Dukes and Duchesses of the Deserted!
Holy shit... that has been one of the most production weeks yet of the contest. We had just under 150 qualifying entries and it was not an easy one to judge. So much great content! I spent the last three hours looking back through all of them and whittling down my selections. So many of these winners could be swapped out with lots of other ones too. Again, you guys did great. I ended up going with choice that I'd love to see myself, in person, the most as well as a few that appealed to me overall. Okay, lets get down to the winners!
The Theme:
This week's theme = Freestyle! Anything goes!. Well.... ALMOST anything. It just has to be abandoned. Helpful Hint: the crustier, more grown-in, more dilapidated, the better!
The results:
1st Place Winner - 10 x 100% Power Upvotes:
https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmbRtsLe19XWjJJf1G8rDnDPFRDaNFKUX9XSNEARECCABi
This... is pretty much my vision of abandoned shit paradise! I love the old brick construction. I love the creeping ivy that's slowly swallowing it up. I love the history. As much has I kept looking around through the entries, I kept finding myself coming back to this one by 
From the author: "After the death of Princess Dorothea in 1862, her younger son, Aleksander Edmund Marquis de Talleyrand-Périgord, became the owner of the palace. On his initiative, the palace and orangery were reconstructed according to the design of A. Jaekel. The palace was burnt in 1945 and was never rebuilt.."
ENTRY = https://steemit.com/photography/@dmytrokorol/walking-nearby-1-palace-of-princess-dorothea-of-courland-in-zatonie
2nd Place Winner - 5 x 100% Power Upvotes:
Once again, it was a tossup between this entry and the one above as two who gets 1st place. They are pretty similar in appearance, actually. I especially liked the architecture and arches in this one. Lots of great history as well. Check it out for yourself as there's lots of great photos and information!
From the author: "Now the building is completely abandoned. It collapses and overgrown with trees and weeds. Its appearance causes both admiration, and regrets, and if to be honest, shame."
ENTRY =https://steemit.com/aswcontest/@zirochka/abandoned-beauty-dominican-church-in-yazlovets-ukraine-en-ua
3rd Place Winner - 3 x 100% Power Upvote:
I love things like this. Stuff that's a good 150 years old, but not on display in a museum or on exhibit. Just sitting out where it was when it was abandoned. Like a small time capsule that makes up the area when you're standing there looking at it.
From the author: "I spotted this wonderful old vintage baling or threshing machine abandoned on a farm in Sandveld recently. This is an area near the small town of Hopefield. I'm not sure exactly what this piece of machinery was used for. Amazing that this old relic from another time still seems to have all it's metal parts. The scrap merchants have not yet laid their eyes on it."
ENTRY = https://steemit.com/aswcontest/@capelight/vintage-baling-machine-abandoned-from-another-age
Honorable Mentions - 1 x 100% Power Upvote each - In no particular order:
"The chain was already embedded in this tree ten years ago, when the current owners bought the house it lives behind. I suspect the tree had been chained together in an effort to fix it from splitting and prevent portions from falling on to the house or garage."
https://steemit.com/aswcontest/@soill/chained-tree-s-revenge
"I flew from Oregon to the East Coast to meet up with a photographer buddy of mine to drive back to Oregon and one of the places we stopped along the way was Forest Haven, an abandoned mental institution in Maryland. Below is a staircase from one of the buildings."
https://steemit.com/photography/@idkpdx/my-entry-for-abandoned-shit-weekly-aswcontest
"This is a ship that transported passengers and heavy cargo such as: Cars and trucks, Their route was from Puerto la Cruz to the island of Margarita and vice versa; This boat called "Maria Rosario" has been abandoned for more than 10 years at the Ferry Terminal in Puerto la Cruz, this transport unit, could have been recovered at the time because it stopped working only due to mechanical failures, but due to the lack of maintenance the saltpeter ended up turning it into scrap metal."
https://steemit.com/aswcontest/@oscarcede/abandoned-shit-weekly-contest-15-freestyle-the-silent-death-of-a-boat-in-the-bay
"an abandoned high school that I explored in Missouri. The flooded hallway provided an amazing reflection that was begging to be captured. I am also including photos that I took of the gym and auditorium. There were no lights on in the building so these are all long exposure shots."
https://steemit.com/aswcontest/@fivealive55/asw-contest-entry-abandoned-school-in-missouri
FINAL THOUGHTS
Whew! That was a tough one! I'm still not 100% comfortable with my selections as there were SO many great ones to choose from. There were also so many entries that I still haven't gotten to my 20% upvotes to all qualifying entries, but don't worry, I'll get to them all! Thanks to everyone for making this week of Abandoned Shit Weekly Contest such a success!
Abandoned Shit Weekly Contest - №. 16 will be announced tomorrow, so look for the official contest post to see what the week's theme will be!
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