Charles Johnstone was given one of the last batches of the toxic chemicals and paper that make cibachrome images. He used it to seek out empty places across New York’s five boroughs. His portfolio includes Brooklyn Corrugated Iron Fences, Thirty Four Basketball Courts, A Few Empty Pools, Some New York Handball Courts, and New York Storefront Churches, printed in the luminous cibachrome colour process

‘I shot the photos mostly in winter, in the middle of the day. This was especially important for the empty pools series. The New York City parks department lock their pools in the winter and were reluctant to let me go inside not for only insurance reasons but they were not happy with my previous book on handball courts. I finally got in with the help of a kindly PR person’...