Urban Exploration to Fine Art: a Photographic Journey – A Presentation for Photographic Societies & Camera Clubs
This presentation encompasses my photographic development over the past three years, which has progressed at a fairly rapid rate following an albeit slightly slower but life-long love and practise of photography.
I discovered Urban Exploration in 2009, and this led to a series of visits to ab[......]
Hardcore
Just testing out the newly updated Photoshelter for uploading and tagging – it’s all quite different and I’m not sure I like it at the moment, but I think that’s more from the irritation of unfamiliarity than anything else, and I will doubtless soon become used to the new set up.
So it wasn’t quite[......]
UE Magazine, Issue 1
I am a member of the UE Magazine online community, where urban explorers can share images and stories of their adventures, and meet like-minded people from around the world. In November 2011, around Thanksgiving, I entered a few photos for the First Annual Turkey Shoot Explorers Contest, which was[......]
Article in RPS Visual Art Group Magazine
I was commissioned to write this article for the journal of one of the sub-groups of The Royal Photographic Society, the Visual Art Group, founded in 1921 “to foster the interest and advancement in all matters relating to Pictorial Photography”. These pages are reproduced with kind permission of th[......]
Fish Was Flying Eye
The flying fish was shot during my recent visit to the Horniman Museum, the eye was painted on a wall in the partially forsaken village of Doel in Belgium, the the background is Manor House B. The image is ten layers composited together, five of these being to create the border using textures and d[......]
UrbEx Cathedral
The the pipes next to the control room at ECVB abandoned powerstation. Not much to say about this one, except that I wanted to make the image my own in terms of style, and for it to be a bit different from the others out there. Large scale is not really my ‘thing’, I always prefer the smaller deta[......]
The Museum
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Here I am in a borrowed hard hat at the museum attached to the abandoned ECVB powerplant in Belgium. It was completely un-vandalised which was refreshing to witness, and all the crumbliness around me was simply the[......]
ECVB – Abandoned Belgian Powerplant
A more traditional shot from ECVB abandoned powerplant in Belgium, in that it is large-scale, features a turbine and looks properly ‘industrial’. The turbine hall was massive and difficult to photograph in a way that did justice to the scale of the place, and I did take a couple of panoramas wi[......]
Books From Boxes
Here’s the first one from my visit to ECVB powerplant in Belgium with Mark last month, and not the shot that most people would take while they are there but those of you that know me will understand that this is more ‘up my street’ than the ‘big industrial’ shots. Of course, I do have some of th[......]
Article in RPS Digital Imaging Group Magazine
I was commissioned to write this article for the journal of one of the sub-groups of The Royal Photographic Society, the Digital Imaging Group, which is for members who use computer manipulation on their photographs using various available software and techniques. These pages are reproduced with kin[......]
Asylum Children’s Ward
This image from West Park Asylum is actually two images stitched together, although they weren’t shot as a panorama at the time. The first photo included the window, wheelchair and part of the corridor, but it was missing the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck murals which were set slightly behind me[......]
Double Century
This was taken in March at Manor House ‘B’ in Norfolk, in the very dilapidated kitchen. I loved the cool winter light illuminating the green bottles, to form this grubby still life where the mice would surely feel at home….
This is two shots blended using layers and masks in Photoshop, one[......]
Two Mirrors
Shot at the wonderful and fascinating abandoned toolmakers in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, I was immediately drawn to this pair of windows with the grubby lace curtain reflected in the mirror lying on its’ side, and by the other objects scattered here, bathed in subtle light from the muted sky. [......]
The Cubbyholes of my Mind
Trying something a little different here, in that I have taken a photo from the recent explore at the abandoned toolmakers in Sheffield and combined it with an older photograph of myself from the bandaged head series (used to create The Trick is to Keep Breathing). I was aiming for so[......]
More Phelgm in Sheffield
Some more work from Phlegm from the first weekend, shot in the burnt out sports hall which featured three of his massive pieces. This one was floor to ceiling, making full use of the space available, and obviously far taller than me. In this regard, I was pleased that I had hefted along my 70-[......]
Phlegm in Sheffield
More work from the wonderfully imaginative Phlegm, all shot in the same abandoned building in Sheffield, a rotting hulk with lethal floors and bare-boned ceilings, looking as if they would shed metal and tiles on our heads at any moment. I have used various filters and textures here to enhanc[......]
Strange Creatures
This building was potentially tricky to get into, as it had been very thoroughly boarded up and there was no possibility of getting in through a window or door. However, thanks to Mark’s excellent folding ladder we were able to gain access through the open roof space, in order to photograph these[......]
Rocket01
These are photos of work by Rocket01, whose talent speaks for itself and needs no further input from me …… Also a little input from Faunagraphic in the top photograph as well.
Shot in abandoned buildings in Sheffield, South Yorkshire at the weekend.
I See You
I hate it when this happens – I cannot decide between these two slightly differently processed photographs which one I prefer or which one is better – the darker and more moody version with the emphasis on the painting, or the brighter one that shows up more of those tasty textures? I would wel[......]
Riding to Nowhere
This was taken in the final location of our day trip to Sheffield, in a rather lethal building with rotten floors that felt squishy underfoot, but worth the danger as it was full of wonderful work from Phlegm, who had obviously had plenty of time to work undisturbed. Mark and I have our joint pho[......]
Procession
Mark and I went up to Sheffield in South Yorkshire at the weekend, to find and photograph street art in the area, following information on locations from our friend Romanywg (author of this fabulous book on the subject). We braced ourselves to get up very early on Sunday morning to make the thre[......]
Take Me Down
Another older image from Talgarth Asylum. Was initially a bit disenchanted with this image when I created it, but a couple of days later it looks okay, if not particularly exciting. I’m finding it really hard to be creative at the moment, and not at all inclined to take new photographs, which[......]
Desolation Echoes
This is quite an old photograph taken at Talgarth Asylum in Wales during January 2010. It was very cold and incredibly damp in there – I don’t think I had ever been anywhere so resolutely soggy – and everything was warping, cracking, peeling, mouldering and rotting, including this magnificent o[......]
Padded Hell
This is an image I created a couple of months ago, but at the time it didn’t pass my high ‘quality control’ standards, not quite coming together in the way that I envisioned, and was in any case feeling too down about my work to believe that it had any potential whatsoever. Today decided that I[......]
