In with the old
Learn the art of urbex photography
When I bought my first digital camera in 2000, I initially used it for holiday and landscape shots, then around 2009 I began experimenting with light painting and long-exposure shots to see the different effects I could bring into my work.
Whilst looking for places of isolation without any light pollution for my photographs, I discovered many abandoned places, and was drawn to their beauty and solitude. In every place I visited, I could sense the many stories behind them and I try to capture this in my work; whether it be a beautiful church that is being reclaimed by nature; a house full of decay and history, or a factory of machines that are now silent.
Over the past six years I have travelled to Ukraine to see Chernobyl and the abandoned city of Pripyat, as well as a whole host of other European locations, including various spots in the UK.
A lot of the places I shoot are quite dark and secluded, therefore my choice of camera is one that focuses well in low light, and also gives minimal noise on the images, and for me that’s the Nikon D750. I also find a wide-angle lens helps me to get as much of the scene in as possible, especially when working in confined areas.
As soon as I saw the small pram and a few wheelchairs lying around, I immediately knew what I wanted to create
I had seen shots with this graffiti before [1], and knew I wanted to make something a little more unique. After I finally managed to find a way in through the basement of this abandoned hospital, I searched around for a few props I could add. As soon as I saw the small pram and a few wheelchairs lying around, I immediately knew what I wanted to create and the title popped straight into my head. Fortunately, there was superb natural light coming in from a large window, and this perfectly highlighted the subject and the wonderful textures on the wall.
This shot was a real challenge from start to finish [2]. Firstly, it was difficult to gain access into the cavern. It was through a flooded one metre-high tunnel that led to a scree slope followed by a vertical descent in the pitch black. Once down inside the main chamber I used a high-powered Lenser X7R torch to light the cavern. It was in total darkness, except for one small shaft of light that did not penetrate very far into the blackness at all.
I chose a long exposure and I gently lit the entire cavern by moving the torch slowly around just behind the camera without letting the beam linger in one spot for too long, thereby trying to ensure that I lit every little corner evenly.
My final shot was a perfect scene waiting to be captured. It’s an old winery that had been abandoned after an earthquake and it is now slowly collapsing in on itself [3].
This image was a little tricky to capture well. In order to frame the shot centrally, I needed to get a small way into the room, which proved immensely difficult. The floor was decayed and I feared that I was going to end up in the room below with a pile of old wine barrels! A lovely natural light was entering from the damaged roof and drew my eye to the scene below. I felt I had to take the risk and luckily it paid off.
I like my images to be interesting but also make the viewer question what they are actually seeing. I want them to wonder why these places are left as they are, and imagine what had happened in these locations previously. What does the future hold for places like this – will all this beauty slowly fade away and become lost to time and decay?