Gorgeous photographs of empty, usually busy streets

Michael Kimmelman, introducing The Great Empty feature on the New York Times:

The photographs here all tell a similar story: a temple in Indonesia; Haneda Airport in Tokyo; the Americana Diner in New Jersey. Emptiness proliferates like the virus.

The Times recently sent dozens of photographers out to capture images of once-bustling public plazas, beaches, fairgrounds, restaurants, movie theaters, tourist meccas and train stations.

By the time you read this, you will probably already have seen this collection of photos from the New York Times, but they are so beautiful and meaningful that I had to share the link here. My favourite may be Alessandro Penso’s View from the Spanish Step in Rome: it almost looks like the picture has been photoshopped. Truly incredible.