After a long day at work, I’ve come home to find news that Ian Talty, better known to me as MundaneJoy on the White Chapel forums and Twitter, died today. I never met him in person, but he was an absolutely amazing local photographer that I’d hoped to hook up with in one of his always impressive urban exploration expeditions. Adding to it, it looks like it happened blocks away from my apartment and just before I was headed to work this morning, and its just striking me now that the police car with its lights going that I almost took a photo of because it looked cool in the rain(but didn’t because I didn’t want to bust out the camera in the rain) had to have been headed to the scene as it turned off Marshall in getting to my side of the bridge. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Wow, its hitting me pretty hard here and I’ve only known him for a brief time online. He had a great personality, a true passion for his art, and an outstanding capability to make even the worst decay look beautiful. He was also doing a pretty good job of being an inspiration to my own photography and my baby steps into getting off the beaten path to finding the hidden gems all around us. He always had a kind word for my own shots, and was nice enough to let me take my pick of his photos for part of the new layout I’m working on when I asked him about it just last night. Sadly I don’t have more words for him as I knew him in such a limited capacity, so I’ll shut up and let some of his recent photos speak for themselves:

He’ll be missed greatly, seeing new shots from him always made the day a little brighter, and he always came across as someone I’d enjoy hanging out with.

Updated: Star Tribune and Pioneer Press articles on the accident. I was really looking foward to linking you all(however small the number) to his newest shoots as a part of getting my blog going again, and knowing that I won’t be able has been bumming me out all day. And, as I carelessly failed to mention it last night, my thoughts are with his friends and family, this can’t be a pleasant time for them by any means and I wish them the best as they deal with it.