Talking Walls Photography

Hi! My name is Michael Lalonde, a photographer and urban explorer from the Hamilton, Ontario area. My fascination with Ontario’s abandoned heritage structures began around 1998 when I learned of a former prison town by the name of Burwash. It fascinated me to think that in today’s society that an entire town could remain off the map. Burwash wasn’t the complete town I’d thought it was, it was demolished many years ago. However the desire to see what else might be out there was now quite alive.

My quest led me to a series of books on Ghost Towns of Ontario published by Canadian author Ron Brown. Over the years my interest in ghost towns faded, as most of them were now in ruins. My focus changed to abandoned houses and industries. My passion is to document them before they’re gone forever.

I wanted to share my love of these forgotten places with society and so in 1999, I created a website named Mike’s Ontario Ghost Towns & Abandoned Places. This was at a time before social media existed as we know it today. The website became a central meeting point for many future urban explorers. I made countless friends, some remain friends to this day while others only hung around for the free locations. Eventually I changed the website’s name to Ontario Abandoned Places to reflect the shifting content. I no longer operate the website as I feel it’s fulfilled it’s purpose above and beyond my expectations.

I’ve been featured in The Sudbury Star, CBC, Northern Life, Reader’s Digest (Our Canada Magazine) and The Daily Mail.