I like to go with my pals James & Aiden, and we recently decided we’ve all been a bit busy working of late and we decided we needed an ‘Urbex’ break

The policy is basically not to break into a place, but if it’s accessible, we explore!

We’d recently heard about people gaining access to a MASSIVE school in Hyde Park, Leeds (lots of posts on Flikr showing the insides), so we started the day there

Outside on the floor was an excellent old school Fire Extinguisher)

But sadly, and as happens regularly with abandoned buildings, recent access has been noticed and it’s been more enthusiastically locked down by the authorities.

There’s nothing like tall walls anti-climb paint & razor wire to keep a man down.

So we decided to mosey on elsewhere.

On the way I saw this cool poster, seemingly not advertising anything other than a mysterious sentiment.

So off we drove to place James & Aiden had been a few weeks before, an old machinery factory out near Ilkley.

I rather like the Lightroom processing I created to yellow the leaves a bit,

The old front door, again with yellowing leaves.

The fascinating thing about noseying around buildings that have been closed for years is seeing what was left when it closed and how time’s just spanned around that.

It appeared Holly Valance was one of the ladies of favour once upon a time.

Though it seemed she had competition, as there was a whole wall of carefully cut and pasted 70′s ladies and various impressively dated calendars of 70′s ladies sats in cars or working machinery with their paps out… (images perhaps not entirely suitable for a wedding blog!)

This place used to be a laundry machinery factory

There were loads of amazing rooms full of old bureaus busting at the seams with technical drawings

Cool stuff eh?

Back from a time when things were drawn with pens.

No one likes HDR much.

It’s really so interesting seeing things like this.

And in another area was one of the milling rooms. 

With old piles of nails still sat waiting to be used.

Big meaty machines, rusting quietly

There were loads of bulbs lying about too.

I like this catch of James reflecting in a mirror

A chunky hook.

I’m informed that if you don’t break in and you’re doing nothing criminal, it’s only a civil offence to be caught UrbExing

Though whether the cops’d agree is anyone’s guess.

But it’s so cool to be able to see somewhere lost to time in such a sanitised society.

Aiden decided to bring his old manual film camera, cos he still loves dropping it several rolls into the lab and being surprised later at what’s on there.

Doesn’t look like they’re so clean any more.

As James & Aiden had been papped, it seemed only right to pap mesen in a skanky mirror.

We found this other cool room, and shot a few more portraits

and a few more bulbs.

I like that shooting for fun like this, I can play around a bit more at the extremities of my lenses, eg at f1.2 on the 50mm like the above

There was an ace punching in area

with a clock that long ago gave up the ghost

Dude’s timesheets still sat quietly

I quite liked this space, next to an old phonebooth and office.

This is probably my fave image of the day.  A great combination of nature, light and dereliction

I also liked the shapes and crumbling paint of this crop

This old chair sat infront of old work posters & used dusty teacups 

While James tried to snap me from high while I sat on the chair above, I caught it crumble beneath him!

Interesting old posters about not being allowed to work more than 7.57 hrs per day.

I love how time paints a white room all kinds of new colours.

Light shafts burnt in over nudey calendars & an old chair

At one stage I looked up and caught James snapping this.

To see loads more exploration I’ve done, click the ‘Blog Categories’ menu and select ‘UrbEx’.

For some reason, the old Leeds International Swimming Pool post is still one of my most highly viewed blog posts!

We get to share & keep each other sharp (in both creativity and news) and can geek out in ways we’re not allowed to in ‘polite’ society

I’m close pals with ‘togs all around the country and consider where I am in business to be a direct product of being open & sharing and knowing open sharing types.

Plus, hanging out with other photographers has it’s perks of getting pictures of yourself looking acer than you really do in real life…

Like so, from the the talented James P Lester, with whom Aiden Dunbar & I joined for an UrbEx jaunt, on a well earned morning off from the busy wedding season

Urban Exploration is essentially noseying round and photographing derelict buildings, left to the ravages of time.  James likes to shoot portraits against the background of urban decay.  Personally, I like to focus on the story of what was and what’s become, taking in the wides and the details that build a picture of what a place has become.  But either way, it’s exciting stuff off the charts of every day sights.  You can see some of other urbex posts here.

Anyhoos – I’m going to be posting a blog of my images tomorrow, but I just saw James had posted ace images of Aiden & I on his blog.  Check them out here

As James’d papped me, it only seems fair for me to pap ‘em back, on the way to one of our urbex spots…

Here be J to the L, throwing up a West Leeds grip (we live over the road from one another in Bramley)

We’re well gangsta

Dunbar still skulks in the student ghetto that is Hyde Park, in East-Leeds.

Consider them a teaser for tomorrow’s post…

B

But to counter the lethargy, I’ve a beautiful new coffee maker (& companion mug!) to keep me buzzin’…

As January is a wedding free month for me, I decided to round up my Urban Exploration homies & get out for a nosey.

I put my requests into my UrbEx Sensei James Lester that I wanted somewhere pipey & industrial…

He dug out this former Dyeworks in the Horseforth, in North Leeds!

Not bad eh?

As per usual, it was locked up pretty tight.

Razor wire is Barb’s nasty sister.

Nobody calls her babe either

Looked like it was a while since it was open…

…or since this chimney saw any action.

It was hard resisting the temptation to climb

No-one working today.

We have a policy never to break and enter into these buildings, so we scout round and if there’s already an opening, it’d be rude not to look

Cos inside these building’s it’s always fascinating to see what happens when time and nature are left to do their thing…

Those soap dispensers on the wall were still full of soap.

Not to most private of loos

A quick portrait of Captain Lester, rocking his Yorkshire flatcap…

…and here’s our fellow explorer Aiden, a Leeds photography student also into exploring.

I quite liked the reflection of this empty space

And this little grate left I spotted on the floor.

Pipey, tick!  Red door – bonus.

It’s the permanent death I’m most concerned about…

…oh, and the asbestos.

I liked this stairwell.  Especially the ambiguous endorsement of myspace.com

We find ourselves photographing ourselves a lot

It’s interesting seeing what gets left exactly where it was left when a place finally closes its doors.

This chemical works left loads of these jugs

I like finding plugs that have had their cables cut.

They’re a great metaphor.

[When I posted this one on facebook, one of my more OCD pals couldn't fight the urge to switch that off]

There was one room with loads of massive holes in the floor, no doubt once containing vats or containers

No ladies today

This was one of my faves of the day.  I like how light fittings gradually give up holding onto the roof.

A bit of a Dr Who moment.

I liked the placement of the skylights above the mysterious hut

Again, strip lights loose hope

I asked James & Aid to point their torches at the walls & it gave a cool side lighting

Time had finally snapped this bog in two

Another vast space, crying out for a bit of 16mm capture

Outside at the back was some kind of water treatment works, but which also looks impressively Chernobyl-like.

I do find it really interesting exploring these places left to the ravages of time.  If you’d like to see more, simply filter the blog by the category ‘Urbex’

Cheers for looking!

B

They were an experimentation in creating light trails with torches during long exposures.

Basically, I set up the camera on a tripod in an already quite dark room, dialed in a 30-second exposure I believe at around f8 at 100ISO and danced around like a tool with a torch.

Where the light flares on the trails is where the torch pointed directly at the camera.  The trails on the floor are where the torch shone on the floor.

Pretty sweet eh?

At the opposite end of the same room I had the idea to one of those oscilloscope heartbeat trails.  Again, I set a long exposure, so I wouldn’t record in the image, set the camera on self-timer on a tripod & walked along and drew the line.

It was nice to stumble upon these images again, so I thought I’d share.

Get playing!

It’s been such a busy summer. As much fun as I’ve had doing the photography I’ve been doing, I’ve not had a much time to do much photography for myself.

My good friend & upcoming photographer James Lester & I like to snap urban dereliction by doing what we call ‘UrbEx’

‘Urban Exploration’

It’s basically getting into (not ‘breaing into’!) derelict buildings.  They’re so interesting & filled with what happens to a place when it’s left to the elements.

They give me chance to try and get creative with my photography.

I remember, back along, we took my 5DmkII along to a mill to test out my new ‘glidetrack’ gadget, & this came out of it:

Anyhoos – today, Myself, James & two of his Photography coursemates, Aiden & Chris, decided to see what we could see…

After a serious recce around somewhere James & I’d been before (blog here), to no avail, we found a cool old office blog with easy access

I’ve always admired the industrial view of this aluminum works from the flyover

In fact the flyover itself has a rater city-of-the-future look to it

The spot on the left is where the busses go to sleep at the end of the day.

Aww

We were all on different floors at one stage, so this shot seemed a good idea!

Refreshers: the best UrbEx fuel

A cheeky groupshot

I rather like this catch of Aiden

And one of Captain Lester, lookin towards the light

This was my fave of Chris, James & Aiden’s uni pal

Under the bridge

While we were waiting for teachers to stop smoking outside a school in the way of access to an interesting spot, we went and got a picnic.

This is my kind of Urbex Fuel

And these crisps were possible the best thing we’ve ever tasted.

This was a church we were interested in noseying round, but it was locked up tight, as derelict buildings are.

It’s our policy not to make access to these places, only use access if it’s there…

So, unable to find a way into the last two spots, we decided to explore a waterway I knew down near my old flat in Leeds Centre

It winds its way all over the place, about 10ft beneath road level

The graffiti kids like to get creative down there.

Either that or play paintball

I once took a guitarist down here for a shoot, as it’s a bit ancient and interesting

A quick snap of Mr Dunbar, giving it photo hands.  Photographers don’t usually like doing this, but I rather like it

So we ventured into the darkness of various tunnels in the area, with only our phones & the strobocopic flash of my flash for vision

See!

This round tunnel had an impressive echo

A view as we emerged from yet another tunnel

A bit of a smackden we found

A few times it was necessary to manually bridge the gap, and I like what Lester did with his arms.

Sadly, after walking through far too many spiderwebs to get there, we reached the end of the line & had to head back to our original access point.

But it was a fun experience all round & grand to get out with the boys for an explore.

If you’d like to see more urbex I’ve done, just go to the top of the blog & type Urbex into the search bar.  The Leeds International Swimming pool, that’s since been demolished, was a particular highlight.

Adios, y’all.

I’ve been toying with video more and more, and – even though I’m the first to admit it’s not what I do – have been booked for some wedding videography this year, mainly off the back of this video.  The difference I’ve found between stills and the camera footage is that can’t really get away with handholding video.  You need to steady a video shot – be it on a tripod, ideally with a fluid video head (for a smooth action), on a steadycam or panning along a secure rail.

My flat’s starting to fill up with video toys now; including a solid Giottos tripod, a fluid video head (Manfrotto 700RC2), a Steadytracker and Larry’s video tipped the Glidetrack scales.  2 days after ordering the Shooter I was excitedly screwing it together.  The 1/2m model I’d ordered looked awful short, but Alasdair at Glidetrack assured me it is the most portable, the one he uses and the one best suited to shooting weddings.

So I rounded up fellow UrbExplorer James Lester and we hit Bradford to give the Glidetrack a roadtest.

Check out the fruits of our findings… [in HD if you click the full-size icon in the bottom right]

[if you can't see the video, click here to see it at Vimeo]

It was pretty mad finding the empty homeless camp & some of the graffiti inside was really impressive.

Snips were done in Final Cut Pro, with a bit of toning applied with the Magic Bullet Looks plug-in.

It was an interesting learning curve figuring out how to get more than just a load of smooth pans.  Gliding close to the ground (as opposed to on a tripod) emphasized the movement, and gliding down a rail towards the subject looked pretty cool.

I felt I was just shooting anything of interest, while figuring out the Glidetrack, rather than telling a narrative.  I look forward to playing more!

Last week Mr Lester and I visited an abandoned Victorian youth correctional facility, called Eastmoor Reformatory, nestled away in the back of Adel.  It’s a massive complex dating back to the 1880′s, for naughty workhouse kids who’d turned to a life of crime.  We only saw a bit of the massive grounds, housing a full on church, pool, dentists, workshops and loads of accommodation outbuildings, all begging for a bit of Urban Exploration…

Such institutions were once more commonly called ‘borstals’; facilities where young offenders and children who were failing to integrate with society were sent to a secure environment to be taught practical skills so they could find a vocation or gainful employment. Eastmoor Reformatory housed 160 naughty kids in it’s operational hayday, and finally closed it’s doors in 1972. Hence the kitchen below looking a little worse for wear…

Gallant explorer inspects fire damage like he thinks he’s in CSI.

Experiments with torchlight through a red gel filter.

Painting light into dark.  I’m loving the light switch hanging from a bit of suspended roof

A fixer upper

The gents, again painted in by torchlight, hence the reflection from the mirror behind the door.

UrbtExtures!  Hmmm, that sounded better in my head.

Peeling paint lit by low torchlight

Access!

Disclaimer: We never actually ‘break’ into anywhere during our explorations, but if someone’s done the dirty work we may have a nosey inside…

From inside the courtyard of the old Victorian part.  There are so many rooms to explore in here.

I’m liking the chair placement.  People are funny.  Why would someone do this?

Lou Dogg’s been in da house.

In this room we first noticed all the floor tiles had peeled up, then spotted a solitary chair featuring a large, and well balanced chod of bird turd!

Pitch black – lit by 2 torches (hence double chair shadow)

Zoonotic disease! One of the better named diseases.

I loved the light falling from the roof of this end of the room.

Bit of f1.4 action on the door

29 days later… zombies dead, place still a mess.

There was an old pool was built in 1887, roofed in 1896 and heated in 1899. That must’ve been a chilly decade for swimming!  I read that one of the options for the ‘reformed’ boys was to be employed by fishing vessels at Grimsby on the east coast, so the pool was seen to potentially aid training for such a vocation in addition to the health and social benefits it brought to the young offenders. Today the pool can still be used for a paddle.

Josh had the personal survival SKILLS, but is still aspiring towards his honours award.

I like the way it looks like someone’s tried to fill the pool with the firehose.

In a room adjacent to the pool was a formidably large water pump and crumbling tank.

It was pitch black in here too, and I’m rather pleased with the way it’s lit by torchlight alone, through a 30 second exposure

Mr Lester (in the room behind) & I created a light vortex in the fisheye.

This place seriously merits further exploration! Watch this space…

I’ve always been intrigued to find out what was going on in there…

This is one part of the imposing mill, this bit still in use.

Chin stroking, security scoping & pondering access points…

There’s nothing like a warm welcome

I heard St. Annes was more upmarket than Blackpool. Having recently been to Blackpool, this doesn’t necessarily strengthen the case…

Wise words…

As usual, the building was locked down pretty tight, to keep out naughty kids with spraycans, arsonists & nosey photographers

But it did look pretty cool from the outside.

Mr Lester brought the Medium Format out for another voyage.

Fortunately, unlike last time, he didn’t drop it.

We did find an open door by this cool old room, so stopped in for a play

A bit of non-destructive lightscribing

We decided to do a bit of UrbEx portraiture.  On a 10 second exposure, JL wandered about lighting me with torchlight.

I then decided to have a wee dance with my torch, over a 30 second exposure.  I love the way the torch patterns are reflected on the floor.

My portrait of my fellow UrbExplorer. James has a mad knowledge of secret Leeds spots.

One final shot, where I painted a heartbeat onto a dead background.

Read into it what thee will!

Hope you enjoyed!

These adventures with JL took place one soaking June afternoon. Unfortunately we couldn’t find access into any interesting buildings.  Check out this concreted shut door at the the old Yorkshire Bank in Chapel Allerton…

We’d heard there was an ace old bank vault inside (empty of course, so we left the sawn off & ski masks at home), but couldn’t find a way in.

Next up we visited former mansion slash former ancient prosthetics hospital.  James’d been in years before and it apparently has amazing grand pillared entrance halls, but every window in the place was locked up tight.

So we stomped round an interesting derelict mill area and found some fun stuff…

An ace mechanics, with ace archaic fontwork on that green door, and more modern font work on the gates…

I love the fonts & colours here.

A randomly smoking barrel.

A machine that looks a lot like a dumb, but cheerful robot.

PC’s don’t age gracefully

An amazingly weathered office cabin window…

019

There wan an old dude inside fixing a car and he was totally cool with us snapping the place.  It looked great inside.

These sprayguns looked ace.

And get a load of this wirework!  Love it.

You have been warned

Not sure what the sticking of a ‘illegal deposit of waste’ sticker accomplishes…

LEEDS welcomes the discerning tourist

Really mini indeed! Give a smart car a run for it’s money.

There are many ways to enjoy a rainy afternoon.

A slightly haunting background.

In spite of not getting inside anywhere, we got some great pix on this explore.

I guess you find all sorts when you start looking.

We started around a new flyover in industrial Hunslet, and saw this funky old factory.  Here’s my ‘processed’ take on it, all done in Adobe Lightroom.

For those interested in a nosey behind the scenes, this one is how it looked straight out of the camera. Quite different eh?

I shoot in RAW so I can pull back highlight details, such as the sky, and have created my own LR presets for different purposes.

Mr L brought along his new baby, a Rolleiflex medium format.  The viewfinder on this thing was a joy to look through.

Some UrbEx textures on some skips around the site.

I wonder what’s down here…

An old mill! They don’t mess about naming the streets in Hunslet. This was an UrbEx playground for sure, especially once we found a way in.

These stairwells were amazing. I love the way paintwork does it’s own thing given enough time.

After seeing that viewfinder I had the idea to shoot some pix through it, but it was harder than it looked.  Perhaps I need my macro lens.

Inside one of the many mill floors.  When a crate or something is on the floor, it’s been put there by UrbEx-ers cos there’s a hole in the floor underneath.

Louise or Celia?

A funky button on the wall. Sadly it didn’t fire anything up.

A view from the other side of the building.

On it’s maiden voyage under his ownership, this beauty fell off it’s tripod & onto a concrete floor!  Oooooof.

The light meter died and, to say the least, JL wasn’t impressed. I felt his pain.

A couple of textures from the walls.

The top floor had a leeking roof, and looked wicked.

Rain rain go away, come back another day… perhaps in November or Spring.

Just before we left we had a nosey in the cool basement.

Lots of fun.