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 starling jealously guards a seed station in the back garden of the photographer’s Michigan home in January 2024. (Photo by Lisa Cavanary/Solent News)

Australian model Shanina Shaik attends the Interview x Equinox party during NYFW on February 7, 2024. (Photo by Rupert Ramsay/BFA.com)

American television personality Dolores Catania in the first decade of February 2024 gets the “hot gossip” in a staged photo. (Photo by dolorescatania/Instagram)

Afghan children buy breads from a bakery in Fayzabad of Badakhshan province on February 7, 2024. (Photo by Omer Abrar/AFP Photo)

English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa preps for her performance at the Brit Awards with a vocal warmup early March 2024. (Photo by Dua Lipa/Instagram)

Women smeared with “Gulal” as they celebrate Holi, the Hindu spring festival of colours, in Kolkata on March 25, 2024. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP Photo)

A girl competes in a hobby horsing competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 21, 2024. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)