Sign Collectors on Facebook inspired me to write about collecting signs. I don't collect them myself but I will photograph old signs I see along the way.
I also found a Facebook page about fake signs. How would you know if an old sign was really old or just made to look old and weathered? I wouldn't even have thought about someone creating fake old signs.
Take Only Photographs; Leave Only Footprints
Urban Exploration is about exploring in all areas, not always with permission. You might stand on the street and take photographs from a safe distance. You might wander into a storm drains, tunnels and sewers. You might climb to the highest rooftops and take a photo of your feet hanging over the edge looking down at the world below. You might go inside abandoned industrial buildings to photograph huge and mysterious machinery. You might go looking for signs of ghosts (and find raccoons) in a ruined farm house. You might venture into hidden, forbidden or just unknown areas of a city and photograph sites unseen. You might love finding a ghost sign, or a ghost town. The adventures are endless. Just dress accordingly, wear reliable footwear and pack your map and a camera into your trusty backpack before you start.
Have you ever read something by H.P. Lovecraft?
Lovecraft was an urban explorer himself. He liked exploring old houses especially. In his books I've read descriptions of the old places which bring poetry to them I envy (as a writer and explorer myself). Anyone who has explored an old house, especially those who have explored many of them and still love finding yet another, will treasure reading Lovecraft's short stories.
I knew about his books for a very long time but thought they were too gruesome and frightening for me. I think that would have been true while I was still a young woman of high school age. But, now that I am nearing 50 and a seasoned explorer... they seem more like stories I've heard before. This is no fault of H.P. Lovecraft.
His stories were horrifying, terrifying and gruesome enough at the time he wrote them. But, like an old house, we have become weathered to horror, especially when it's in fiction. Lovecraft read horror, modern people see it in movies, which is far different than reading it in print.
Abandoned places are demolished before you make time to visit them. So, make sure, when you do get there, you have your camera ready. You may not get another chance.
My first time as an urban explorer was not with this camera. So far, the Panasonic has been my favourite camera and the second of four which I have bought.
Photographs of the First House I Explored (now Demolished)
The first house I ever visited as an urban explorer. This is how it looked from the gate at the bottom of the driveway, just off the main road.
This was the front door. Lovely arch over it.
This was the left side of the house. Later I found photos of the inside and realize that was a stairway where the windows go up on the side.
This was farther to the back of the house. Likely the wooden addition was a summer kitchen.
This is closer up looking at the front of the house. I like the gingerbread trim and brickwork. The colours were great.
My First Digital Camera on my First Urban Exploration Adventure
The first camera I bought for urban exploring was made in China by a company I have not heard of before or since then. I bought that first camera at Zellers, a Canadian department store which I was working for at the time. I was so happy and proud to have my first digital camera. It was liberating to be free of film and film developing which made photography so expensive as a hobby.
That first camera needed two double A batteries. I brought extra batteries with me. But, the first time I used the camera the one thing I did not know what how important it is to have a memory card. I had none, just the memory which came with the camera itself.
So my first urban exploration adventure was not as long as I would have liked. I ran out of camera memory before I had taken even 20 photos. That may seem like plenty. But, when you are photographing an entire house, the remains of the garden, the barn and then the more interesting parts of the house where I wanted to zoom up and see more... I was out of memory.
Urban Exploration Doesn't Come with Second Chances
I still did get photos which I treasure. Unfortunately, that was the one and only trip I made to that first house. Before I got up the nerve or found the time, the house had been demolished. As an urban explorer, two things I have learned are the importance of having a camera I can rely on (with plenty of memory and a fully charged battery) and the fact that nothing lasts forever. You don't always get a second chance.
An urban explorer needs a good camera, a reliable backpack to keep it in, and a map to both mark your place and show you the way to go home again. You should also dress appropriately, don't forget the footwear!
You may think the whole idea of being an explorer is to be the first to see something never before discovered. This isn't really what we do as urban explorers. Even the rural explorers are following past human settlement, construction and demolition. We explore in old footprints.
It helps to have a guide to where you might start. Then, when you have explored enough and the adventure of being lost is less fun than the idea of a fresh, hot coffee... the map book or guide book will show you which way to go.
My favourite is the Back Roads of Ontario, by MapArt Publishing.
Would you Doodle on Your Map?
A new map (in book form) is published each year. I don't buy a fresh book every year. Mine has notes, doodles, and marks where I found great treasure (a really unique, weathered and detailed old house). Also, the maps don't change so often that you need updated too often. But, it is nice to start again with a fresh map when my old one is getting dog-earred.
The MapArt book is an actual map, roads, rivers and all. But, I love to find a book like the one by Ron Brown pictured here. This is more than just a road map, it's reading someone else's findings, experiences and some forewarning about what you may or may not find when you look for the same places yourself. You also get to see photos someone else took. It's nice to see if you can find a better angle, maybe different light or see more than the than the author of the book noticed.
Ron Brown is one of a few people who write great books for anyone exploring Ontario history. Whether you are on the road with your camera or just want to read the history and see the photographs, the books have a lot to offer. They aren't all available on Amazon however. Some are out of print, some were published by small press and some are just plain old and forgotten.
If you want to explore take a great map book. One which shows you the roads and the back roads. But, take a look for other guide books for local history and backroad traveling.
I live in Ontario so I've shown the books I know (and have on my bookshelves) as a guide to letting you see what is out there when you start having your own adventures on the road with your trusty backpack, camera, boots and a map book!
What Does your Road Trip Map Look Like?
How do you treat your map?