Kieron Connolly’s new book of photographs of more than 100 once-busy and often elegant buildings gives an idea of how the world might look if humankind disappeared. Here: Bodie, Mono County, California. Gold was discovered at Bodie in 1859 (just after the initial California gold rush) and it went from mining camp to boomtown. Its decline began in 1880, when word spread of new boomtowns elsewhere. The Standard Consolidated Mine closed in 1913, and four years later the Bodie Railway was abandoned. By 1940 the population was down to 40. Today, Bodie is maintained in a state of arrested decay as a visitor attraction. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

A knife is seen beside a bowl containing blood after a ram was killed as a sacrifice in front of a shrine at the annual voodoo festival in Ouidah, Benin, January 10, 2016. In Ouidah, a small town and former slave port in the West African country of Benin, the annual voodoo festival gathers visitors from far and wide. It's a week that brings together priests and dignitaries, rich and poor, locals and visitors from as far afield as the Caribbean and France. The festival commemorates the estimated 60 million people who lost their homelands and their freedom during the African slave trade. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

A Hindu holy man is reflected on a mirror as he prepares a bowl of vermillion powder for devotees near “Sangam”, the confluence of holy rivers of Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, during the annual traditional fair of Magh Mela in Allahabad, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Tuesday, January 6, 2015. Hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus are expected to take holy dips at the confluence during the astronomically auspicious period of over 45 days celebrated as Magh Mela. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

A green rosella and a wallaby, known as a Pademelon, eye off as they drink from a water bowl put out for thirsty wild animals at a back-yard in Kayena, in northern Tasmania, 01 February 2019. Australia recorded its hottest month on record in January; it was also the hottest and driest month on record for the Australian island state of Tasmania. (Photo by Barbara Walton/EPA/EFE)

Guns decorated with gold and jewellery are displayed in the Drugs Museum, used by the military to showcase to soldiers the lifestyles of Mexican drug lords, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Mexico City, October 14, 2016. (Photo by Henry Romero/Reuters)

Gold Lame suit worn by Elvis Presley at the Direct from Graceland: Elvis exhibition which is held at the Arches London Bridge on October 19, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images)

A man poses for a picture to show his rings of gold, silver and bronze on his fist in Zamfara, Nigeria April 21, 2016. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

Gold medallists of China perform Synchronised Swimming Free Combination routine at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center during the 17th Asian Games in Incheon September 23, 2014. (Photo by Tim Wimborne/Reuters)