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urban exploration

Local Landmark Shipwreck in California Burnt Out for Instagram Photo

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Perched on a sand bank in Tomales Bay, CA, the ship nicknamed the “S.S. Point Reyes” has sat for a great number of years, left to rot and decay naturally.  The exact number of years it’s been there is something of a local secret, adding to the mystery of the wreck, which has been a significant local tourist attraction.

Sitting in the bay, and not the Pacific Ocean is the reason why the wreck has remained around for so long, and has been of great interest to photographers visiting the area, which has a long history of shipwrecks.

On Sunday night, it became of particular interest to one unnamed Instagram user who thought it’d be a great idea to start spinning red hot wire wool behind the boat for a photo.  As one might expect, this caused a fire which went on to consume about half of the wreck, and was still being battled by local fire fighters into Monday morning.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

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Images From Desolated, Disaster Stricken Chernobyl 30 Years Later

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When I am thinking of sad places, Chernobyl always comes to mind. A place that was vibrant with life, up until April 1986. Then Reactor number 4 of the power plant exploded causing the evacuation of more than 350,000 people over the span of huge area and over 15 years.

Today the city is mostly a ghost town, aside from a few remaining residents.

Rebecca Litchfield is no stranger to the Soviet Union in general and to Chernobyl in particular. She has done two trips to the area, one in 2012 and one in April this year. The photos she brought back are some of the saddest I’ve seen.

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Explore Crumbling Relics Of Time In Intriguing Photo Series Featuring Abandoned New York City

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Chances are, when you think of New York City, you imagine the large crowds of people, bright city lights, and the familiar humming and buzzing sound of big city life. Even in the subway, the city’s underbelly, New York City still pulses with life. You don’t think about all the desolate warehouses, decaying classrooms, or crumbling psychiatric wards that are sporadically speckled around the city’s five boroughs.[Read More…]

Photographer Illustrates The Beauty In Abandon And Decay In Stunning Urbex Collection

How is it that when an average person spots the decrepit remnants of a building that is long past it’s days of glory, they find it repulsive, spooky even. But, when a photographer like Rebecca Litchfield (previously here and here) comes across such remains, they are capable of seeing something much brighter, more beautiful than most humans are capable of. What makes that gift truly remarkable is that, in Litchfields photographs, she is able to capture the beauty she sees in a way that easily translates decay into beauty to even the most untrained eye.[Read More…]

Photos Of A Soviet Union That Once Was

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Fine art photographer Rebecca Litchfield was commissioned earlier this year to photograph the abandoned buildings of the former Soviet Union and its Satellite states. In a long trip spanning over 10 countries and a year of many individual trips, Rebecca shot buildings in Eastern Europe, The Baltic’s, Ukraine and Russia.

This was not a random roaming around, Rebecca shares her goals which were pretty specific, while leaving space for creative freedom.

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Yet Another Example Why Urbex Should Remain Secret

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If you’ve been following the Urbex movement, you know what they do, they post amazing photograph from old and forgotten places.

If you want to join in, though, you may quickly discover that getting inside the circle of locations is not easy. In fact, it is extremely hard.  Those abandoned locations are not shared over the net, and usually if you asked an urbexer where a certain photo was taken you would get a vague response. Those locations are kept in secrecy and are only shared in a very close circle.

This may be infuriating, but there is a lot of weight under that decision. Here is one story to demonstrate why locations are kept secret:

The photo on the top (by The Other Side) is showing the snow cats Belgium used in their expeditions to Antarctica in the sixties. You can see those beasts in the video below:[Read More…]

The Dangers Of Urbex – Photographer Could Be Facing A Year In Jail And A 15,000 Euro Fine

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While Urban exploring (also referred to as Urbex) provides both wonderful photos for the viewers and a thrill for the photographer is it not always fun and games. Urban Explorer The Other Side (full name with the system) just shared a story with us about getting detained, almost arrested and practically being banned from doing any Urbexing in France or he will get in the slammer for a year and have to pay a fine of 15,000 Euros. [Read More…]

Capture First-Person Video of Your Shoots with a DIY Hot Shoe Adapter

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I am slothful. I am impatient. And, above all else, I am cheap…a beautiful trifecta that led me to this little project.

For the longest time, I have been wanting a way to easily capture point-of-view (POV) footage of my shoots as a way to document the exact moment an image is taken. This serves a variety of functions ranging from satiating my own vanity to allowing me to show others the “big picture” that eventually became a final image.

Essentially, I wanted something like this adapter from B&H that would allow me to attach a small camera to my hot shoe for documenting a shoot. However, I never really felt like buying one, buying one would require me to wait for it to arrive (like it was going to be THAT much longer than the year I’ve already sat on this), and, why buy something you can make yourself, right? So, I set about pulling odds and ends I had laying around to make my dream finally come true! ::snickers with excitement:: [Read More…]

DIYP Interviews Fine Art Photographer Rebecca Litchfield

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Rebecca Litchfield is somewhat of an un-categorized hybrid, she shoots fashion (and does it darn well), but she is also very well known for her urbex (urban Exploring) photography. I’ve been following Rebecca Litchfield’s work for a long time, but it was only when I saw her great talk over at the photography show that we made the connection and started an interview. I knew it was going to be fascinating, I just did not know how much.

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Why Urban Exploring Can Never Be A Mass Photography Thing

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Urban Exploring or Urbex is the art of photographing and documenting desolated, abandoned city locations before time sank its claws into them completely. If you are not really sure what  I am talking about you can check the works of Daniel Marbaix (featured) and David Van Bael.

The work is quite enchanting, but if you try to get into that field of photography, and ask about those locations, you will probably get a cold shoulder and those locations will stay secret. and there is a good reason for that.[Read More…]

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