I love urban exploration photography; the decay and abandonment of places that used to house humanity is so striking and gorgeous, when handled by the right photographer. I do not do more of it myself for three reasons: a) I live in perma-surburbia, b) fifteen minutes outside the Triangle and I run into rural, not urban, decay, and c) I am totally afraid of getting arrested.
I can’t help it: I’m a wimp, and also I work for the federal government. They frown on their employees being arrested for trepassing or breaking and entering, and I sort of dig my day job and would prefer not to lose it. So no urban exploration for me.
My point being, however, that regardless of whether or not I shoot it, I am captivated by other people’s photos of urban decay; the places that we built up and then abandoned. It’s sad and gorgeous, and there’s something that appeals to me in that. (It’s the same thing that appeals to me in shooting a musician with a guitar on stage by themselves; the quintessential singer-songwriter, if you will. Loneliness and perservering and beauty all wrapped up together.)
I’ve been link-heavy lately, and I apologize for that, but this is another post like that. Things I’ve been looking at and considering, things that have been moving me. Things that make me want to climb over that fence, I guess, and walk down the abandoned hallways with a camera in my hands. Sometimes you have to start a new year by thinking about those things.
- A complete guide to urban exploration.
- New York’s abandoned, beautiful buildings. Oof, this photography kills me.
- Jon Haeber’s photography of abandoned spaces. The photos from Michael Jackson’s ranch Neverland are particularly creepy and stunning.
- Opacity: Abandoned Photography and Urban Exploration.
- An article from the San Francisco Chronicle subtitled What drives people to climb around in mine shafts, nuclear missile silos and abandoned sugar refinieries? Interesting look at the people who aren’t scared of being locked up for wandering around places. (I admire the hell out of them.)
- Digital Photography School on how to photograph abandoned places and 20 beautiful examples of urban decay photography.
- Noah Sheldon recently shot the now-abandoned Biosphere 2 in Arizona; photos and more information here.
- One of my 2010 goals is to use Flickr’s gallery feature to curate collections of other people’s photos that I love more often, and to that end, yesterday I put together a gallery of abandoned swimming pools. Some gorgeous stuff there; I’m particularly smitten by the old waterslide.
I’m in a little bit of a holding pattern in my own shooting, until concert schedules start to ramp back up (and the weather gets better). Shows are often thin on the ground in January here, but I’ve got a few at the end of the month and I’m kicking off the gig-going year with Ash in DC, Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem and Dave Hause of the Loved Ones solo at the Black Cat, next weekend. It’ll be a good time, for sure.
brand new kind of photography 
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