URBEX
“People Come - They flourish, the build, and they go”
- Wind and The Willows: Kenneth Grahame
If I did not live in a country where the have-not’s outnumber those that have by about ten to one I would possibly have been a dumpster diver par excellence. Unemployment is unacceptably high in South Africa and added to that are the thousands of illegal immigrants streaming across the borders continuously seeking for a better life. There’s little chance of finding anything worthwhile after these poor souls picked through the rubbish to keep life and limb together.
For as long as I can remember I explored rubbish heaps and trashcans. In this rummaging I’ve found some interesting stuff. I have a chair in my house I rescued from a dump years ago. A new plush velvet cushion and a little tender loving care turned it into a chair with a story.
My paint tubes and brushes I keep in a small suitcase I found in a bin. I had this case with me when I met that mad Dutchmen Vincent, Van Gogh was his surname I think, in Arles. I really tried to teach him the finer points of brush-strokes but failed miserably. When he started staring at me with an eerie look, mumbling about not being able to sell his amateurish attempts I decided to leave. He begged me to take some of his daubings with me. I agreed as I did not want to hurt his feelings but threw it into the Rhone soon after. I wonder what happened to him.
Anyway, I have to go and take my pills now.
Since I’ve started photography as a serious hobby I’ve been exploring decaying and abandoned architecture. Seeing what happened in Jozi’s CBD in recent history where some deserted buildings are slowly sinking into the ground gives me an understanding of how it is possible for whole civilizations to disappear from the face of the earth.
Where others record nature’s beauty I wander the inner city photographing rack and ruin. The decay of uninhabited spaces can be as profoundly beautiful as a panoramic seascape in my opinion. I am continuously warned that I’m looking for trouble in the inner city as it is regarded as crime ridden and dangerous. I suppose the adrenaline rush adds some spice to the exploration, but it’s more than this. I can feel the heartbeat of the city through the soles of my shoes. I talk to strangers and feel part of a whole. Not once have I felt threatened or vulnerable.
For a long time I thought I was weird being fascinated by rack and ruin. I’ve since discovered that there are hundreds of photographers that have the same strange attraction to Urban Exploration and I have since joined the South African Urbex group on Flickr.
Wikipedia describes Urbex as;
“Urban exploration (often shortened as Urbex or UE) is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or inhabited sites. It may also be referred to as "draining" (when exploring drains) "urban spelunking", "urban caving", or "building hacking".
The unspoken rule of urban exploring is "take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints” (in the dust). I don’t plan to ever break in to any deserted buildings but have no qualms to bullshit my way past a security guard at all.
There’s a great thrill in finding a space no-one else has explored. As far as I know I’m the first to post photographs of the abandoned Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit Complex in Brixton where empty docket folders are stacked in an open cupboard. At the Old Potato Sheds behind the Market Theatre in Newtown there’s many dusty theatre props, a huge Terminator like sculpture is a silent sentinel guarding god knows what. The next on my list is the Alhambra Theatre in Doornfontein that was closed in 2000, it’s a lovely Art Deco faded old lady in Doornfontein and I wonder what it looks like inside after a decade of neglect. There were plans to include its redevelopment as part of the Ellispark precinct for the 2010 FIFA World Cup but for some reason it didn't happen.
The strangest object I’ve discovered so far was large bottles of Chloroform at the abandoned Orlando Power Station close to Soweto. This space is a regular haunt for Urbex photographers and the fact that this dangerous substance was carelessly left is a mystery. The most common items, except mountains of rubbish, I've found are shoes. Pairs of sneakers, singletons, clapped out wrecks and others good enough to wear I’ve seen in every nook and cranny. Maybe it’s the leavings of the homeless when they are unwittingly surprised by the authorities. I really don’t know.
I am not a hardcore Urban Explorer and I refuse to claw my way up rickety rusted ladders or rabbit down tunnels and sewers. I am weird but not insane. I leave this to the true maniacs and wide-eyed dreamers.
I watched a fascinating documentary “Urban Explorers - Into the Darkness” which is subtitled “You’ll never look at a manhole cover the same way again”, http://www.urbanexplorersfilm.com/index.htm. These guys (and girls) are not afraid to wade through sewers filled with knee high human waste for the ultimate Urbex shot. Dripping half -petrified faeces in one scene is gleefully described as “poopsicles” - no way José - not interested.
I’ll rather crawl and trawl through the Jozi inner city - it’s dangerous enough.
Some Flickr links to my Urbex Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43066879@N06/sets/72157623638034893/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43066879@N06/sets/72157623449473591/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43066879@N06/sets/72157623566013916/
- Wind and The Willows: Kenneth Grahame
If I did not live in a country where the have-not’s outnumber those that have by about ten to one I would possibly have been a dumpster diver par excellence. Unemployment is unacceptably high in South Africa and added to that are the thousands of illegal immigrants streaming across the borders continuously seeking for a better life. There’s little chance of finding anything worthwhile after these poor souls picked through the rubbish to keep life and limb together.
For as long as I can remember I explored rubbish heaps and trashcans. In this rummaging I’ve found some interesting stuff. I have a chair in my house I rescued from a dump years ago. A new plush velvet cushion and a little tender loving care turned it into a chair with a story.
My paint tubes and brushes I keep in a small suitcase I found in a bin. I had this case with me when I met that mad Dutchmen Vincent, Van Gogh was his surname I think, in Arles. I really tried to teach him the finer points of brush-strokes but failed miserably. When he started staring at me with an eerie look, mumbling about not being able to sell his amateurish attempts I decided to leave. He begged me to take some of his daubings with me. I agreed as I did not want to hurt his feelings but threw it into the Rhone soon after. I wonder what happened to him.
Anyway, I have to go and take my pills now.
Since I’ve started photography as a serious hobby I’ve been exploring decaying and abandoned architecture. Seeing what happened in Jozi’s CBD in recent history where some deserted buildings are slowly sinking into the ground gives me an understanding of how it is possible for whole civilizations to disappear from the face of the earth.
Where others record nature’s beauty I wander the inner city photographing rack and ruin. The decay of uninhabited spaces can be as profoundly beautiful as a panoramic seascape in my opinion. I am continuously warned that I’m looking for trouble in the inner city as it is regarded as crime ridden and dangerous. I suppose the adrenaline rush adds some spice to the exploration, but it’s more than this. I can feel the heartbeat of the city through the soles of my shoes. I talk to strangers and feel part of a whole. Not once have I felt threatened or vulnerable.
For a long time I thought I was weird being fascinated by rack and ruin. I’ve since discovered that there are hundreds of photographers that have the same strange attraction to Urban Exploration and I have since joined the South African Urbex group on Flickr.
Wikipedia describes Urbex as;
“Urban exploration (often shortened as Urbex or UE) is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or inhabited sites. It may also be referred to as "draining" (when exploring drains) "urban spelunking", "urban caving", or "building hacking".
The unspoken rule of urban exploring is "take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints” (in the dust). I don’t plan to ever break in to any deserted buildings but have no qualms to bullshit my way past a security guard at all.
There’s a great thrill in finding a space no-one else has explored. As far as I know I’m the first to post photographs of the abandoned Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit Complex in Brixton where empty docket folders are stacked in an open cupboard. At the Old Potato Sheds behind the Market Theatre in Newtown there’s many dusty theatre props, a huge Terminator like sculpture is a silent sentinel guarding god knows what. The next on my list is the Alhambra Theatre in Doornfontein that was closed in 2000, it’s a lovely Art Deco faded old lady in Doornfontein and I wonder what it looks like inside after a decade of neglect. There were plans to include its redevelopment as part of the Ellispark precinct for the 2010 FIFA World Cup but for some reason it didn't happen.
The strangest object I’ve discovered so far was large bottles of Chloroform at the abandoned Orlando Power Station close to Soweto. This space is a regular haunt for Urbex photographers and the fact that this dangerous substance was carelessly left is a mystery. The most common items, except mountains of rubbish, I've found are shoes. Pairs of sneakers, singletons, clapped out wrecks and others good enough to wear I’ve seen in every nook and cranny. Maybe it’s the leavings of the homeless when they are unwittingly surprised by the authorities. I really don’t know.
I am not a hardcore Urban Explorer and I refuse to claw my way up rickety rusted ladders or rabbit down tunnels and sewers. I am weird but not insane. I leave this to the true maniacs and wide-eyed dreamers.
I watched a fascinating documentary “Urban Explorers - Into the Darkness” which is subtitled “You’ll never look at a manhole cover the same way again”, http://www.urbanexplorersfilm.com/index.htm. These guys (and girls) are not afraid to wade through sewers filled with knee high human waste for the ultimate Urbex shot. Dripping half -petrified faeces in one scene is gleefully described as “poopsicles” - no way José - not interested.
I’ll rather crawl and trawl through the Jozi inner city - it’s dangerous enough.
Some Flickr links to my Urbex Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43066879@N06/sets/72157623638034893/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43066879@N06/sets/72157623449473591/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43066879@N06/sets/72157623566013916/