In late 2007 I had the chance to photograph the headquarters of a major regional newspaper company just two days after they had moved to a new location. How on earth? Well I had worked there for the past few years. My employer knew about my hobby and had no objections letting me keep the keys for a photo shoot.



This photo was taken on the last day in this location. Newspapers had been made here daily since 1966.



The reception at the main entrance.



The marketing department.



Editorial office. This was where I worked.



A lobby upstairs, where important guests were often seen staring down at our work.



The corridors now look a lot scarier than back in the days.



The canteen.



The kitchen. Demolition had already started by removing all kitchen appliances, which were of value. They had been sold on.



Executive offices.



Auditorium.

More photos at https://desertedfi...-kaleva-oulu-2017/

This would be a turning point in my urbexing. After graduating I had to use my old lousy camera instead of the top ones we could borrow while still studying. I was disappointed with my photos, disappointed with my skills and disappointed with everything. I stored my camera in a cupboard and never took another shot with it. I almost gave up urbexing, too.

But just almost. There will be more.

Fast forward a few months...



When we moved away we knew that demolition was just a question of time. Several of my colleagues fed up with the old building and its problems even joked about getting chairs and going to drink beer to a nearby roundabout while watching the demolition.

Eventually they started around four months after we left the property. None of my colleagues took chairs or beer to the location.

One Saturday afternoon I was out with a few friends. We wanted to sing karaoke, so we headed to a nearby bar. We had bottles of wine in our bags for later, and decided to take a detour to see how demolition was progressing.

When we saw that the demolition workers had gone home for the weekend and left the gates open, we saw a great chance for the building's final party.



In we go. The press was located in this part of the building.



The marketing department looks a bit different now that all material containing asbestos has been removed.



We did always complain about air quality problems. There sure is ventilation now.



There still is stuff left in the lobby.



The HR department.



The editorial office.



The same corridor as above.



This was where our morning meetings used to be. At the other end of this former corridor was a bulletin board and on it were working shift lists from 2015 with my name on them. It was the only item left in the editorial offices.

We sat for a few hours on the floor of the old editorial office drinking our bottles of wine and posting on social media. I was the talk of the whole company the following Monday with my colleagues admiring my guts for going drinking to the demolition lot. I sure did drink the last wine of that building.

More photos: https://desertedfi...-kaleva-oulu-2018/

It's a special thing when you get to explore a location that you knew when it was in operation. Even more so when it's someplace that was such a large part of your life. The icing on the cake is to see its progression from occupied, to abandoned, to demolished.

Great sets and write-ups!

I also had the opportunity to explore a newspaper office when the company I was working for moved to another building.



Not nearly as exciting.

Posted by DescentOnARope It's a special thing when you get to explore a location that you knew when it was in operation. Even more so when it's someplace that was such a large part of your life. The icing on the cake is to see its progression from occupied, to abandoned, to demolished. Great sets and write-ups!

Thank you!

Yes, this was quite a special occasion for me. But now that I recall this visit, I feel a little bit disappointed, that I didn't photograph more. There were a lot of areas in the basement, which I never visited even when working in the building. I could have had it all.