Unknown Photography through Urban Exploring

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Unknown Photography

As far as photography goes, I can't tell you anything on composition or how to set up your camera. All I know is that I have a knack at taking good shots once in awhile.

I'm really shy about showing my work usually but my friends and family have pushed me into getting out there. So here goes!

Most of my photos are of abandoned buildings and interesting places I find here in the Ozarks. I drive with no set direction and if I stumble across something interesting I try to capture as I see it. See underneath for Urban Exploring.

This lens is about Urban Exploring and a little plug on my photography.

Urban Exploration

Many people urban explore but don't know it has an almost cult fan base to it. Basically it's trespassing with a cool title, however there are codes and ethics many of us follow, such as, "Take only pictures and leave only footprints".
There are several websites dedicated to specific locations and cities. I have some listed below.

When I was younger I was really into this, however being an adult there are laws that are applicable to me. I am still an avid explorer, hence why many places I've taken photos, I have no idea where I was.

Urban Exploring is not exclusive to just city limits and "NO TRESPASSING" signs, it's having a curiosity of what is beyond the beaten path.

Risks

There are a lot of risks associated with UE. Legal and physical mostly.
The buildings that are abandoned are most likely abandoned for good reason. Depending on the age of the buildings, the floors are rotting, asbestos will be stirred up, lead paint will be peeling, holes that you can't see because the electricity is off.

The legalalities: it's illegal to trespass. Need I say more?

Be sure you understand that trespassing is against the law to protect owners of buildings and places. They are liable for your injuries, which is silly but don't get me on that soapbox. If at all possible, find an owner and talk with them, many are very open to letting people check out a place and take pictures or have a look around. However if you get told no, there is a good reason.
Be respectful!

Tunneling

Tunnels are personally my favorite exploring grounds. Being able to maneuver around a city totally underground and undected by those walking on the surface is a thrill.

Most tunnels are just a diversion for water ways so buildings don't flood. These are the most common, and generally sewage ways are right under these. Some days the smell is worse than others. Along with being able to see if you can climb into buildings, there's some "brave" souls who water raft in the tunnels. As soon as the rains start, you grab a raft and run down to an entrance that will take you downstream.
This is stupid in my opinion.
1. You could drown
2. You could hit your head and go unconcious and drown.
3. Sometimes the water gets higher faster than you can get to the end, usually ends in drowning.

Another form of tunnels that are popular are steam tunnels. Generally found in Universities. If you go to school where you have steam tunnels, do NOT get caught. Most Universities will kick you out because of the high risk. A pipe could burst, or you could find the power center for all the computers.
Just take heed with University steam tunnels.

*DISCLAIMER* I did not just tell you to find your school's tunnels. :)

Finding Tunnels:
Especially easy in the winter. The temperature is higher inside tunnels so the snow, or ice, melts faster near entrances. Check out culverts too. Generally that's a darn good indicator of a tunnel.

Acid Tunnels

Spelunking

Or caving. I haven't gone since getting lost in a cave a couple years ago. This stuff can be HARD. There are some amazing things in caves and I don't know technical terms, but they can be beautiful or they can be the ugliest things in the world if you're laying under a rock shelf wondering where the guy you're caving with went to.

If you find a cave, be sure you go with someone who knows what they're doing. This can save a lot of trouble later on. Most towns have a grotto (caving) group that meet and explore. Check at your local libraries to see if any such groups meet there. That's where Springfield's meets.

There are some caves where you literally have to rope climb to get in and out of. Then there's the ones where you have to army crawl through with rocks and sticky mud under you.
There are nice caves you can walk through. Good luck finding those!
The one I got lost in had two paths. One was a crouching/walking on the main level. The other path was crawl up in the ceiling where it was cracked and squeeze our way through. At the "end" there were beautiful pools and shinney crystals all over. And then the guy that "knew" the cave found a different passageway. Luckily for us, there were the orange arrows pointing the way out.

Ok about the orange arrows. I haven't been in a cave that hasn't had them. I dont' know who put them there but it's a darn good idea. This is so people like me who have horrible sense of direction can find their way out.

Some of these grotto guys are really hardcore. Such as camping out in a cave for weeks. They know what they're doing and know which caves are best to check out. I would highly recommend getting invovled in some type of caving club that has permission into caves.

Sounds a bit contradictory to this page doesn't it? Well, caves are homes to bats and weird insects, sometimes bears and cougars will hibernate in them and the grotto has a good idea on all this. I used to trespass into caves, but found out one of them is home to an endagered bat. The fines for getting caught were astronomical! And plus, if you scare a bat in the middle of hibernation and it wakes up, it will more than likely die because of using precious calories from being scared.

Just be careful and take your time if you're new to caving. You don't have to rush through and see it all in one day.

Sleeping Bat

Buildings

Exploring buildings are the most commong form of Urban Exploring. They are "abandoned" unused buildings generally factories, hospitals, asylums, or even houses.
These buildings may not be in use however SOMEONE OWNS THEM. If you can, get permission to wander around. You'd be surprised by how many times the owner will say "yes". Especially if you have a camera, and offer to give them copies of your photos.

If you do sneak in, be careful of rotten floors, leaking pipes, holes, rusty beams, rusty ladders, etc. And if you're hurt, don't sue, that's just stupid because it's your own fault for trespassing and twisting your ankle or whatever you hurt.

Another thing to watch out for is homeless people living in these buildings. Many won't take too kindly to you snooping around their "home". If you encounter what looks like a residence, leave. That's the best thing to do, again be respectful!

Always go with at least two other people. That way if someone does get hurt, one can go get help and the other can stay with the hurt person.

If you do get caught by police and you are trespassing, don't run or lie about your names. As long as you went by the rule of "take only photos, leave only footprints" the cops will more than likely be forgiving and tell you to leave. They were curious kids at one point and remember what it was like to wonder, "Why should I not disobey that sign?"
If you're on federal property, smiling and holding up a camera won't do you any good. But that's the risk you take with trespassing without permission.

Fine!

Rural Exploring

This is something new to me by way of having it's own term. Rural Exploring is going out into rural places and finding abandonments or just interesting little towns. This is more of what I've been doing in recent years since I'm a littler older and the law is more applicable to me. However, if you google rural exploring, more and more people are getting into this and have labeled it.

How I go about this is just picking a highway, or a direction and driving. If a road looks like it might lead to something interesting, I take it. Or just go by my gut feeling. You'd be surprised what you run into.

Generally rural towns have some kind of weird quirk about them. Such as a Y Bridge built in the early 1900's when modern machinery was only a dream. Or a railroad track that has a tunnel going through the side of a hill where a highway runs on top.

There's also "Ghost Towns". Basically small towns that have more abandoned buildings than in use ones. Check out the history on these, there is always an interesting story or two about them.

Never know what you'll find

My Photography

I use a Nikon D70 SLR for all my photography. I rarely use photoshop to edit, unless it's to resize, add my name, or there's a dust speck.

I personally have no problem with those who edit digital pictures because you can edit film by how it's developed so there's no need to get all huffy about digital photographers who using editing programs.

Honestly I can't give you specs on most of my photos because I've played with my manual settings so much that I can guess where they need to be.

I am always welcomed to critisms.

I called my photography projects "Unknown Photography" because the places I end up are unknown even to me. I probably couldn't tell you where half of the cool places I've been to are. Well, I can point in a direction and go "Somewhere that way".

Finally Flickr!

I'm a little slow on popular things. But I just started my own Flickr account!

How about it? Whether it was just when you were a kid, or even now!

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New Link List

Here's some outside links to some of the more popular UE websites.

Urban Exploration Resources: This is based in Canada and has tons of information, links, forums, and locations.
Infiltration: Ninjalicious
A founding father in UE.
Tons of great stories and locations about his life and his explorations. Unfortunatly he died two years ago, but his memory lives on and is still recognized as one of the most well known and famous explorers.
Action Squad: Whether 50% of what he says is true or not, we don't know. But there's some great stories throughout the site.
Cave Clan: These Aussies are definatly hardcore. This group has been going since 1985 and have covered amazing territory.
Urban Explorers: This is about steam tunnels at different Universities.
Fallout UE: This is a personal website dedicated to one person's explorations. All kinds of neat places on here!
All over the World: These are exploring stories from all over the world.
My Myspace: This is a new myspace for my etsy and photography projects.

Books and DVD's on UEing

Access All Areas: A User's Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration

by: Ninjalicious

Ninjalicious from inflitration.org wrote this book. It's filled with helpful hints and tips on exploring, staying safe, and not getting caught.

Amazon Price: $17.10 (as of 12/09/2009)

Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York

More Books & Movies

Death Tunnel

Cheesey horror movie about the "Death Tunnel" in an insane asylum gone abandoned.

Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 12/09/2009)

Weird N.J.: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets

by: Mark Moran, Mark Sceurman

Started the Weird Series, I'll post book links to all of them at the bottom of this page.

Amazon Price: $9.97 (as of 12/09/2009)

Invisible New York: The Hidden Infrastructure of the City (Creating the North American Landscape)

by: Stanley Greenberg

Amazon Price: $31.79 (as of 12/09/2009)

Reader Feedback

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twelfthhouse twelfthhouse May 15, 2009 @ 7:51 pm

Shhh...don't tell, but I used to explore my hometown University's tunnels when I was a kid. If only I had a camera back then. You have some really great photos! 5*

Reply

Bob Bob Jan 8, 2009 @ 12:40 am

Very Nice lens. You have some very helpful info here. Stop by and take a look at the best digital camera to buy.

Reply

James James Jan 7, 2009 @ 4:15 pm

lol why are you doubting Action Squad? They're legit for sure. Oh wait, other than the Bridge to Dimension Zed perhaps

Reply

ratso ratso Dec 18, 2008 @ 6:24 am

Excellent lens 5* I hope you will consider joining my group Abandoned Places at http://www.squidoo.com/groups/abandoned-places

Reply

LucyVet LucyVet Jul 30, 2008 @ 9:55 am

Great pictures and ideas! 5*, really interesting lens.
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Unknown Photography through Urban Exploring

Unknown Photography

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Urban Exploration

Risks

Tunneling

Spelunking

Buildings

Rural Exploring

My Photography

Finally Flickr!

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