Forbidden places
What is urban exploration?
Urban exploration. It goes by many names such as UE, UrbEx, Infiltration, and Reality Hacking. It is all about going into places you are “not supposed" to go. Urban exploration has 2 different meanings for me:
The first one is related to the city we live in. We are enclosed, almost entrapped, in this urban environment. We follow the streets guided by the paths that are drawn, no chance to escape our average everyday existence. Urban exploration is the research, documentation, escape, exploration, and mapping of these forbidden spaces that include maintenance or service areas, utility tunnels, abandoned buildings, such as mental institutions, and basically any place where the everyday public are not supposed to be. Open a door, cross a fence, or sneak into a hole and you visit the world of Urban Exploration. You have left the normal world, you are exploring.
The second meaning is related to the abandoned places or utility tunnels themselves. Sometimes these hulking structures lay rotting in the middle of the city and sometimes they are in the quiet suburbs abandoned and waiting in silence. These are places isolated from the “normal” world, places most people will never venture into or see. This what drives you to these forbidden places and changes everything in your reality with your first step forward. With that step you are in, you are exploring.
A much broader definition, written down by Ninjalicious, spiritual "father" of urban exploration, can be found on www.infiltration.org (the zine about places you're not supposed to go). See also Access All Areas: A User's Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration
, a book written by the same author.
www.forbidden-places.net
The site is online since February 1998.
Today, we have a total of 68 documented urban explorations through approximately 1700 pictures on 4 continents split among the following categories:
- we explored 19 abandoned factories,
- we got into 13 forgotten hospitals and asylums,
- we discovered 14 other derelict buildings (castles, churches, theaters...),
- we climbed 4 rooftops,
- we crawled into 9 closed underground mazes,
- we enjoyed 5 forbidden train-related buildings,
- we carefully documented 4 former military buildings.
But please keep in mind that more than 150 locations are still in the processing queue, and that the website only shows a small part of them!
Since 1st January 2006, there has been 1151592 unique visitors on the website, and about 40847 this month. Thank you!
We sincerely hope that you enjoyed your visit here, at least as much as we enjoyed exploring the locations
About The Author
I started very young. As a kid, my father brought me to abandoned factories.
The passion remained. But the motivation has been boosted by the taste for photography and the success of this website (see the Stats page).
So, why such a hobby? We think that abandoned and futureless places are part of our cultural heritage.
So before everything get rotten or disappear, let's explore and photograph them!
This website is like other urban exploration websites. It contains some basic info about the places we explored, so that one can remember and find the keywords to make additional searches on the web if needed.
It allows also the people that cannot or do not want to involve themselves into such visits to get the same adventurous feeling we enjoy when entering into. . . forbidden-places!
I usually go under the name of Slyv on various UE forums.
You can contact me directly.
Technical Stuff...
Photos are taken with high-end Canon EOS 30D 8.2MP Digital SLR Camera
using the following lenses:
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
- Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC SLD ELD Aspherical Macro Lens
- Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens
- Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM AF Zoom Telephoto Lens
The images are processed with Adobe Photoshop CS3
and Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI
.
The movies are edited using Adobe Premiere Pro CS3
.
The website is built from scratch using the Adobe Creative Suite CS3 including Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks and hosted with the precious support of Wallace.