HDR Urban Decay Places

dward1222 · Mar 12, 2012

Hi Everybody-

This is my first post here and I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, so let me know if it needs moved somewhere else.

What kind of tips can you give a guy before he goes to an abandon building to shoot urban decay?? I found an old large grain elevator factory that has been vacent for 15 plus years and I found that the owneres are in IL, and I'm in Columbus Ohio. So I want to shot it but don't know where to start. Like, do you normally do a dry run, or go in numbers, etc.

Also, since I live in Columbus, Ohio there is not much to shoot around here that is neglected, so can anybody tell me of any cities that I would be good for shooting old neglected buildings??

Any tips would be appriciated.

Thanks- Dward1222

maybeshewill · Mar 12, 2012

Make sure you've got protective equipment. A lot of old urban factories etc can have asbestos.

vipgraphx · Mar 12, 2012

You might want to ask permission. I have almost been arrested twice for trespassing.

theregoesjb · Mar 13, 2012

I think it really depends on the place, ive had great success by asking permission to walk around an old factory (had a lone guard on duty to watch over it). I was also just at a huge abandoned warehouse the other day surrounded by movable fencing with "no trespassing" signs every 20'. I could see some real nice graffiti and spots in the fence where people had climbed through before but i still resisted the temptation to climb through myself... 20 min later a cop drove up and asked what i was up to. He told me that being on the property was trespassing, even though i wasn't through the fence and that they had locked up 15 people already for sneaking around the place.
After being friendly with him and basically saying id turn right around and be on my way he paused and said i could take some shots of the graffiti as long as i didnt take more than 15-20 min, really nice guy.

Its a lot easier to get tempted when you are at the site with the camera in your hand, so just try and use your judgment before walking right in.