Urban Exploration

AndyJ1980

AndyJ1980

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Hi everybody,
Been looking into photographing some derelict buildings, and how people go about it, is it a case of turn up and shoot then leave when asked?

Any help/info would be gratefully received.

Andy
 
cheers mate :thumbs:
 
The answer is that it depends..

Sometimes visitors are definitely not welcome, in which case you proceed at your own risk and obey the maxim, "take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints" and make sure you know the distinction between civil trespass and those sites were trespass is a crimonal offence (MOD, government properties, airports, etc). The latter sites should always be left alone.

Sometimes asking will work.. I've driven onto a site before, gone up to a guy driving a digger and just asked. Now he probably didn't really have the authority to allow me onsite to take pictures, but his supervisor was ok with it an hour later when he turned up.. of course being polite and wearing a high vis jacket probably allowed me to look a bit more official and less chavish then the average urban explorer newbie (avoid wearing a hoodie and camo.. it isn't going to make friends).

As well as 28DL you can also check out Talk Urbex.

Please don't make the mistake of going onto either of these forums and asking for detailed location or access information. They won't give it out to newcomers, and they'll probably blank you for even asking. Not asking these questions is a rule given in their forum FAQs and they are very strict about people finding out the rules for themselves.
 
Cheers Alastair, I've been looking at write ups of local places to me, and have started compiling a map of places, some of which include MOD sites....which I might have to delete from the map.

I think I might have to invest in a high vis jacket
 
Urbex is a bit like computer hacking - there's always a way in, and 99% of times it is literally a case of walking through an open door, climbing a ladder and going through a hole in the wall, etc. You'd be surprised how "open" many places are, but unfortunately urbex seems to be hugely misunderstood by a lot of people who think that folk go in there with power tools, hacksaws and crowbars.

My first urbex was actually one of the most sought after places in Britain, the unfortunate side effect of that is anything else I've done subsequently (even ICI/Ardeer) just pale in comparison.

My advice to you is find a few local derelict places and just have a look. For the love of God don't break in :nono:, take a camera and have fun taking a step into Britain's past. Be prepared for the possibility of being caught.

Another approach you can try when you get more confident is the Overt to be Covert approach, which is basically social engineering. For instance, a few people turning up in a van wearing high vis jackets and going into a manhole are far less likely to be questioned than a couple of yoofs wearing hoodies.
 
trencheel303 said:
My first urbex was actually one of the most sought after places in Britain, the unfortunate side effect of that is anything else I've done subsequently (even ICI/Ardeer) just pale in comparison.
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My first explore was one of probably the best industrial sites in the UK, nothing has compared to it since, I spent well over 10 hours in there before it was demolished.
 
now a member of 28DL (using same username) :)
 
I was a member of 28dl a few years ago. The site went really anal with lots of over the top rules. I didnt post for a while due to work and stuff and my account got closed as I hadnt logged on for a while. Is it any better these days? It used to to take an age to get membership approved as the site gained some notoriety and attracted the "establishment" lol
 
Chr1stof said:
I was a member of 28dl a few years ago. The site went really anal with lots of over the top rules. I didnt post for a while due to work and stuff and my account got closed as I hadnt logged on for a while. Is it any better these days? It used to to take an age to get membership approved as the site gained some notoriety and attracted the "establishment" lol
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new members can only post in a certain region, and your posts are 'vetted' to see if they are 'suitable'.....which is starting to p me off a bit tbh as people are replying to my intro thread, I've replied to them and still they're not showing
 
AndyJ1980 said:
new members can only post in a certain region, and your posts are 'vetted' to see if they are 'suitable'.....which is starting to p me off a bit tbh as people are replying to my intro thread, I've replied to them and still they're not showing
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That and the fact that new members get treated like absolute crap. Up until a few months ago there was a section called the "Epic Fail Bin" where the admins would dump people's reports that they didn't like. 99% of the time, it was a new member report, and unless you post expert quality pictures of absolutely great urbex sites, you could pretty much forget it. Houses, pubs, and anything generally "small fry" was automatically binned.

The EFB seems to have gone lately though unless you just have to be logged in to see it. It's a great site to read and gain information from but as for being a community "member", no chance. I'd never reccommend the site to anyone.
 
Derelict Places is more welcoming, as is Urbexforums. I'd recommend NWEX as well if you're in the North West.

A lot of longer established explorers have left 28DL due to all the crap that's gone on there, although a few have gone back. By and large though, it's not the place it was a few years back.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
Derelict Places is more welcoming, as is Urbexforums. I'd recommend NWEX as well if you're in the North West.

A lot of longer established explorers have left 28DL due to all the crap that's gone on there, although a few have gone back. By and large though, it's not the place it was a few years back.
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:eek: Never realised you were a member on here, personal thanks as I have used your site to find quite a few of the places we often go to now including my fave Huncoat Power Staion :thumbs:
 
viewfromthenorth said:
Derelict Places is more welcoming, as is Urbexforums. I'd recommend NWEX as well if you're in the North West.

A lot of longer established explorers have left 28DL due to all the crap that's gone on there, although a few have gone back. By and large though, it's not the place it was a few years back.
Click to expand...

amazing pics mate :thumbs:
 
trencheel303 said:
That and the fact that new members get treated like absolute crap. Up until a few months ago there was a section called the "Epic Fail Bin" where the admins would dump people's reports that they didn't like. 99% of the time, it was a new member report, and unless you post expert quality pictures of absolutely great urbex sites, you could pretty much forget it. Houses, pubs, and anything generally "small fry" was automatically binned.

The EFB seems to have gone lately though unless you just have to be logged in to see it. It's a great site to read and gain information from but as for being a community "member", no chance. I'd never reccommend the site to anyone.
Click to expand...

But it did also weed out the photo dump posts (my personal hate on 28DL.. a dozen pictures and no description, research or history) and the "gee I explored a bus shelter" posts - picture quality was probably the least common reason for reports hitting the EFB from what I saw, I used to like reading EFB threads and even tried to get a couple moved back when despite a poor report there was some geuine interest about the subject :lol:

It has improved a bit.. anyone that's new now has 28DL New Members Site Reports where their posts appear much more quickly.. and it generally only takes one really good report (did I mention making the effort to post some research) to get noticed. Though I must admit I'm now holding more back from 28DL than I'm posting. There's a very high ned count that can result in good sites becoming trashed quite quickly.

And if you think 28DL is tight about access to information.. you should try TalkUrbex..
 
talk urbex is a good forum, but not much happens on it in the south (I think I'm the only member in the southwest :D) lots of international guys though
 
Eighth Avenue said:
:eek: Never realised you were a member on here, personal thanks as I have used your site to find quite a few of the places we often go to now including my fave Huncoat Power Staion :thumbs:
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Thanks, glad the website has been of use to someone out there:) I don't explore as much as I used to due to other commitments, but I'm still involved, and get out when I can.

AndyJ1980 said:
amazing pics mate :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Thank you also:)
 
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