Urban Exploration

There is more to urban exploration than taking a walk in the city.

There are 339 posts filed in Urban Exploration (this is page 22 of 57).

Rooftopping: Rooftop Photography and City Skylines

Your camera is packed, you head out the door with a planned destination. You plan to go far, far up that is. High into the atmosphere where it will be colder, windier and a bit dangerous (more dangerous the higher you go).

Make sure you have charged up the battery on your camera. There is nothing quite so stupid feeling as to finally get to the top of the building, passing security measures, daring yourself to open that door and face the elements… then realize you can’t take more than one damn photo because your camera battery is all but completely dead. You forgot to recharge it.

Bold adventurer are you.

Start Rooftopping

Rooftopping is not about going to the highest floor inside a building and taking photos, from inside. Those are still nice photos – but you aren’t on the actual roof.

Rooftopping is not about putting yourself in the photo, in a dangerous pose. Rooftopping photographers have every reason to live to see another day. Don’t stand on the edge of a roof and lean over. Be smart and lean over and take the photo without risking falling to your death. I’m not writing this post in support of skywalking, this is about photography from rooftops of buildings.

I’m not promoting dangerous activities but there is a thrill to getting out on the roof and photographing the world from a new perspective. Having said that, you don’t have to be a big risk taker.

Start by getting on the roof of your own house even and just see if you really want to try it again, in another location.

Try a parking garage. You can get a few floors up and check out the world from the roof of a shopping mall too. See if you have access to the roof of an apartment building next time you are in one. If you can access a lighthouse that would be pretty great too.

If you really are worried about permission and trespassing arrange a photo shoot, with permission. The worst that can happen is they say no. Try again, offer them copies of the photos for their own use in promoting the building/ mall/ apartment, etc. If you work on some ideas you could be up on that roof will full permission and no trouble at all with the security presence in the building. If you do go this route, get some business cards printed up for yourself. People trust business cards that claim you are a professional photographer. Who says you aren’t?

Make sure you have (at the very least) the wrist strap for your camera. Actually use it this time. Not only is this a bad place to drop your camera but this is a really bad place to drop your camera, have it fall a long way down and cause real damage to people or property when it hits bottom. Make sure your shoes are tied tightly and you are wearing nothing else which could fall off, for the same reason. If you wear glasses configure a strap to keep them on your head.

Rooftopping and Skywalking Resources: Photographers and Photos Taken

Rooftopping is NOT about Jumping Off a Roof

Rooftopping is NOT about going on the roof of your house and jumping off. While I was looking for more rooftopping links I found a YouTube video with boys (of course) jumping off the roof of houses and landing on trees, bushes and snow banks. That is not rooftopping. That’s just boys with nothing better to do.

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Rephotography: Then and Now Photography

rephotographyWould you like to stand in one place and see how it looked 100 years ago? Rephotography is about using old photographs (postcards or paintings) to fill in the details, comparing how a place (city street, rural landscape, etc.) used to look compared to the modern/ current look.

You don’t have to use a vintage photograph. Pick out something from your own family photographs. If you don’t live in the same house look for a photograph taken in a public access place like a park, a library, a school. Bring your camera and a tripod would be a good idea so you can be a bit less hands on (you are limited to just two hands after all).

Set your camera up on the tripod. Now use your original photograph and connect it to the existing, modern background at the location. Try stepping backwards and forwards and moving the camera higher or lower with the tripod. It will take some time to match up the old photograph with the current scene.

You may bring along a friend to hold the photograph in place for you. Or, you might do it yourself – this is when having the tripod will make things much easier. If you can use something there already like pinning the photo to a tree, a clothesline, be creative. Most likely someone will need to hold the photo.

Give yourself space around the edges of your original photo so you can clearly see the modern background behind your photograph. Show it off. It doesn’t have to be posed dead centre. If you aren’t holding the photo yourself you can carefully position the camera to catch something new to the side of your original photo.

Some then and now photography isn’t done using an original photo inside a new photo. This is the one which I like best, it’s the most dramatic and gives great perspective. But, some will merge the old photo by blurring the lines between old and new so that the only difference is colour versus black and white. In the case of the rephotography image I created for this post, I created a new image by putting two photographs side by side.

Have a look at several styles and photographs from the links below and decide which style you like best.

Rephotography Resources for Then and Now Photographers

Locations Photographed Then and Now

Why are Coins Left on Gravestones?

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COINS LEFT ON TOMBSTONES

While visiting some cemeteries you may notice that headstones marking certain graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.

These coins have distinct meanings when left on the headstones of those who gave their life while serving in America’s military, and these meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin.

A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to the deceased soldier’s family that someone else has visited the grave to pay respect. Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you visited.

A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp together, while a dime means you served with him in some capacity. By leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were with the solider when he was killed.

According to tradition, the money left at graves in national cemeteries and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected, and the funds are put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying burial costs for indigent veterans.

In the US, this practice became common during the Vietnam war, due to the political divide in the country over the war; leaving a coin was seen as a more practical way to communicate that you had visited the grave than contacting the soldier’s family, which could devolve into an uncomfortable argument over politics relating to the war.

Some Vietnam veterans would leave coins as a “down payment” to buy their fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when they would finally be reunited.

The tradition of leaving coins on the headstones of military men and women can be traced to as far back as the Roman Empire.

This was on Facebook today.

Resources for Urban Explorers in Canada

Canadian Urban Exploration

Whether you already live in Canada and like to explore or you are travelling through Canada and want to find places to explore and people to explore with… this post should help you track down resources online.

I will continue to add to this post as I find new resources.

Groups and Resources for Canada

Flickr: Abandoned Canada
Abandoned Canada
Flickr: Canadian Rural Ruins
Canadian Rural Ruins
GhostTownsCanada.ca
A photo gallery of Ghost Towns in Canada. Includes ghost towns that still have buildings, residents and those that are completely gone.
Canadian Military History by Bruce Forsyth
A Short History of Abandoned and Downsized Canadian Military Bases.
List of defunct airports in Canada – Wikipedia
List of defunct airports in Canada
Ghost towns in Canada
Photographs and stories on ghost towns in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the Northwest Territories.

Groups and Resources for British Columbia

Facebook: Haunted British Columbia
Haunted British Columbia
Flickr: Abandoned British Columbia
This is a place to share any photographs of places in British Columbia that have been abandoned.
Flickr: Vanishing Vancouver
This group is for photos of disappearing aspects, or little fragments of the city that won’t be around much longer.
Flickr: Vancouver “Then and Now”
We’d like to get photos of Vancouver “then” and now. Archival, your parents’ snapshots, whatever, and then a photo you’ve taken of the same area from the same angle as it stands currently…if possible, and placed side by side.

Groups and Resources for the Prarie Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta)

Flickr: Abandoned Saskatchewan
Abandoned Saskatchewan
Flickr: Saskatchewan Ghost Towns
This group is about preserving a photographic legacy of Ghost Towns and near Ghost Towns in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Flickr: Unseen Saskatchewan
This group is about showing the hidden beauty of Saskatchewan. Whether it be rural decay, amazing skies, ghost towns, unique architecture or places in cities, towns and tourist areas that are rarely seen.
Flickr: Historical and Abandoned Alberta
Post your photos of buildings located in Alberta that are abandoned and/or of historical significance.
Flickr: Historical and Abandoned Edmonton
Historic, old or abandoned buildings in Edmonton, Alberta.
Flickr: Historical Calgary
Gathering old photos of Calgary and area, and taking new photos of the same locations to illustrate the changes over time that our city has seen.

Groups and Resources for Ontario

HubPages: Exploring Ontario Rural Ruins
My post on HubPages about being a rural explorer in Ontario.
Flickr: Ontario Rural Ruins
Ontario Rural Ruins
Urubex Barrie
Urban exploration blog from a Barrie based explorer.
The Exploration Project
Blog from an urban explorer in Ontario.
Google Groups: Urbex Ontario
Message board for urban explorers in Ontario. Must be approved to join – usually you need to be an active explorer and know someone who can vouch for you.
Urban Exploration Resource
Part of the large UER site for the Ontario locations.
Ontario Ghost Towns and Abandoned Places
Ontario Ghost Towns and Abandoned Places
Facebook: Abandoned Houses of Ontario
Abandoned Houses of Ontario.
Flickr: Ontario Canada Farms
Farms in Ontario, welcomes abandoned farm photos too.
Flickr: Northern Ontario Abandoned
Abandoned Norhtern Ontario locations.
Flickr: Abandoned Ontario
Abandoned Ontario
Flickr: The Decay of Quinte Ontario
The decay of Quinte, Ontario.
Flickr: Abandoned Niagara
Abandoned Niagara, Ontario.
Flickr: Thunder Bay in Decay
Thunder Bay in decay.
Facebook: Ontario Ghost Towns and Historical Places
Ontario ghost towns and historical places.
Exploring Ontario Rural Ruins
I’ve been photographing Ontario rural ruins since 2006, when I bought my first digital camera. There is something I like about the old, abandoned places in city, town and farm which I can only try to show in photographs.
Vanished Ottawa
Historical and vanishing Ottawa, Ontario.

Groups and Resources for Quebec

Flickr: Abandoned Quebec
Abandoned Quebec
Flickr: Abandoned Montreal
Abandoned Montreal
Flickr: Vanished Montreal / Montréal disparu
Post pictures of places, buildings or streets that aren’t there anymore or which have been totally transformed. You can also post vintages pictures of Montreal and ghost ads.
Flickr: Montreal, Avant et Maintenant
Montréal is a changing city. Let’s see the difference with before/now photos.

Groups and Resources for Atlantic Canada (East Coast)

Halifax Urbex
Halifax Urbex
Facebook: Atlantic Canada Urban Exploration
Atlantic Canada Urban Exploration

Groups and Resources in Northern Canada

Facebook: Abandoned Mines in Northern Canada Project
Abandoned mines in Northern Canada
Flickr: Abandoned Alaska and Yukon
Abandoned Alaska and the Yukon
Abandoned Mines in Northern Canada
Searching for histories within Northern Canada’s industrial landscapes.
This was originally posted on Squidoo. But, as my readership has never gotten off the ground my posts are being “retired” gradually. I have moved this to my own site instead.

Other Names for Urban Exploration

Other names used for Urban exploration are draining, urban spelunking, urban caving, vadding, building hacking, reality hacking and roof and tunnel hacking.

via Urban Exploration and Abandoned Buildings. (My original source for this is gone.)

I hadn’t heard of all those. But, they make sense.