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Crestwood Court: abandoned megamall or zombie apocalypse?

Crestwood Court: abandoned megamall or zombie apocalypse?

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crestwood court mall (DAN WAMPLER)
crestwood court mall (DAN WAMPLER)

When Crestwood Court mall in St. Louis closed its doors for good last month, the scene was ripe for photographer Dan Wampler. Some of Wampler's photos are spine-tinglingly creepy, thanks in part to his use of HDR, which leaves many objects surrounded with an eerie glow. Wampler used exposures as long as five minutes to achieve the desired effect — a lifeless, abandoned landscape reminiscent of a zombie apocalypse film. Some highlights include a pair of escalators, frozen in time, stilts beneath the mall blending with neighboring foliage, and a lone chair, flanked by peeling wallpaper and an old tube TV mounted on the wall. "The following images may be the last opportunity anyone will have to see the inside for some time," Wampler notes. Well, anyone alive, that is.