D@mnit this makes me mad!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Izzy]

As some of you know I shoot urbex (urban exploration – rural is called rurex) stuff as a main staple of what I do. I work hard to find locations much like a PJ would find a new story. I follow up on leads and research everything from land deeds to old family friends to get into many of these locations and get their stories. Finding these spots can be expensive as sometimes you fill up and head out on a lead to remote location hoping it might still be open. You hope that vandals have not destroyed the location so bad it has security now in place. Might I also add the activity of urban exploration is also illegal in most if not all states. Some will give you a slap on the wrist while others will have you sitting in jail for 30 days.

Tonight I was updating my tags on flickr and went to search to see what was listed with mine and mainly to see if they were listing correctly. I found some woman who made urbexing her fashionable thing to do for her road trip out west. I don’t care that other people are out there. I do care when the fashionable give away locations. It is a paramount rule in urbex that you never give away your locations. I don’t even write mine down. I figure you worked hard to find them then others should too. If she gave away anymore location information there would have been a map and addy to punch in her precious GPS.

$#^@^$#&%#$ this makes me mad

[Indigo November]

Not the altruistic type, are you?

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by Indigo November

Not the altruistic type, are you?

You are not supposed to. The pay back you get for altruism in urbex is vandals destroying a location, looting of the copper, and 8 ft fences with dogs. These people ruin locations for the rest of us.

[Barbara V]

So, you're saying if I went cross-country, let's say, and I did photojournalistic type photos, that I should shy away from pinpointing my locations? I never thought of it in the context you're putting it in, but it is something to think about.
I think I need a little education as to what urban exploration actually is. (edited to say, looking at your photographs is giving me an idea, and a better understanding on where you stand on the location issue)

[Pinellas Guy]

I don't have a real comment to make except that I like your shots, but never knew that the type you did was called urbex.

I had to wiki the term and with that watch out for the asbestos and all the yuck in abandoned buildings.

[Azaki]

I agree with the OP,(on 2 fronts) 1: if you have to work that hard to find them, I would hate to have someone just giving that info away.
2: I'm a fishermen, finding a good spot to shore fish is like finding am unclaimed gold vain, YOU DON'T TELL ANYONE, or you go back 2 weeks later and its full of people, fished out, and not worth going to anymore. EXAMPLE: A man who has a fishing show that will remain nameless went on NATIONAL television and told everyone the BEST (yep the best) salmon fishing spot in Niagara. Now I'm lucky to find a spot to fish when I go down there, and just this year because of all the god damned activity I can't park down there any more, And they put in a new gate that I have to hope is open just to be able to fish. #!*$%! !@$&^$%

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Izzy

As some of you know I shoot urbex (urban exploration – rural is called rurex) stuff as a main staple of what I do....Might I also add the activity of urban exploration is also illegal in most if not all states.

So...illegal activity is a main staple of what you do?

[Indigo November]

Originally Posted by Izzy

You are not supposed to. The pay back you get for altruism in urbex is vandals destroying a location, looting of the copper, and 8 ft fences with dogs. These people ruin locations for the rest of us.

Okay, I understand now. If it's about people wrecking it, I'm sorry for my previous post.

You see, I read this (below), and it sounded a little selfish to me.

Originally Posted by Izzy

I figure you worked hard to find them then others should too.

BTW, I looked at you flickr stream and quite like what I see!

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by BrianD

So...illegal activity is a main staple of what you do?

The act of trespassing is illegal. In most states it is like getting a parking ticket. Others it can be rather nasty. It is not about the illegal part of it which is usually not an issue. It is about the exploration. Its about stepping outside of time to a place where time marched on when it stopped.

Originally Posted by Indigo November

Okay, I understand now. If it's about people wrecking it, I'm sorry for my previous post.

You see, I read this (below), and it sounded a little selfish to me.



BTW, I looked at you flickr stream and quite like what I see!

Not a problem. I love to teach people about urbex and occasionally take the first timer out for their first exploration. The first rule I always tell them is you tell no one where you took the pictures. The second is that you take only pictures and leave everything where you find it.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my flickr feed.


Forgot to multi quote here -

BarbraV its all about context. If people give away locations like candy then these places get ruined for other people. If it is a building it is usually the grafitti "artists" and the copper thieves that ruin it for everyone. Think about, if it was your building sitting there all these years and aside from aging no real damage was happening. Then someone tells all their friends and next thing you know people are damaging your building and throwing industrial raves in it. This is why I say what I do about locations.

[Lisa H]

I'm VERY secretive and protective of my locations as it's one of the things that sets me apart from the other fauxtographers in town, so I can totally understand where the OP is coming from with this.