What draws me to a remote prairie ghost town in the solitude of the night? What force is there, powerful enough to make me travel thousands of kilometres on nothing more than a lead that such a place "might" exist? Why do I feed off the atmosphere of these abandoned spaces? And when I successfully capture this atmosphere on film, why do others find these images so fascinating?

We spend most of our lives kidding ourselves that we will live forever. When faced with our own mortality, we default to hoping that a bit of what we have created throughout our mortal existence will live on for future generations. But eventually even what we've left behind no longer has a place or purpose. Is our fascination with derelict places somehow a desire to understand what happens when even the dream itself dies?

Night is the best time to experience these places. They're thick with atmosphere and the ghosts are much more willing to tell their stories. But fear of the unknown keeps most people from venturing forth into the darkness. I too, was reluctant at first but a fascination with these places eventually got the best of me. Psychologists use terms like "Exposure Therapy" and "Desensitization" to describe the process of facing one's fears. Over the years I have been night shooting, the experience has gone from being an uneasy, adrenaline charged exercise in stubborn determination, to one where I now feel a strong connection to the places I photograph at night.

Working alone, silently, with minimal gear that is all carried on my person, I try not to disturb the mood of these places. The less I do, the more willing they are to reveal their stories. I avoid using a flashlight any more than absolutely necessary. While flashlights are great for seeing what is in front of you, the beam blocks the view of your surroundings. By waiting a moment to become accustomed to the night, I actually see more. Soon I blend in and become as much a part of the nocturnal environment as the haunting calls of owls and coyotes in the distance, the pigeons nesting in the rafters, and the skunks and rodents that scurry about underfoot.

My night photographs are all time exposures, ranging from about five minutes up to a half-hour or more. Where possible I take advantage of natural moonlight. To illuminate areas obscured by shadow I add light while the photo is exposing. Due to the long exposures, I can actually walk through the scene without appearing on film, provided I don't stand in one place for too long.

The process of adding light is very much influenced by the location itself. It works best when left to be completely intuitive. The less I consciously think about choices of colour, angles of lighting and such, the better I seem to capture the essence of these places. It's about stillness, and taking time to listen, to smell, to feel, and to fully experience. The ghosts will tell the stories, still delicately preserved within the peeling paint, overgrown sidewalks through now vacant fields, rusted gas pumps and abandoned shops.

To see more of Larrie Thomson's night photography and read stories about these places late at night, be sure to visit his web site,  Night Photographer Dot Com .