When I joined uer.ca, I can recall reading a thread about someone who was asking tips for making a living out of urbex. I couldn't find that post, so I'm starting a new one. Now let me tell you a story.

In September 2021 I was sitting on a bus on my way to a dance lesson, browsing Instagram. I stumbled upon a post of the love of my life (whom I had loved and lost) announcing her pregnancy. It was a turning point.

At that moment I knew, that I was in the right place in my life. For me it was more important to express myself: travel around Finland, photograph, publish on Deserted Finland, dance and try to become an author, than to have a family.

I decided upon five goals that I wanted to achieve in five years. Three of them are not related to urbex, so I'll just skip them, but two are. One is to start earning a side income with my hobbies (urbex, writing) and the final goal is to be able to quit my job and live with my projects including Deserted Finland and devote my time to travelling, photographing, writing and dancing.

It has taken me a long time to figure out how to do this, but recent events have made me believe that it is indeed possible. I wanted to create this thread to share my dream and help me pursue it. I usually work harder, if there's a someone to update to what's going on.

When I first started Deserted Finland, I didn't have this plan. I wanted to create a website to share my photos. I decided to publish as many photos as possible to give the visitors a comprehensive view on what the buildings I've visited have looked like. Most of the photos are average, even bad, but there have been several gems in my archive, which even I think are great despite being highly critical towards my own work.

But already when starting, I wanted to publish to an audience as large as possible. The urbex community in Finland is only about 10 000 people, so I decided to write in English from the start to make the site accessible for everyone around the world. So far this hasn't really paid off. In two years I've had around 105 000 page views, and around 97 % of them are from Finland.

When I ran out of storage space on Wordpress and had to purchase a paid subscription, I also enabled ads. So far I've received a wonderful $ 1,15 on advertising, so this really isn't going to take me any closer to my goals.

Next I tried to join the crypto craze and created NFT's of my work. Didn't work out. It's extremely difficult to build an audience in that world, so this autumn I quit doing that.

But this autumn a lot of other things have happened. Last spring I bought a 30 year old Volvo and tried visiting all the current and former municipalities and towns in Finland in one summer. After 23 000 kilometers the job was done and a national tv channel contacted me. I gave them an interview and when they asked what I did in all those places, I told them about my urbexing and it was made a part of the article.

Next I was contacted by a nationwide newspaper, who wanted to write an article on abandoned buildings in Finland. They interviewed me and actually bought several photos of mine to go with the article. For the first time I actually earned more with Deserted Finland in one month than I spent on it.

Then came the next interview request. A nationwide newspaper wanted the story of visiting all municipalities in one summer, but they were mostly interested in urbexing and half of the article was about that.

My Wordpress space was again running out, so I had to buy a more expensive plan, which included the ability to set up an online store. I found a print on demand service, which could be integrated with it and set up a store, where some of my best photos can be purchased as prints. I haven't advertised it yet and have not received any orders, but the setup didn't cost me anything, so everything that potentially comes from there is profit.

Encouraged by all this, I applied for an artist grant. The Central Association of Finnish Photographic Organizations actually just awarded me around 60 % of the estimated expenses on my next summer's urbexing trips. The fact that my work has been recognized by professionals actually means a lot to me.

So in the past two months I've earned a four digit sum on urbexing. Now let's see what happens.

No hate to the people who make a living off urbex, but I've never been comfortable enough with the idea to do it myself for a couple of reasons.

• This hobby is inherently illegal. Making a profit requires limelight, and the more you put yourself in the limelight the bigger the target you paint on your back for law enforcement. It's all a big game of cat and mouse and they don't feel the need to put significant resources towards tracking down explorers who stick to the relative privacy of the urbex community. But making a living requires a larger audience, and at that point you are openly flaunting the law and thus challenging their authority, which is the one thing they can't let stand.
  
  
• It shines a spotlight on the places you visit. Places that circulate in urbex circles can stay intact and accessible for a long time because everyone knows how to keep them that way. But marketing to a larger audience means putting that information in the hands of people who might not know or care about preserving the location such as scrappers, vandals, etc which leads to the destruction of the location. Big name urbex Youtubers may try to avert this, but it never works.
  
  
• The urbex community is founded on a very punk-esque artistic ethos, one which rejects authority and capitalism's inherent need to commodify everything. Making a living off of urbex means founding your method of exploration on capitalistic values, which in my opinion cheapens the artistic aspect of urbex.
  
  
• Building on the last point, the urbex community is more than a nebulous collection of people online who share an interest- it's a tightly knit network of people who meet and know each other irl, and trust is the only currency that matters. If you lay the foundation of your exploring habits in capitalism, it tells others that you have a price- and nobody wants to share information with someone who they know can be bought.
  
  
• Hobbies become much more stressful when they become your sole source of income. They stop being fun when your survival depends on them.
  
  
• Making urbex into a job destroys any separation between your personal and professional life. If it doesn't work out and you need to apply to an actual job at a company, who would hire someone they know regularly breaks laws on the weekend for any kind of position that requires trust? Most non-explorers don't see legality and morality the way we do, and mixing your exploring and professional life can be a very risky career move.
  

I'd certainly love to get a job that aids in exploring (like a work from home job I can travel while doing), but I'd never want to make urbex itself my job. As fun as it would be, the benefits just don't outweigh the risks.

Posted by Aran No hate to the people who make a living off urbex, but I've never been comfortable enough with the idea to do it myself for a couple of reasons.

Thank you, Aran, for some very well argumented points. What you say is what I've considered and thought of a lot, and this is my conclusion of things.

In Finland the legistlation is different. It is actually pretty unclear what laws urbexers break, if any. We don't have a law on trespassing private property. Urban exploration falls under three different crimes, none of which actually apply to it if done correctly.

The first one is freely translated to 'breaking home peace'. You commit an offence, if you intrude a person's home. If nobody lives there, you can't commit this offence. So entering abandoned homes is basically not illegal.

The second one translates to 'breaking public peace'. It applies to all other properties, such as public buildings, storage buildings and workplaces. But if the building is not in use anymore and nobody works there, you can't commit this offence.

The third one is called something like 'violation of control'. If you unlawfully enter a location and the owner tells you to leave, you have to leave. If there are no signs forbidding trespassing and nobody catches you, you are ok. Even then the law states, that minor offences won't be punished. If the owner calls the cops on you, the most likely outcome is, that they just tell you to leave and forbid you from entering. No charges are pressed.

All of these crimes age in two years. This means, that after the time has passed, nobody can prosecute you. That's why I never publish any photos, which are newer than that.

Of course there are laws about breaking in, vandalizing things and stealing things. I don't do that. I only enter buildings, which are accessible. So I'm staying on the grey zone of the law.

And in Finland the police isn't like you described. They do follow you if you break the law. Entering abandoned places is considered such a minor offence, that they don't pay any interest. I've been stopped several times by the police nearby potential locations. They've tested me for alcohol and drugs and asked me what I'm doing there. I've told them I photograph old buildings and after that they have been very cool about it.

Of course it shines the spotlight on the places I visit. That's why I never publish anything newer than two years and never tell the location of places unless they have been destroyed or redeveloped. I have the uttermost respect for my locations. Always. And I'm also very careful about sharing locations.
When I've given out interviews, the journalists have always asked for details and one paper even wanted to photograph me in one of them. I've never given them details and I agreed to the photo shoot only on the condition that the location wouldn't be disclosed. They agreed.

I work for a magazine specialized in the construction business and everyone in the company knows about my hobby and support me. I often discuss it with local construction companies and they show genuine interest at it. They even suggest their soon to be demolished locations for photography and let me in.

Actually last week I asked my boss for a talk and told him that I want to pursue a career in arts. I said that I will apply for more grants and gradually phase myself out from journalism. I have his full support for that. In Finland it's pretty much impossible to fire an employee unless they don't do their job. And even if they do fire someone, they have to pay six months wages. I'm safe, believe me.

And finally the points about capitalism. Well I am a sort of a capitalist. I believe, that if a person really has the burning desire to do something and it's possible to make a living of it, they should try. People should be doing things that make them happy. If they do it for their living, good for them. As you have to do something for your living, anyway.

What Aran said..its pretty unimaginative to commodify this ...

Wow.

I don't agree with one single thing that Aran said. Some people really need to get over themselves.

I think what you're doing is awesome. In most of Europe the laws are quite different than in the US. There are quite a few people in the US that have successfully make a good living publishing books of abandoned or hard to access places. Some get permission, some don't.

If this is your passion and you can also make a living from this, that's awesome. Do what you love and you'll never "work" a day in your life.

Please post links to your sites and etc. wo you see and support your work!

p.s. your English is great!

That's the beauty of independent thought and no one need to "get over themselves"

Posted by Turd Furgusen I think what you're doing is awesome. In most of Europe the laws are quite different than in the US. There are quite a few people in the US that have successfully make a good living publishing books of abandoned or hard to access places. Some get permission, some don't. If this is your passion and you can also make a living from this, that's awesome. Do what you love and you'll never "work" a day in your life. Please post links to your sites and etc. wo you see and support your work! p.s. your English is great!

Thank you so much! Getting support from other urbexers was exactly why I decided to tell my dreams out loud.

I will continue posting my photos and links to the UE Photography area like I've done so far. Around 200 locations are still waiting for the day when I finally have time to go through all the photos and write posts about them. But it doesn't feel like work at all!

So, two months have passed since my first post. Still haven't gotten rich, but am still alive and kicking.

In early January a publisher publishing around ten daily newspapers contacted me. they wanted to publish and article about what kind of abandoned homes there are in Finland and what kind of regional differences there are between them.

Like the previous newspaper, even they were willing to pay for photos for the article. After these two deals and the grant for next summer's trips I've managed to earn almost as much as I've spent on Wordpress, Adobe, web domains and camera equipment in the 2,5 years I've been active.

But more important than money has really been the visibility. I've told in a previous post, that my work is heavily involved with the construction business. When we meet people in the big companies of the country, they actually recognize me. Some have even started telling me about their soon to be demolished locations and given a green light for me to go and photograph there.

They've been asking when I'll have an exhibition or publish a book, but we're not there yet. Instead I started experimenting with a few print on demand services and as a result built a web store selling postcards of my photos.

I got the first samples on Thursday, and they were of a good enough quality for me to open the store.



Link to store: https://desertedfinland.com/postcards/

Of course these won't make me rich either. They're just another way of making my work known to people.

For me urbex is an underground, outlaw activity, not something that should be normalized or professionalized. A big part of the fun is getting into places you’re not supposed to be without getting caught, and keeping secrets. What you’re doing sounds a bit tame and lame, to be honest.

Good job DF! Keep up the good work!

Posted by Shaddo For me urbex is an underground, outlaw activity, not something that should be normalized or professionalized. A big part of the fun is getting into places you’re not supposed to be without getting caught, and keeping secrets. What you’re doing sounds a bit tame and lame, to be honest.

For me it's different. It's more about documenting buildings and places before they vanish. And my way of photographing them is more about taking people there and showing them how the places were.

It's really not very outlaw here in Finland. It is actually unclear, what if any laws you break unless of course you break in or start stealing stuff. I am into neither.

For me this is really more about living on my own terms. I want to spend my days dancing, travelling, photographing and writing instead of working full time for someone else. That means professionalizing my passion.

Posted by Deserted Finland For me it's different. It's more about documenting buildings and places before they vanish. And my way of photographing them is more about taking people there and showing them how the places were. It's really not very outlaw here in Finland. It is actually unclear, what if any laws you break unless of course you break in or start stealing stuff. I am into neither. For me this is really more about living on my own terms. I want to spend my days dancing, travelling, photographing and writing instead of working full time for someone else. That means professionalizing my passion.

OK, gonna have to agree to disagree. I'm with Aran, that urbex is about a punk or underground ethos; it's not a form of journalism or a way to make money. But maybe Finland is such an open place that there's no need to be that way. Which honestly sounds pretty dull. Not sure I'd recommend "professionalizing your passion"; what you'll likely end up with is a poorly paying profession and a loss of passion for urbex--the worst of both worlds.

Right on. Best of luck to you and the future!


Always cool to see hard work paying off and goals getting achieved.

I truly doubt there even one person who would pass up a grant to fund this hobby. Lol. I think it's quite cool.

I strongly agree with everything Aran said, while at the same time I'd try not to be too judgemental on others, provided their activities aren't compromising or destructive.

Remembering the thread you mentioned, I looked around and found these two:
What do you do for work/career
UE & Careers

You won't find people trying to turn UE into a career, but maybe some putting what they learned from UE into an adjacent career, or making life choices based on their interests that lead them in a certain direction, or finding ways to use their careers to come up with UE opportunities.

Oh yeah, whatever happened to that obnoxious YouTuber who used to be on this site several years ago? I wonder what happened with him.

Wow, I never expected this topic to raise so much discussion.

OK, gonna have to agree to disagree.

We can agree to disagree. You have your idea of urbexing and you do it your way, I have mine and I do it my way.

Not sure I'd recommend "professionalizing your passion"; what you'll likely end up with is a poorly paying profession and a loss of passion for urbex--the worst of both worlds.

I've actually done this twice, both with good and bad consequences. As a teenager I loved both soccer and writing and ended up as the press officer of my local soccer club. After two seasons of that I had had enough of soccer alltogether.

But that experience inspired me to become a writing journalist, which I have successfully done for 15 years. Still haven't gotten tired to writing, but am fed up with writing news, which don't offer me much anymore.

You won't find people trying to turn UE into a career, but maybe some putting what they learned from UE into an adjacent career, or making life choices based on their interests that lead them in a certain direction, or finding ways to use their careers to come up with UE opportunities.

I'm not looking for a full time career in UE. I would rather make a little more than I spend on it, so I could slowly drift away from my full time work and on to other interests.

Speaking of which, I made my first sale.

Not a ton of people get paid for Urbexing many places. You may come across one or two companies / People who will pay you. With this being said, your better off to not go out of your way to far and stick to the basics before advancing to a bigger range of exploring.