shooting in abandon buildings

I love abandoned buildings and places. There are a few ghost towns close to where I live. Always a great reason to grab a camera or two and head out.

Was in a small town yesterday which according to the 2006 census had 25 residents. I think it's dropped considerably since then.

I try to always wear steel toe and plate shoes just incase I step on a board with nails in it. Of course that doesn't help if you fall into an old well.

Thanks for the link
 
FWIW I would go with someone who's experienced in this stuff before going off on your own. There are a lot of things that can go wrong. I know from personal experience of incidents involving broken legs, 3 storey falls, and arrests. This stuff isn't a walk in the park. There are a lot of places to get up to speed before trying your first 'exploration' I'd make a point of checking them out. It will help.

To get you going this is the largest DB for UE worldwide.. www.uer.ca

cheers
 
thanks for the replies.
has anyone encounter anything suspicious?
sometimes is hard to tell if it is haunted or not...

to Jan...
how did you get arrest?
isn't it suppose to be abandon and no one inside?
please tell the story!!!

have a great day,
 
I love abandoned buildings/places.

There are those that go it solo, I recommend bringing someone in case any issues arise. Like Jan said sometimes things happen and a second person could be invaluable. I was out with some friends at an abandoned factory that was known to have a fair amount of homeless and junkies residing there from time to time. We came to an area that seemed to be a dead end with a few holes in the wall here and there when all at once a familiar smell hit me. The smell was that of an old musty Army surplus sleeping bag. Now we couldn't see it but there was no mistaking the smell, someone was close by. I chatted with the people I was with(we broke up into 3-4 person groups) and said there was nothing where we were heading so we may as well turn back so off we went.

Later on when we were leaving we came acroas some of the guards from the security company on patrol(one from the group had an in with the boss, the only reason we got in) and I metioned it to them. Turns out they were always on the look out for the person as he's gotten a bit aggresive with few of them but always manages to escape after striking.

Just be careful and aware of your soroundings.
 
Depending on your country´s laws, wandering onto abandoned sites can be considered trespassing and subject to prosecution. Apart from that there is the obvious risk of getting hurt. Abandoned buildings may be structurally unsafe, they may not be cleared of dubious substances, previous "visitors" may have made things worse by vandalism etc.

Having said that there is an own allure to old and decrepit buildings. I know some can´t find beauty in things that are inherently ugly, but I do. Especially industrial sites are interesting in my view.
 
PKR said:
Contact the owner. If a city or county is the owner they may provide an escort. If your work is good the owner may want a visual document showing the structure before it gives way to progress.

I've had great success in a long term project documenting an area of my city. The city has been very helpfull with access and introductions.
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Agreed. Asking for permission is better than begging for forgiveness.
 
Make sure someone knows where you are going and will raise the alarm if you don't come back in time - people have died in these kinds of places.
 
Here's my Flickr for these sort of things - http://www.flickr.com/photos/disinteresting/

Been quite a passion of mine for quite a while now. I would definitely agree with previous comments about safety, common sense & respecting the locations you explore (i.e. not vandalising, damaging, looting or otherwise leaving any trace you were there, both for the next explorers to come and see the location and also in case someone is checking security, so the place doesn't get locked down)
 
KarlG said:
Here's my Flickr for these sort of things - http://www.flickr.com/photos/disinteresting/

Been quite a passion of mine for quite a while now. I would definitely agree with previous comments about safety, common sense & respecting the locations you explore (i.e. not vandalising, damaging, looting or otherwise leaving any trace you were there, both for the next explorers to come and see the location and also in case someone is checking security, so the place doesn't get locked down)
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Some nice work Karl. I see quite a few friends of mine in your flickr contacts. Ktoth being one. We ran ntropy.us for about 5 years. Dsankt is also a friend.
 
KarlG said:
Here's my Flickr for these sort of things - http://www.flickr.com/photos/disinteresting/

Been quite a passion of mine for quite a while now. I would definitely agree with previous comments about safety, common sense & respecting the locations you explore (i.e. not vandalising, damaging, looting or otherwise leaving any trace you were there, both for the next explorers to come and see the location and also in case someone is checking security, so the place doesn't get locked down)
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wow, great set!

always been a fan of urban decay, and even more of reclamation, when you can see little bits of nature start to creep back in and make things organic again. But, i'm no hippie of course :rolleyes:
 
I just rented a grain elevator for three months. It has been out of use for 15 years.

I shot in there for the month of January back in 2006, and have been working on those images since August. Everybody has been saying I should shoot more, so I'm getting the keys on Monday.

bldg-v1-1.jpg
3816-6.jpg


aperture-pipe1.jpg


3941-detail.jpg
 
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