Photographing in Abandonded Buildings

[Moopheus]

I hear MA is filled with creepy abandoned places.

That's just what we tell tourists. Then we charge 'em $20 for the bus ride out to see them.

[Steve Smith]

I recall someone mentioning that the best disguise for getting past the locals on an outing such as this is an orange vest, white hard hat, and a clipboard.

Perhaps a reversible jacket. Camouflage on one side, fluorescent orange on the other.


It is often suggested that if you want to photograph un-noticed in a busy town, wear a high visibility jacket and put your camera on a bright yellow surveyor's tripod. Camouflage doesn't always mean blending in with the background.


Steve.

[batwister]

Sometimes we're blind to the risk when following where our deathboxes lead us. I suppose any war photographer would tell us that.

The lure of death and the camera's inherent attraction to it.

[dehk]

Grand Central in Detroit? Wouldn't go in there unless you are with a group of people, well equipped with firearms.

[xdielanx]

Yes, I guess I am just too darn ethical in regard to trespass signs and too protective of my physical well-being to indulge in serious exploration. I am fascinated by old decaying industrial buildings and infrastructure, but I have seen stamped steel industrial stair treads that were completely rusted through. So when you walk into a building that has seen no use, and maybe no maintenance, for decades, you quite literally take your life in your hands. It surprising in fact how fast some stuff deteriorates, especially when there is no longer HVAC operating.

There was an incident a year or so back near here where a roofing contractor VP was up on the roof of an old boiler house at a private school, instructing two workers on what they were to do on a repair project. As they surveyed the scene, a section of the roof collapsed into a former coal bin. The VP, wearing no safety gear ("the boss"), died from his injuries. The workers had life lines and protective gear on and one of them, though he fell, at least survived, albeit with some injuries.

I see you are from SE PA. There are some interesting places that aren't too dangerous. I live outside of Reading and I went with a group of friends the the Linfield Idustrial Park which is located maybe a mile away from the Limerick Power Plant. No dangerous paths or fences. It is just something else to walk among all of the old abandoned warehouse buildings.

[DWThomas]

I see you are from SE PA. There are some interesting places that aren't too dangerous. I live outside of Reading and I went with a group of friends the the Linfield Idustrial Park which is located maybe a mile away from the Limerick Power Plant. No dangerous paths or fences. It is just something else to walk among all of the old abandoned warehouse buildings.

Yes, the Schuylkill River Trail, ex-Pennsylvania RR line, passes next to or through an assortment of rust belt remnants. Among other things I've followed the demolition of the massive Armorcast plant in Birdsboro, now pretty well gone. (But I didn't attempt to go inside!) There's even older stuff around too that's pretty accessible, such as Lock Ridge Furnace and the cement kilns in Coplay.

[jnanian]

not quite the same as abandoned warehouses or factories ..
but the friend of a friend of mine's dad who was an ardent urban explorer. he used to scavenge historically significant remnants
from historic buildings that were going to be razed ... and he was killed on site ...

i've never been in situations where parts of the building were falling in, but i have been in sites where the floors had huge breaches
and squatters + pilferers had smashed thousands of fluorescent light bulbs so beryllium dust was all over the place, and they had stolen tens of thousands
of dollars worth of copper ... it was a good time !

i usually get permission from the owners, and have i have insurance ( i do this sort of thing for work )

i would suggest without hesitation that before people do this sort of thing, they get up to date on their tetanus-shots ... lockjaw is kind of a drag..

john

[Brian C. Miller]

PetaPixel: Time-Lapse Journey into an Abandoned Asylum Created with 35,000 Photos
Beware the inspiration!

I go into abandoned buildings when I'm out in the countryside, but it's nothing like what's in the city. Usually it's just and old house from the 1850s or something like that, not an industrial site with crazies.

[xdielanx]

Yes, the Schuylkill River Trail, ex-Pennsylvania RR line, passes next to or through an assortment of rust belt remnants. Among other things I've followed the demolition of the massive Armorcast plant in Birdsboro, now pretty well gone. (But I didn't attempt to go inside!) There's even older stuff around too that's pretty accessible, such as Lock Ridge Furnace and the cement kilns in Coplay.

Armorcast was one of my favorite places to go. I've lived in birdsboro since I was 12 and spent most of my weekends in high school either exploring or just hanging out there. I even broke my foot playing airsoft there when I was 17. Its a shame its gone now. Even going in the last couple months before it was torn wasnt the same with everything gutted.

[jnanian]

I hear MA is filled with creepy abandoned places.

the state hospital system is pretty much abandoned ... i have documented one of those buildings
(in downtown boston ) it was pretty creepy, and it felt like i was being followed around the whole time. i got the same
feeling at a machine tool company in vermont. that place was .5miles long ...
... the harbor islands are filled with abandoned-stuff (internment camps, fortresses, battlements and other stuffs )
lots of old mill and factory ruins up and down the blackstone river ... whole abandoned villages...
there used to be an abandoned power-station for a factory on the edge of cambridge
we used to sneak in when we were in college ... a huge drop into a cavern in the middle of the floor
where equipment used to sleep, broken windows everywhere so the light shone all
ecclesiastical ... almost like an industrial version of le corbusier's la chapelle de ronchamp

a lot has been renovated now ... the go-go 90s and first few years of the 00's were big years to renovate + re-use.

i knew some people that lived in an old distillery, the molasses vat in the floor was
always a good time