Territoriality Isn't the Issue Here

So I mentioned in last night's (or should I say this morning's) post that I would be happy to give out as much information "as I am comfortable giving out". The reason I say this is not because I'm a territorial bitch, but because I don't want to see these places destroyed by too much traffic. There are plenty of explorers who do get territorial though; I've had people send me messages asking me to take down, rename, alter, or make locations on the UER database available only to full members because they see it as "theirs" somehow. I respect those who do this in order to keep abandoned locations protected, but territoriality completely contradicts the whole idea of urbex-- we're trespassing anyway, we can't be territorial about something that isn't legally ours in the first place.

That being said, the reason I (and others) are protective about these locations is because I honestly care about them and would hate to see them ruined by graffiti or looting. I've seen too many abandonments completely destroyed by the amount of traffic that goes through them from too much exposure. Here's a scenario: I find a beautiful abandoned house. I take some great pictures, put them up in the UER database and fill out all the facts for the house's webpage. I make the location viewable to anyone who wants to look, not just full members. Some random kid finds out about this house because of Google and decides it's the perfect place to go paintballing or tagging, and invites all his friends. I come back to take some photos a few weeks later and the walls are covered in pink splotches and bad graffiti.

Now, I'm not saying graffiti isn't art. But bad graffiti is bad graffiti; GOOD graffiti can definitely be called art, no matter how legal or illegal it is. Urbexers and graffiti artists share the same conflict; art vs. legality.

Some examples of what I think is beautiful graffiti art:









And some examples of horrible, disfiguring graffiti:

(Photos courtesy of Google images)

So don't be offended if you ask and I don't want to give you every piece of information possible. I'll be happy to tell you what type of building it was and where I took the picture inside that building, and maybe even what state or city it's in, but I certainly won't tell you what road it's located on, how to get there or how to get in.

Cheers :-)

A more formal introduction

So I've finally decided to give this blog a main topic. Obviously I may stray from the path occasionally, but I plan for this blog to mostly be about urban exploration. I enjoy writing about it, there are so many subgenres of urbexing and so many philosophies, codes and concepts woven into it that I can always find something to write about.

Anyone reading this who is also a member of UER (Urban Exploration Resource for those of you who don't know), thank you. I have a great amount of respect for all of the UER members who truly care about urbexing and really have learned to respect abandonments instead of deface them or scrap everything they can out of it for money. A true urbexer is one who gets all of the personal satisfaction they can out of their explorations through art, writing, history, photography, journalism, etc without actually taking anything that doesn't belong to them.

I believe urban exploration is an art form, and honestly, it's somewhat irrelevant that it's illegal most of the time. Urbexers know exactly what they're doing and are willing to risk the consequences for the sake of their art, and true artistic beauty is not, should not, and cannot be defined by its legality.


For any of you who still aren't clear on what exactly urban exploration is, it's an underground hobby that involved exploring abandonments. Abandonments is a very general term, because urbexers generally explore anything that can be considered "behind the scenes". For example, draining. Draining is exploring storm drains, usually by entering through a manhole. The tunnel systems in different regions can be very complex and fascinating to explore, while other drain systems are just one long, boring tunnel after another leading to the same places over and over again. Abandoned hospitals, mental institutions, schools and prisons are hotspots for explorers. I enjoy buildings like these because of all the history that can be learned before you actually enter them; when I do finally explore them, it's that much better if I find something that I can link back to what I already knew about the building's history. Urban exploring is also an inspiration for many photographers; not every urbexer is a photographer, but for many explorers, photography is a hobby that goes hand in hand with exploring. Most urban explorer's follow a kind of unwritten code, which is basically to take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints. Obviously not everyone follows this, but it's a good thing to keep in mind. For example, (speaking for myself here), I wouldn't respect someone who would tag a building with ugly graffiti, but someone who truly believes their graffiti is art and who actually has talent is someone I could admire. Someone who would strip an entire place of valuables to sell on Ebay is not someone I could respect. People who take pictures of themselves smoking cigarettes in an old wooden house and then post them up all over Flickr or Photobucket is not someone I could ever respect. Urban explorers develop a knack for scoping out a particular building or location, assessing the situation and acting accordingly. For example, smoking in an abandoned house made out of wood is a bad idea. Smoking in an abandoned facility with marble floors and tile walls is something else. Smoking is a bad idea either way, but you hopefully get my point.

So there was your introduction to the world of urban exploration. I DEFINITELY didn't cover even the tip of the iceberg, but there will be more writing to come.


For those of you who are interested in urban exploring and want to know more about it, definitely check out "The Art of Urban Exploration", by Ninjalicious. Yep, it's his alias-- and it's very appropriate, he was one of the great gods of urban exploration. Check it out if you ever get a chance!

I'm going to leave you with a few random photos I've taken during past explorations!