Are you an architecture buff who has traveling at the top of your list this year? Many travel all over to view and capture beautiful sites on camera. However, what about the places that have been forgotten and abandoned over time? These places, once filled with life and activity, have laid silently, overgrown with remnants of the past. Many would decide to skip on such a place for several reasons. However, two friends decided to take exploration into their own hands and document their journey as The Proper People. 

Bryan and Michael of the Proper People used their love for film, photography, and architecture to explore forgotten places that exist all over the world. Beginning in 2014, the avid travelers set out on a journey to explore and photograph their findings. Having made over 135 videos, these architectural cinematographers have developed a rather large fan base thanks to YouTube. With over half a million subscribers, The Proper People, have allowed for viewers to join them on their journey while sitting at the comfort of their own homes. 

"When you step into an abandoned building, you get the feeling that you’re leaving the world you know and stepping into another one- maybe one you’ve seen in movies, read about in a book, or only imagined in your dreams. We realized that abandoned places exist in a world isolated from the daily lives of most everyone, only to be experienced by the few who see the merit in taking the risk to enter them."

From abandoned hospitals, mansions, factories, and even asylums, The Proper People have explored it all. One specific detail Bryan and Michael emphasize on is respecting the spaces they visit, and keeping up with the area's anonymity. When asked about their travels, the two stated, "We are secretive about certain locations in order to protect them. Abandoned buildings are huge targets for vandalism for many reasons. For one, scrappers like to come in and strip the place of all copper wiring and pipes. Then there are your run-of-the-mill vandals who are just looking to smash some windows and spray paint walls. Finally in the most extreme cases you have arsonists. We don’t want to aid these people in their quest to cause destruction by making these locations publicly known."

Below are a few of our favorite videos from The Proper People’s adventures. For full content, head over to the team’s official YouTube channel here.