While the exposition is rather small at Grand Cafe Godot it was well worth the visit. We had a small forum meeting with some food before visiting the expo. Nice to meet some of the folks at urbanexploration.be

Introduction

Whether you’re a photographer or just someone who has an interest in (abandoned) buildings we all (or most of us) had that feeling before when we saw a decaying building. Questioning what purpose it served, who worked there, why it was left behind, etc. For me at least that was the driving force to start with this wonderful hobby. However I must add that it has taken me several months (or even years) before I actually explored an abandoned building.

The reason is simple: often these buildings were left behind many years ago and without maintenance. This means that there is a high risk factor involved when you’d go out and explore such site. Concrete rot / cancer, metal fatigue and/or corrosion, chemicals, asbestos, etc. to name a few are real dangers for an urban explorer. Not only can a site be dangerous to explore but you’re also breaking the law.

Whenever you’re exploring you’re almost certainly at least trespassing. Which is the act of unauthorized entry upon the soil of another and you can be sure that while a building might almost collapse because of negligence it’s still owned by someone or a legal entity. So it’s not uncommon for land owners to prosecute you (or trying to) for breaking and entering. This is also where the “code of urban exploration” comes into play. How interesting or promising a location might be, as an explorer you don’t break your way in. No lock picking, no breaking of windows or busting out doors.

Which type of buildings or sites to explore

That’s up to you, actually. People have explored all kinds of abandoned buildings / sites in the past. Most explorers I know are not confined to a specific kind of building / site. Most of us explore just about anything that’s abandoned such as:

• Industry
  Industrial facilities are often explored because they give us a visual reminder of a thriving industry. Another reason is that these places are usually large and cover several square meters of space. Think about a blast furnace or power plant. You’d need a full day (and often more) to explore every inch of these buildings / sites to see what they have on offer.
• Medical facilities or care institutions
  Abandoned hospitals, insane asylums, laboratories, etc. speak to our imagination. Who was treated there and why? What was it like to be in an insane asylum during the 50′s or 60′s? If you’re lucky you’ll also often find medical appliances, drugs and other stuff that has been forgotten.
• Tunnels and underground features
  While it might not seem like a big deal to explore, underground facilities and tunnels often have things in store you’d not expect at first sight.
• Theaters and cinemas
  During its heydays these places were filled with people. Every seat was occupied. Perhaps your parents or grandparents visited these structures in the past on multiple occasions.  Now all that’s left is ruin. The empty rooms are just a faint reminder of the busy past.
• Military structures
  Abandoned barracks, missile silos, fortresses. All military facilities are covered in secrecy. Finally the curtain fell for these locations and are now slowly taken over again by nature. The down side is that often there is still some type of security present because while not actively being used these structures provide excellent storage space.
• Religious places
  You’d never expect a place of worship to be abandoned but it happens. From a small chapel to monasteries it has been abandoned for us to explore.
• Amusement parks
  From time to time even the ferris wheel stops working.

Types of explorers

As you may have noticed there are two kinds of explorers. On one side you have the true explorer. A person that appreciates an abandoned building pure by its presence. Usually out there with nothing more than a small backpack and a flashlight enjoying the exploration itself as the most rewarding thing to get from such place. In the other corner stands the “opponent” (not really), the photographer.

A person that knows the tricks in and out of a camera, has studied light and how to manipulate it to his or hers advantage. The photographer is also (most of the time) the one that shows off the work on the internet. Often by posting photographs on Flickr, any other image sharing platform and/or on a discussion board. Because their pride is not so necessarily the exploration of an abandoned building but the resulting photographic work of such location. That’s not to say that a photographer cannot be a true explorer (or an explorer is not a real photographer) but both have their own perspective of seeing things. The explorer is there and brings his camera just to document his visit. The photographer explores with an artistic eye, attention to detail and is always looking for unique points of view to document a place.

While it doesn’t really make a difference why you explore, I should note that this guide is written from the view point of an amateur photographer. So when it comes to which gear to bring and some other tips, it’s written with photography in mind. So adjust some parts of this guide to your specific goal and needs.

Finding locations

There’s a lot of secrecy involved when talking about urban exploration and there’s a real good reason why, vandalism. Sad but true the sharing of a location is in fact contributing to its decay and more importantly the vandalism. Because as more and more people are aware of the existence of a location, it’s more likely that someone has a slip of the tongue somewhere and exposes this location not only to close friends and fellow urban explorers but to the whole world. Graffiti artists and squatters are also on the lookout for abandoned locations to find a place to live or to just destroy the beauty of a location with, more often than not, ugly tags. That’s also the reason why it’s considered not done to just ask for a location / coordinates. Part of the joy comes from the search for a pristine location. The rough diamond that hasn’t been cut yet.

But don’t despair, there’s hope. The internet is your companion however you’ll need to learn how to use it. How to search for information. It goes without notice that Google is one of your closest fellows in this adventure. They have created several products you can take advantage of:

• Google: to do the vast majority of your research
• Google docs: storing all bits of information you can find about your subject
• Google Earth: to explore the world

That’s not to say that you can’t use any other resource for your research but Google invests a lot of time and money to figure out what users want and how they want it and I believe they did an incredible job on most of their products. It just works and never failed on me.

Your search for a location can have two starting points. You’re on the hunt for a new location, unknown to the community and you don’t have any material at your disposal or you’ve seen a report of someone about a visit and you’re trying to figure out where so you can visit the place yourself.

Hunting for a new location

This is perhaps the easiest of the two as you have lots of options to find a new location. Start reading the news paper. Both international news papers and local gazettes. They’ll give you plenty of clues about closed factories, hospitals, government buildings, etc. More often than not you’ll immediately get more information about its future as well. Demolition? Conversion? Shelter for refugees? If they opted for any of those options it’s often obvious from the text when this will happen so you have a time frame in front of you as the best possible period to visit the place.

Ask around, get social. Ask your friends, co-workers or people at school if they perhaps happen to know of an abandoned site. It’s very likely that someone can help you out or read something you missed about a place being shut down.

Install Google Earth and just start looking for signs of abandonment. Houses overgrown by vegetation is often a clear indicator the place hasn’t been visited for years. Look for collapsed or partially destroyed roofs and thanks to street view it’s even easier to get a visual online confirmation that something is abandoned.

But perhaps the most important tip to find a new location is look around. Use your eyes. Whenever you’re bored get out with your car or even your bike and start to explore the streets. You can use public transportation too but of course then you’re limited to the track or bus route. It’s best to do this in the evening because you’ll be driving around at a slower speed than normal and you don’t want to attract any attention in this stage. You’re just scouting for possible locations. Whenever you see a possible location, write down the coordinates and start to investigate when you get home. If it’s a company see if you can find some background information that can confirm the place is indeed abandoned. For a regular house you can use Google Earth and take a look at the garden. Is it well maintained or does it look like jungle?

Finding an existing location

For me this is one of the most difficult parts of the hobby but also very rewarding. All you have at you disposal is a handful of photographs of a certain building. You start looking for clues in the pictures to figure out where this place might be. How small or unimportant details might be, you want to make sure you don’t miss any clue. I’ve found numerous locations by just looking at other peoples photographs.

Some include a view through a window that you might recognize. Others have a menu on a table so you can just make out the name of the restaurant. You might find a floor plan hanging on the wall with the address on it. It’s these kind of things that can help you. I’ve found details hidden in descriptions for instance “this house is located somewhere in a large city in Belgium, located near a busy road”. Luckily for us, Belgium isn’t that big. We only have a handful of big cities and even less major roads.

So piece by piece you can narrow down your selection of possibilities to a handful locations that might represent the place. If you have a picture of the building itself well you can resort back to Google Earth and Google Street View to see if any of your possible locations matches the one you’re trying to find. I even once used Google Images and uploaded a picture of the house to find all matching other photographs of the location. By doing this I came to a different persons photo set who was a bit less careful about including background information.

You can also ask fellow urban explorers for a tip, a hint. Of course it’s not something you do often or for every location you’re after. But if you’ve established yourself in the community or the local urbex scene as a respectful person, go ahead. If people know you’re serious about urban exploration and you have proven that you do take care about the locations they’ll be more than happy to help you out. Asking for an exact street address or the coordinates is considered not done as I stated above unless of course you’re really close to someone in the scene that has the location and can trust you. Trust is one of the most important aspects in the scene. (and in life as well) So if you ever violate that trust within a close community that urban exploration is, expect a wave of hate towards you (something you might be able to handle) and a ban from the specific community, discussion board, group, etc. which means that discovering new places others have visited becomes close to impossible.

Preparation

Preparation is key to a successful exploration. You have to do your research first. How do you plan to get in? If you have found a specific location you are faced again with two options. Do you go on a visit and figure out how to get in or do you ask a fellow explorer who has been there for the entrance? There has been a lot of debate before whether you should find your own way in or not. Of course if you’re about to explore a pristine location, discovered by yourself (or one of your friends you explore with) you’ll have to figure out a way in by yourself. For other locations it might be a simple entrance.

The day before

It’s best to pack your gear and get everything ready the day before. On the day itself you might be under a bit of stress or a hurry and you don’t want to be at a location only to realize you forgot part of your gear or you’re standing there with a camera but no battery (or low battery power). So the day or evening before give the gear and checklist below a quick peek and make sure you have everything sorted out for the day to come. Of course the list below is a guide, not a definitive bible on what to bring. The things you take with you on an exploration depends on the type of site you’re about the explore, the risks involved and the duration.

Also leave a note for those that stay behind (girlfriend, wife, parents, etc) with the exact locations you’re going to visit and their addresses / coordinates. Usually I leave a note on the table and try to call my wife whenever I’m at a new location on the list so she knows exactly my last position. If she doesn’t hear me at least she knows what to tell the cops / rescuers whenever I go missing.

Gear list / checklist

•  Clothes
• Clothing
  Dress appropriate for the type of location and the season. The most important advice I can give you is that you should dress in layers (so you can easily get rid of something if needed) and you should opt for clothing that is not restricting your movements. During winter explorations dress warm enough but keep in mind that ski pants and the like will restrict your ability to jump fences, climb walls, etc. So choose light fabrics that allow plenty of movement but are warm at the same time.
• Shoes
  I’d suggest only one type and that are boots. While sneakers are often more gentle to your feet, you’ll thank the big boot with a steel sole whenever a nail or needle tried to penetrate it. construction boots are best as they offer optimum protection.
• Jacket
  Go for a wind and waterproof model.
• Additional items
• Spare clothing (includes socks and underwear)
• Overall
• Gloves – opt for ones that provide warmth as well as protection from glass and needles
• Bandana – I wouldn’t opt for a scarf as it usually gets in the way at the worst possible times
• High visibility jacket
• Equipment
• Charged mobile phone (on silent as you don’t want to attract attention)
• Powerful but small torch (I’ll post a review on mine later) + spare batteries
• Construction hard hat
• Ropes, climbing harness, carabiners, etc. (general climbing gear)
• Respirator with additional filter sets (disposable dust masks are another option but often inadequate for filtering asbestos and/or fumes)
• Anti bacterial hand gel (so you don’t need water to wash your hands)
• First aid kit (most often already in your car)
• Walkie talkies (if exploring large sites with multiple explorers; which should be the case as you should never explore alone)
• Door handle
• Photographic equipment
• Camera bag (which can be water sealed if necessary)
• Camera (eventually a back up camera as well)
• Tripod
• Lenses (most often used focal distances I use are 17-40mm and 50mm)
• Flash
• Remote flash triggers
• Cable release (easier for long exposure photographs)
• Lens cleaning kit
• Additional parts
• Additionally charged batteries for the camera, flash, remote flash triggers and release (if it’s a wireless transmitter)
• Memory cards
• Film (if you’re still shooting analog)
• (Spot) light meter (as off camera metering is often more accurate and necessary if you’re working with film to get detail in the highlights and shadows)
• Other items
• Water (or other non-alcoholic beverage)
• Food
• Energy bar
• Medication you’re supposed to take
• Mobile satellite navigation
• Compass
• Map of the area
• ID card
• Change (I usually take about 10 euro on every trip)
• Leatherman (or any other multipurpose tool)
• Glow sticks or torch (wind up type)

These are the things you’ll most likely need. Of course as I said before you don’t need every item on this list on every location. For me personally the list comes down to camera equipment, appropriate clothes, charged mobile phone, mandatory papers (driver license, ID card, etc) and a leatherman. I almost never bring food (as I hardly eat when I’m out exploring) or other equipment. Only respirators are always in the car as you never know the condition of a location unless you’ve been there.

There’s also a list of things you should never take with you:

• Markers (especially those that are paint-based)
• Spray paint
• Tools that can be used by burglars (crow bar to name one)
• Drugs
• Weapons (of any kind, knifes included)

The exploration

You’ve lived up to this moment for hours, days and perhaps even months. You arrive at a location. What’s next? What should you do? What to look out for? Your first step would be to investigate the site. Look for possible entries. Open windows, doors (might be closed but left unlocked), open cellars. But keep the ethical code of “take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints” alive. Don’t break your way in.

Once you’re in, take special attention to every step you take. As mentioned above, concrete cancer, metal stairs, etc. are prone to collapse when left unmaintained. So take small steps, one at a time. Try to look for signs of structural damage before getting up on a ladder or stair. Even a floor that looks intact might have an under structure of wood which has totally rotten over the years. So you don’t want to rush into such place only to fall four floors down.

Keep in mind that you’re there to explore. How tempting it might be to keep a treasure of your discovery, don’t steal.

Getting caught

At one point or another expect to be caught. Your options are being caught by the owner, the police, both or somebody (or something else). Most of the time getting caught by the owner or the police results in a background check. If everything is clear you’ll most likely be asked to leave the premises but that’s about it. That’s also the reason why you don’t want to be caught with a crow bar or anything else. If the only equipment you carry is a flash light and some photography related material people know your intentions and can be assured you’re not there to vandalize. This is the positive encounter.

On the other hand abandoned buildings also attract the attention of others in society. Squatters, homeless people, drug addicts, (copper) thieves, etc. Usually squatters and homeless people don’t show an immediate interest in you and want to be left alone (unless under the influence of some kind of drug) unless it’s obvious you’re carrying some really expensive equipment with you. So now is a good time to tape up that Leica logo on your camera.

However the (copper) thieves are the ones you should worry about. Think about it. They’re there to steal something and you are walking around with a camera documenting everything. You might have them on film (for ol’ times sake). So to them you’re a direct threat. They usually work in groups as well to strip down the copper in a building as soon as possible so it’s also most likely you’re outnumbered. Luckily I’ve never had such an experience which means I can’t give you any specific advice. My only suggestion would be to be really careful, don’t make too much noise. If you think you hear someone else in the building and you’re in doubt whether it’s another explorer or not, just leave and come back later. No photograph or location is worth risking your life. If you think you’ve been spotted, run as hard as you can. How hard it might sound, I’d even consider leaving my equipment behind as it will make you more flexible, allows for easier movement. If you’re lucky you can come back later to collect it.

Additional notes

I’ve covered what I believe some of the most important aspects of urban exploration. By all means I didn’t cover everything (in detail). So I might write some more in depth articles in the future about specific aspects of urban exploration. Below are just a few other remarks I’d like to make, things I’d like to point out before you go out and explore.

Team up

I’ve violated this rule more than once but you should never explore on your own. I hope I don’t have to illustrate this in any way. It just makes sense. The ideal group is three. If anything happens to a person in your party, one can stay behind to provide immediate care and another one can try to find help.

Parking

Also common sense but often overlooked. If you explore by car, don’t park in front of the location you’re about to visit.

Bad vibes

Trust your gut. If a place gives you negative vibes, turn back and don’t explore. I’m not talking about a pleasant chill on your spine.

Special cop memory card

When you arrive at a location and are looking for an entrance, start taking pictures of the outside structure. Once inside, switch your memory card for a fresh one. Whenever you think you might alarmed the cops or the owner of the structure, quickly swap your cards again. If they catch you outside you can show them that you’ve only taken photographs of the exterior and never went inside. This might not work all the time but it’s worth to give it a try.

Trust nothing

I think I already mentioned this one before but don’t trust anything. Wood might be rotten, concrete can be in a bad shape, metal staircases might give away. Even a sound looking roof might collapse for no apparent reason. So don’t trust any of the structures you see. Try to confirm they’re safe to climb or step onto before doing so. Feel with your feet first, try shifting a bit of weight onto the floor and if it’s giving too much just turn back and don’t take the risk. It’s just not worth it. Also don’t do everything to get a unique shot. I’ve seen photographs of places I’ve visited from some unique angles. However I’m not too fond of heights. So yes, if I climbed that additional stair I might have had a better view but it gave me a bad vibe. I didn’t trust the thing so I just didn’t went up there.

Warnings

Most places will have multiple warning signs. Of course most of these signs can be ignored (since you’re out there to explore) but there are some signs I’d say that need special attention.

• Chemical warning
  If you’re exploring an abandoned laboratory for instance you should pay attention to any special stickers or warning signs for chemicals. You wouldn’t be the first one to enter a room (which was actually used to fumigate) only to find out a week later you’re getting very ill.
• Asbestos warning
  This is a nasty one. In any old building you will encounter asbestos as it was so cheap and did the job well. So you know the risks of asbestos inhalation. Luckily for you most asbestos can be found in a “solid” state. Fibers pressed together with glue. As long as you don’t disturb the fibers so they become airborne, it’s relatively safe. However when exploring a site where demolition started it might be a good idea to bring a mask as there might be asbestos fibers present in the air and you definitely don’t want that stuff in your lungs.An additional mention is suited I think for exaggerated asbestos warnings. I explored an old abandoned power station once where on a certain cellar door there were multiple stickers warning for asbestos. Advising  to wear a respirator rated for protection against asbestos fibers and wearing a full body protection suit. They probably stored all the removed asbestos in there until they had the time to remove it from the site. Obviously common sense dictates that you shouldn’t walk through such a door without any protection.

Final notes

That’s it for now. I probably forgot some information here and there so expect this post to receive several updates in the future. I might as well receive additional tips from other explorers. So feel free to send me anything you think is missing.

Remember, don’t break your way in. Respect the property. Don’t go out alone. Have fun!

Whenever you get the feeling you’ve had it with your current type of photography, take your small point and shoot (or even your big boy if you want) out and start looking with a fresh pair of eyes at things that are so common in our culture that we forgot their essential beauty.

The following photographs were all taken with a Panasonic Lumix LX3. I’ll write a review about it later.

Sanding paper (5mm, 1/30s, f/2, ISO 125)

Undressed (5mm, 1/20s, f/2, ISO 400)

Patterns (5mm, 1/1250s, f/5.6, ISO 400)

Terrasse (5mm, 1/25s, f/2, ISO 400)

So take your camera with you every time you step out the door and you’ll be amazed because of all those beautiful things you see and capture which you’d have otherwise missed.

For those with a mobile phone that has a built-in camera I’d still suggest you take out a small real camera instead of using the camera of your mobile phone. While quality has improved a lot lately you cannot compare it to a decent camera.

So in order to start our urbex trip I had to first convert the latitude and longitude degrees to decimal format and then use Google Maps (on my phone) to figure out the street address for a given location.

As most people I know use Google Maps or Google Earth to store their locations I’d encounter the same issue whenever I wanted “quick” access to my locations.

To solve this issue I created a KML parser in PHP. The tool is available at http://www.tmclssns.net/kmlparser

To make it work you just have to export your Google Maps (Google Earth is currently not supported!) as KML and upload it on the KML parser web page.

Once uploaded the KML parser goes through all entries (locations) and based on the coordinates tries to find the street address. When it’s done crunching the numbers, you’ll be presented with a formatted table that now has your markers, descriptions, name, GPS coordinates and street address.

This page can be printed and you can take it with you. Searching and looking for street addresses is no longer an issue. All that’s needed is a single KML file created from locations you want to visit that day. The benefit as seen in the screenshot above is that if you use markers to designate visited / to visit locations, you can easily identify these locations on your printed version as well.

Legenda:

• Yellow: interesting location, visit;
• Green: already visited;
• Purple: a potential urbex location but not worth the drive. Do these when you’re in the neighborhood.

I know some of you will frown upon reading that you have to upload your KML file. That’s the downside of the “application”. I developed this for personal use only but figured some might benefit from it as well. So whether you trust it or not, know it’s there at your disposal. Just for the record, KML files are not permanently stored on the server.

Note: This parser was written with urban exploration in mind but can of course be used for any type of KML file generated from Google Maps.

Update
I’ve added support for Google Earth. Exports from Mac OS X and Windows seem to work. Linux exports generated some kind of binary formatted file which the parser is unable to read at the moment.

Most titles are in Dutch – so it’s easier to recognize or find the place. The same goes for urban exploration locations. I’ll use the names that are mostly used to identify a certain place, be it in Dutch, French or English.

Blog posts and description will always be in English.

I’m currently in the process of exporting all images and uploading them. So during the first few weeks, you might see a couple of posts appear that are antedated. This is because I use the date when I visited the place, not the actual date I put it online.