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UER Forum > Rookie Forum > Why (Viewed 2771 times)
Ganesha 

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Why
< on 6/13/2014 3:56 AM >
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I’ve always been intrigued by the unnatural lines, rhythms and textures of “built environments,” and by the hope implicit in their decay. Until recently, I’d never heard of urban exploration, and I didn’t know anybody else who liked this stuff.

But during my mother’s final years, this interest took on a new intensity. Her nursing home stood on a hill overlooking a dilapidated light-industry area. Somehow, forming compositions from its raw material became a channel for my grief. After witnessing another step in her debilitation—yet another broken bone from a fall, or loss of the ability to turn her radio off and on because it was too complicated—I would go down the hill and photograph the shamble of wrecking yards, the jubilant weeds, and the natural alleys that told the truth about the painted fronts on the other side. The distressed landscape flowed into my lens, and apparently the grief flowed out; I would go home feeling better.



She’s been gone for three years now, but the fascination remains. I’ve found other people who like this stuff, and who have (or make) better opportunities to appreciate it. To me these images are a metaphor for the passage of life and time. How ambitious we were, yet how limited. Look how things have changed!






"The beauty of mediocrity is that anything can make you better." -Jeff Mallett
Sevtai 


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28:06:42:16

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Re: Why
< Reply # 1 on 6/13/2014 12:56 PM >
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That was beautiful.
I am sorry for your loss, yet I'm glad you ended up appreciating the beauty of decay and the quietude that comes with it.
Thanks for sharing your story.




Denn die Todten reiten schnell.
Abby Normal 


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Re: Why
< Reply # 2 on 6/13/2014 7:58 PM >
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Written direct from the heart. Very touching.

Although not grieving for my mother, I have similar feelings about life in general when I walk into old places. I often think about the original builders toiling on a new building, the proud owners taking possession and moving in, generations of workers or families spending their years involved in the building, then the gradual fall into disrepair and final abandonment. I wonder what stories each room could tell. And what stories are yet to unfold as the great circle comes around again.

I would think that a large portion of us feel this to one extent or another. I know it's a primary force behind my explorations. Yes, I like the take pictures, but more so, I like to 'connect' with the location.

The guys in the white coats are knocking at my door, gotta run. Now where did I leave my foil hat....

Abby Normal




"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan
DawnPatrol 


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Re: Why
< Reply # 3 on 6/13/2014 10:36 PM >
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I actually also started to get into exploring when my dad became ill. For me personally, I think it's just that it gave me something to do other than worry in my free time. I didn't actually go anywhere until after he passed (about 2.5 yrs ago), but spending hours searching google earth and researching and scouting out possible locations gave me something to focus on.

It's interesting to find people handling their grief in the same unconventional way. Glad you found a way to keep your sanity during all of that. It can be very difficult caring for a sick loved one.




Applepiejacks 


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Re: Why
< Reply # 4 on 6/14/2014 9:51 PM >
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Welcome to UER!




Radical_Ed 


Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
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"You work your life away and what do they give? You're only killing yourself to live!"

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Re: Why
< Reply # 5 on 6/15/2014 1:21 PM >
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That's some seriously heavy contemplation, man. It shows in the excellence of your work.
*
The last time I was deep into some brain dissection and feeling the atmosphere quite broodingly it was interrupted by a pile of crackhead feces and a nearby KFC bag used as the asswipe, with a grape-flavored Joose can thrown in for some ambience.
It truly broke the flow. Gotta love Philly.




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"Will you compromise and then realize the price is too much to pay?" "Winners and losers... which one will you be today?"
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Chreeis 


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Re: Why
< Reply # 6 on 6/15/2014 3:32 PM >
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Firstly, wonderfully put, and I'm happy that you've found the solace in these environments that help you cope with the sadness life can provide. There's something beautiful about abandoned locations, particularly when you see plants growing or even animals amongst the ruins. It really is a nice image for the constantly evolving presence of life. It fills me with a bit of a sense of hope and happiness to see that no matter how dilapidated a place may seem, as Jeff Goldblum once said "Life uhhh... finds a way"




A Boy Can Do Everything For Greatness. However, Inside Jails, Knows Life May Not Offer Proper, Quality Recreation. Solution? To Urban Ventures: Where X-ploration's Your Zoo.
Chreeis 


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Re: Why
< Reply # 7 on 6/15/2014 3:40 PM >
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Posted by Radical_Ed
...a pile of crackhead feces and a nearby KFC bag used as the asswipe, with a grape-flavored Joose can thrown in for some ambience.
It truly broke the flow. Gotta love Philly.

Not to derail the thread with this topic, but I was in Philly a few years back and had the opportunity to see some crackhead feces blasted on a wall underneath the SEPTA tracks by Temple U. Had to be at least 10-12 feet up there, but thats one of those substances that you certainly do NOT mistake for anything else, nor the smell on a humid day in August.
So yeah, gotta love Philly.




A Boy Can Do Everything For Greatness. However, Inside Jails, Knows Life May Not Offer Proper, Quality Recreation. Solution? To Urban Ventures: Where X-ploration's Your Zoo.
Ganesha 

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Re: Why
< Reply # 8 on 8/1/2014 4:51 AM >
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Thanks for the empathy and encouragement.

Six more reasons why, http://www.fastcod...oking-at-ruin-porn




"The beauty of mediocrity is that anything can make you better." -Jeff Mallett
OmahaUser 


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Re: Why
< Reply # 9 on 8/3/2014 5:41 AM >
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That was really touching to read. I found Urban Exploring to be a kind of meditative exercise. I first got into it when I'd been spending a lot of time alone and was in somewhat of an existential slum. Something about the ruins attracted me to them; perhaps the realization that decay isn't a strictly human experience and seeing the beauty that can arise from the ashes of decay. I remember my first time visiting a site and wading through the piles of brick and overgrown weeds. I've changed quite a bit since then, and am generally much happier, but every time I go I still think about what the abandonments were before they became monuments to poor urban planning and cut funding, who visited, worked, lived, and created this place that I now inhabit for a few hours, almost as if visiting its grave.




Dayman 


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"Too Much, Too Soon...You're way out of tune"

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Re: Why
< Reply # 10 on 8/3/2014 7:50 AM >
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Wow that was really touching and I'm sorry for your loss.

I too kinda grieve in similar unconventional way. For starters, just like Dawn, I frequently search for places on google earth and so on to occupy my thoughts when I don't want to think about certain things. Even though I've gone to very few of the places I've scouted out, it still is sort of therapeutic.

Based on some less than ideal circumstances with my life and my home life in particular, I typically find myself aimless driving or walking around when I'm distressed. During a particularly rough patch a month or so ago, everytime I started to fell like my depression was getting to be too much I would drive out this abandoned house I knew. I don't care too particularly much for the place as it is completely empty inside and shittily remodeled...but for some reason I'd always find myself there. I would pull into the lot that was a couple hundred feet away, get out, walk up to the building, sometimes only staring at it, sometimes going in. The porch and interior was in bad shape and generally the house was diplapidated and dangerous but typically Id go farther everytime.

It only took about 3 trips for me to go in, and I'm not a particularly hesitant person with UE, but I sort of respected the buildings ability to drop me or collapse on me at any moment. I typically would only walk in, go as far as I was comfortable with and turn around and walk out but that was kind of enough for me. I mean I still was depressed but it became a part of the grieving routine.

Through about 10 trips I went from standing outside staring at it for a half hour to going as far out on the collapsing second story porch as I could without pulling it down. I didn't realize it then but I think I was subconsciously taking little leaps of fate, in an attempt to validate my own existence to myself in weird sort of way.




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Ganesha 

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Re: Why
< Reply # 11 on 8/3/2014 9:13 PM >
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Posted by OmahaUser
I found Urban Exploring to be a kind of meditative exercise. ..visiting its grave.

Beautiful... Yes in some way it comforts me. And I see people's stories in what they leave behind.





"The beauty of mediocrity is that anything can make you better." -Jeff Mallett
Ganesha 

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Re: Why
< Reply # 12 on 8/3/2014 9:37 PM >
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Posted by Dayman
... taking little leaps of fate, in an attempt to validate my own existence to myself in weird sort of way.

This is different from my process, and a bit scary; but it sounds exhilarating too. Seems to be good therapy for you, and a way of extending and propelling yourself out of a funk. Yours is a very deep, heartful sharing. Keep on being daring, and careful.




"The beauty of mediocrity is that anything can make you better." -Jeff Mallett
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