Since picking up my X-E4 a few weeks ago (after falling in love with the form factor of my X-E2), I've carried it with me everywhere. That finally paid off when a stormy day led me into the (somewhat) dry shopping mall in our town. I've photographed this mall before here, but I wasn't comfortable shooting in public at the time, and I didn't stay long. This time, I let myself stay as long as I pleased and I came away with some shots that I'm pretty happy with. 

The mall has lost several more stores since I was last there to photograph it, so only about four retail stores remain within the mall, along with two anchor stores, a Planet Fitness, and a casino. Some storefronts appear to be being used as surplus storage, but most are vacant with the gates closed and windows covered with paper. The ceiling is in worse condition than ever, with water coming through the light fixtures, ceiling panels, and skylights. You can see most of my photos feature at least some missing ceiling tiles. Many also feature janitorial mop buckets and wet floor signage.

While photographing an area of the mall, an employee at one of the locations walked by and commented on the water coming in through the light fixtures and dripping into the buckets below. "You should see what it's like back here," she said as she motioned to the back room of the location she was working at. "It's all exposed wires and water coming in through the walls. Safe, right?" I replied that I couldn't believe it was in such a state of disrepair. She shrugged and said, "the owner makes more money if it burns down."

Although I'm happy with the photos I took yesterday, walking around reminds me of what malls were like when I was younger. I found myself feeling sad for the plants that were being watered by the dripping ceilings, for the handful of stores with no customers, and for the general state of the building. I'm not sure how much longer it'll stick around, but I'll be stopping in every now and again, and I'll surely document those trips well. 

All photos taken with the Fujifilm X-E4 + Fujifilm XF 27mm f/2.8 R WR.