building was nestled into a historic district, with many congregations surrounding it.
The engraved, cast-iron church bell was gifted to the congregation by two formerly enslaved people, in 1865. When First Baptist moved locations in 1969, they brought the bell with them.
The former church building however has since passed through a series of buyers, all of whom have been unable to do anything with the building.
The church sat at the foot of Burlingtons famous "Snake Alley", a tightly curving alleyway that makes 5, 180° turns within 275 feet.
The church was demolished at the end of 2025, and the landmark that has stood in the city for more than 140 years is gone.
The property was sold for about $5k and all the original oak and cherry wood pews and beams are being scrapped apart and sold.
Live now. taken in Burlington, Iowa by @warden.wanders

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5 months ago

SCI Greensburg
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Opened: June, 1969
Expanded: May, 1986
Demolished: 2025-2026
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Apparently the prisoners here used to make dough for a pizzeria in Philadelphia? Which is cool don't get me wrong, but thats gotta be some stale dough by the time it shows up.
Anyway, I hope today was kind to all of you.
Live now. taken in Greensburg, Pennsylvania by @warden.wanders

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5 months ago

Tell me of your despair and I will share mine.
Meanwhile, the world will go on

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Originally part of a Catholic Seminary, this chapel, nestled into the picturesque Italian countryside was built in the 1930's.
In its life, it would be a Jesuit School, Vocational School, a refugee center, and for 10 years, a small police station.
In 2001, an Armenian attempted to save the property, but quickly went bankrupt.
In 2021, there were prospectives of saving the structure, but nothing came to fruition.
Sometime in the 2000's, the center grave was smashed open, and looted.
Now, it sits decaying, with little to no upkeep.
Live now. taken in Italy by @warden.wanders

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5 months ago

What do you call a guilty pleasure that you don't feel guilty about ? taken in Chicago by @warden.wanders

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6 months ago