We normally focus on only the most recent LEGO creations, but from time to time I run across a builder whose work I hadn’t taken notice of before (despite Josh posting Dark’s bazaar), and that I have to share regardless of when it was posted. Such is the case with Russian builder Dark-Alamez.

Brick Town Talk recently featured this Chicago scene, complete with a portable compressor and checkered taxi cab.

But I was transfixed by the next photo over, which combines simple details like the bedroll on the horse’s saddle in the foreground with a forced-perspective microscale castle in the background to create a wonderfully layered scene that tells a touching story.

Dark’s more recent ghost town features a collapsing shack and weathered chapel, with exactly the sort of rundown equipment you’d see lying around in parts of Northern California.

Ultimately, what caught my attention about Dark-Alamez is the variety of what he builds — not all in one style or theme. Check out all of Dark-Alamez’s LEGO models in his photostream on Flickr and Brickshelf gallery.