

40 Things Every Urban Explorer Needs to Know
Jon Steed

1 What urban exploration is
2 Ethics of urban exploration
3 What to bring
4 Who to bring
5 Someone who can save your ass if you get in trouble
6 How to calm your nerves and just do it
7 How to find places to explore
8 How to tell if a building is actually abandoned
9 How to beat a fence
10 How to find a POE
11 What Kirkbrides are 
12 How to evade alarm systems
13 Trespassing laws
14 How to avoid trouble
15 Dealing with dogs
16 Good parking spots
17 There's no such thing as ghosts
18 What asbestos is 
19 Recognising unsafe floors
20 Draining
21 Who Cave Clan is 
22 How to stay safe in subway tunnels
23 Craning
24 Rooftopping
25 What not to climb
26 Climbing techniques and safety
27 When to give up
28 Tailgating
29 Credibility props
30 How to deal with hobos
31 Scrappers
32 What to do if you discover a meth lab
33 Why a building is abandoned
34 Camera manual settings
35 Rule of thirds
36 Using a tripod
37 Light-painting
38 Data recovery
39 Where to discuss urban exploration online
40 What to share online and what not to share

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What urban exploration is

There's no universal consensus on what urban exploration really is. The name itself--often abbreviated to urbex or UE--is no help, implying an activity of literally exploring a city. In fact, a great deal of urban exploration takes place in rural settings. "Urban" should be taken to mean "manmade" structures. 

Another keyword related to urban exploration is "abandoned," though this too poses some problems. The vast majority of urban exploration concerns itself with abandoned buildings. In Japan, where urban exploring is phenomenally popular, it is known as "haikyo," which translates literally to "abandoned place." Abandoned buildings are the bread and butter of urban exploring, but they're not the whole meal.

There are many urban explorers who avoid abandonments altogether. Draining is a subcategory of urban exploration concerned with underground tunnels such as storm drains, train tunnels, and bunkers. There are other urban explorers who visit active places, including anything from luxury hotels to construction sites. The emphasis here is on infiltration techniques

What exactly links all of these locations together? As well as being manmade, they are not conventionally accessible to the general public. They may just be forgotten relics nobody thought to revisit for decades, or could be outright forbidden and protected by security. Such restrictions provide solitary places where urban explorers can escape to, places that are unfamiliar to the public eye. 

For this reason, urban exploration is intimately linked to photography. Not only do these places offer a zero-traffic workspace for the photographer to experiment in creativity, but the derelict state of such places provide excellent subject matter. Urban explorers are drawn to urban decay. 

Photo: 01whatis

An abandoned sugar cane factory in Hawai'i is overgrown with plants. 

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Ethics of urban exploration

When you go exploring, you're leaving civilisation behind. That doesn't mean you're free to do anything you please without consequences; if anything, it means you especially have to take responsibility for your actions. 

The first time anyone visits an abandoned building, a common reaction is "Hey, no parents/teachers/cops around! I can do whatever I want!" When you leave society behind, Smash, burn, steal, and defecate wherever you want, just like a wild animal. Not if you hope to return to the same location, continue exploring in the same city, cooperate with other urban explorers, get off lightly when you're caught. Ultimately, one bad urban explorer in a city makes everything worse for everyone else. Entry points get sealed up, police presence increases, and punishment steepens--for everybody, not just Mr Smashy. 

Note that I use the word "ethics," and not "rules." There is no international UE authority to discipline offending explorers. If someone chooses to ignore the ethics of urban exploration, ultimately the most extreme course of action is ignoring and hoping the offender loses interest. 

Urban exploration is dangerously close to many illegal activities, so keeping a clean reputation for the hobby is in everyone's best interests. Also, it can be quite intrusive, when invading former homes or discovering improperly disposed patient records in abandoned hospitals, so an urban explorer must be aware of the possible consequences of visiting. It all boils down to one simple motto.

Take only pictures, leave only footprints. 

This simple phrase has been used by the Sierra Club, the Boy Scouts, the National Speleological Society, and countless others. Also known sometimes as the campsite rule, it applies as well to UE locations, which themselves are in the process of returning to nature. The implications of this statement when it comes to urban exploring have many meanings. 

-Vandalism is not tolerated in urban exploration. Leave everything behind as you found it, so you or other explorers can return and see it in the same condition (though possibly more naturally decayed). Even though someone might come after you and vandalise the location, that doesn't give you the moral ground to do it. 

-Breaking anything to get inside is best avoided. Many UE locations are well secured, but part of the fun is getting inside without leaving a mark. Doors or windows that have been smashed eventually get replaced. Also, breaking and entering is a serious criminal offense. 

-Graffiti, though less intrusive, is also incompatible with urban exploring. It basically shows property owners and authorities that someone has been there, and also invites other graffiti artists, vandals, and taggers who may be less careful than you were. While you may argue that graffiti can make a place look better, I would argue that urban exploration can do an equally good job, and additionally that graffiti makes an urban explorer's job harder, due to increased security. 

-Taking souvenirs is also generally not cool. If there's something interesting in a UE location, you're taking it away from any future explorers who might have seen it. Besides, most objects at UE locations are filthy; do you really want them in your home? Also, getting caught with something you've taken from a UE location could raise your charges from misdemeanor trespassing up to felony theft. 

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. Stuff gets broken accidentally--rickety stairs, weak floors for example. I wouldn't think twice about breaking down a door if someone were in distress on the other side. And while taking souvenirs is a no-no, rescuing a stranded animal is obviously a much more serious undertaking. 

Of course, it's best not to spread around too many stories about exceptions to the rules, lest urban exploration be hijacked by treasure-hunters, vandals, and graffiti artists. Abiding by simple ethics gives you a teflon coating when dealing with criticism or, in the worst scenario, prosecution. A lot of what we do could be used for committing real crimes, so it's up to us to differentiate ourselves from that. 



Picture: 02ethics
"If you come here you will die." Gangsters leave graffiti to warn off evictees from returning to their former residences. 

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What to bring

There are those urban explorers who show up in camo, with balaclavas, nightvision goggles, grappling hooks, and a utility belt complete with shark repellent. They come prepared for every eventuality, except for the very likely one that they might have to do a bit of running. And good luck explaining why you're dressed like a commando/ninja/burglar if anyone catches you. 

The best camouflage is whatever helps you blend in. Black is terrible at night because you form a silhouette that's more easily seen than lighter greys or navy blues. And camouflage is a bad choice pretty well all the time. If you're out somewhere rural, dress like a typical hiker or a camper. If you're somewhere urban, dress like a normal person from the area. I'd warn against wearing a disguise, because if you're caught it's hard to explain away. 

I find jeans difficult to wear sometimes, because they're too restricting on leg movement. If I have to jump, climb, or step across a large gap, I want my legs to bend to their fullest extent. 

Footwear can be important. Depending on the location, I'll either wear safety boots, sneakers, or rubber boots if I'm going draining. Steel-toed boots protect your feet, but hinder mobility and stealth. Lighter shoes may increase or decrease your mobility depending on the conditions of the location. 

Leather gloves are also useful. They protect your hands if you need to climb something, or if you want to pick up or move objects that may be unsanitary.

Respirators are a good idea if you spend a lot of time in enclosed spaces. They can protect against many health hazards, such as asbestos, black mold, and whatever's in bird crap that makes it so dangerous. Note that not all respirators are for protecting against asbestos, so learn about which filters you'd prefer before you buy the wrong one. 

So, what other equipment should you bring? Camera equipment, of course. You might want to have a few items such as rope and rubber boots, but it's only worth bringing if you know you'll need it in advance. Start carrying a pocket-sized flashlight, and soon you'll wonder how you ever went anywhere without it. If you're way off the beaten path, it's smart to bring water. A first aid kit is admirable, but in a real emergency your most useful item will likely be your cell phone, provided it gets coverage. 

Realistically, unless you know you'll need something, it's better to travel light. 

Photo: 03rope
I bought a length of rope, which only ever came in useful once. 

03what
Rubber boots, flashlights, and beer. Getting ready to go into an underground river. 


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Who to bring

Urban exploration is a solitary hobby. Alone, you're quieter, more alert, and you can go at your own pace. With more people, you trade stealth for safety. If there's more than one of you, it increases the chances someone can run for help if there's an accident. I find groups of two or three to be the best; any more than that and the group becomes indecisive and loud, and it gets easier to lose track of individuals. 

Choosing the right people to bring along is important. You never know who will freak out and run for the bus stop, and who will just start smashing stuff. If you have a trustworthy friend who's interested, great.

Also, you can expect to meet a lot of new people while urban exploring. I've met a lot of people for the first time and immediately gone to secluded places with them where either of us could murder the other and hide the body. I've never had a bad experience doing this. In fact, I became very good friends with a guy I met for the first time at a train station, took a three-hour ride, and explored an abandoned amusement park with. That said, there are weirdos, and there are people less able to take care of themselves. Call me old-fashioned, but I'd especially be worried for girls meeting strangers online and going exploring. 
It's a good idea to meet up before going exploring, maybe get a few drinks, and plan the trip so you can get to know the person first. Either that, or you can bring along a friend as a UE chaperone.

Photo: 04bring
An explorer gives his girlfriend an apologetic hug after coming out of a supposedly haunted mental hospital. Urban exploration is not for everybody. 

04vervonauts
It's fun bringing your friends along, but too many people sacrifices stealth.


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Someone who can save your ass if you get in trouble

There's safety in numbers, but what if all of you get trapped? Everyone comes out on a roof, and the door locks behind you, trapping you all up there. Or you're in a drain when it unexpectedly floods, trapping you deep underground. 

You might not always have a cell phone you can count on, so it's best to plan ahead and alert someone you can trust, leaving behind information about where you're going, when you expect to be finished, and what to do if you go missing. This could make the difference between the discovery of your bloated corpse several weeks later, and a harrowing last-minute rescue. 

And don't forget to call when you're safely back in civilisation, or you might have to foot the bill for a costly search-and-rescue operation. 

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How to calm your nerves and just do it

Everyone gets scared now and again, even UE veterans. If we didn't, we probably wouldn't keep doing it. Fear is a wonderful emotion, when you're thinking back on it from the safety of your own home and/or local drinking establishment. 

The most frightening part of a UE trip is right when you're about to go in. Will somebody see you go in? Will you walk in on somebody inside? Will this be the last time you see daylight? It's sort of like getting into a swimming pool--at first you fear the coldness of the water. Then, just like getting into a swimming pool, once you're in, all the reluctance goes away. Even coming out isn't so scary. 

If you really are scared, bring someone along. You can bring someone braver than you, but I like bringing someone less brave, so I feel braver in comparison. 

Photo: 06drink
A shot of courage may be just what you need to get over your initial jitters.

06nerves
Be sure to drink in moderation before and during an explore. 

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How to find places to explore

A lot of preparation work goes into finding places to explore. You have to locate potential sites, find directions, determine if they're feasible or even worthwhile, identify any safety concerns, and figure out how to get in.

Fortunately these days the Internet makes this pretty easy. With programs like Google Street View, you can locate and determine the condition of potential UE locations. It's becoming easier to just click around and randomly come across something without leaving your desk. I have one friend who did just that, and randomly found an entire abandoned mining town out in the backroads of South Korea.

Myself, I've probably found more places in person than online. When I have spare time, I hop on my scooter and ride off in a different direction. Inevitably, all roads lead somewhere cool. I try to cover as much land as possible. This means going out exploring by car, motorcycle, or bicycle. Even walking helps a lot. Getting up on a rooftop is helpful too, especially if you know the general area of a site but can't find its exact location. Basically, the more ground you cover, the more abandonments you'll find. 

Of course the best way to cover the most ground is collaboration with others. The more people who are looking over the more space, the more stuff you'll find. However, urban exploration is a collaborative effort, and this sharing is mostly done with people who are actively scouting for sites. Asking for handouts is generally frowned upon. I get tired of people introducing themselves to me, only for them to ask me for locations with nothing to offer in return. That said, I have no problem helping out an experienced urban explorer visiting my area temporarily. 

I pay attention to what other urban explorers are doing, and it gives me new ideas. For example, I may have gone into abandoned buildings on my own, but I didn't think about draining until I talked to other urban explorers who do it. I certainly never would've imagined craning if I hadn't seen someone else do it in another area. But now I see cranes everywhere. 

Last, the media often covers the abandonment and demolition of noteworthy buildings. There is a lot of real estate news in newspapers and on TV. You can even find out about good locations on ghost-hunting TV shows, but once it's been on television, don't expect too much. 

Most important, never assume. Too many people think that the universe ends beyond the sidewalk. You don't know what's around that corner or behind that wall, so don't let your subconscious fill in the gaps for you. 

Photo: 07places
I've found most of my locations by jumping on my scooter and heading in a new direction. Here it sits at the top of stairs in an abandoned neighbourhood in Seoul. 

07placestoexplore
Old apartments in Seoul are being covered by blankets to prepare for demolition. 



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How to tell if a building is actually abandoned

Now that you've found an abandonment, how do you know it's really abandoned? There are several signs of abandonment you can check for, either online on a street view program or in person.

Obviously, abandoned places don't get a lot of visitors, so you should look for signs nobody's been there a while. Plant and grass growth is a sign you've either found an abandonment or a very lazy property owner. You can tell the difference if there are signs of people coming and going. Are the sidewalks or driveways overgrown in the cracks? They should be if the place has been left to nature.

Fencing is a good sign, especially temporary fencing with no obvious gates. Fences that are built across roads or sidewalks have been put up to keep people from entering. Of course fences also pose an obstacle, which we'll discuss in more detail later. 

The building itself is likely in poor shape. Doors or windows may be missing. If they're boarded up it may mean someone is still protecting the building. If a broken window goes unfixed for a long time, there is probably nobody caring for it. In winter, an abandonment may have lots of windows left open. This drives me crazy in the summertime, when I go past a school with all the windows open and reflexively think it's abandoned. In either case, curtains or blinds are a telltale sign: in abandonments they gradually get tangled up, but in active buildings they'll always be straight.

Another useful sign I follow is construction sites. In South Korea, where there is an aggressive campaign of urban renewal, new construction is built over old neighbourhoods, and there are often abandoned buildings on the edges of construction sites awaiting demolition. This may not be so helpful in, say, Detroit, where abandoned buildings are closed for very different reasons.

Even with all these signs of abandonment, a building may still be inhabited or in use. There may be squatters inside, or it could be used for storage by someone who doesn't spend much time there. Or you could be in China, where many people still live in homes that look like abandoned buildings. To find out if there's still somebody entering the property, you can rig the doors with a piece of tape connecting the door to the doorframe. Come back later, and if the tape is still in place, nobody has opened the doors. 

Photo: 08abandoned
Sometimes an abandoned area is not entirely vacated. In the middle of a field of rubble in northern Seoul, this church still seemed active. 


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How to beat a fence

"Women always seem to have trouble with the wall. They can't ever seem to find the door." -Chief Clancy Wiggum, The Simpsons, episode 126, "The Springfield Connection."

Once at an abandoned amusement park in Daejeon, South Korea, I was getting ready to jump a fence, when my friend found and walked through a big hole not two meters away from where I was standing. That was almost an Officer Marge moment right there.

There are two types of fences: ones that restrict access, and ones that restrict view. Many fences that fall into the latter category don't protect all sides of a property. Sometimes only the side facing a road or path will be fenced off. Go around a corner, and there's no fence. I once found an entire abandoned university campus, right in the middle of Seoul. It was surrounded by tall fencing with manned gates for construction vehicles. But it was built at the foot of a mountain, and nobody thought to fence off this side for over a year. I was able to just follow the hiking paths up, and then descend into the campus anywhere I liked. 

When figuring out a way past a fence, the first thing is to walk the entire perimeter. There is almost always a hole, or a gap. This is especially common on slopes, or where the property connects with a body of water, in which case the fence might not reach all the way to the ground. Likewise, where a fence connects with a pre-existing wall, it might not be properly binded to the wall, creating a gap. That's how I got into an old stadium undergoing demolition, where the fence was built right up to the stadium wall but was not hammered in or tied to it in any way whatsoever. 

Of course, there are fences that are unbreeched. If you have no other choice, there are tricks to make your climb easier. First, obviously you should find a section hidden from general view, so you can struggle more with less chance of being seen. Look for corners or steep slopes, where the minimum distance from ground to top of the fence might be smallest. Also, there may be objects that get you closer to the top, like tree stumps or boulders. There may even be movable objects around that you can push up to the fence to get a boost.

I've seen locations secured by barbed-wire fences or even razor-wire fences, but I've never actually had to scale one. Doing so would probably take a ladder, a blanket or tarp to throw over the spikes, and some fancy footwork.

One other thing, getting past a fence on the way may be an ordeal, but getting out rarely is. On the inside, you may find extra hand- and toe-holds, and you'll probably find places where the fence is built next to a wall or other structure that's easy to climb onto. The hardest part may be a long drop on the other side. 

Photo: 09fencehill
The fences around Dangook University were high and the gates were manned, but the hiking paths up in the mountain were totally unguarded.

09stadium
Because the fence wasn't directly connected to the wall, it was easy enough to push it out to get behind it. 

09tel fence
Once you're in, fences are much easier coming out. At Nasan Homeplace, an abandoned department store in Seoul, there was a high ledge on the other side of the fence. The only difficulty was the landing.

09wire
Barbed and razor wire are not easy to get over. Usually it's better to find another way through. At this abandoned military base, we found an old streambed that hadn't been fenced up so well.



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How to find a POE

POE--point of entry. Basically, how do you get inside. POEs are often considered a trade secret, and while urban explorers may trade directions to UE locations, POEs are a different story. After all, half the fun is figuring out a way inside. 

There's always a door or a window left unlocked somewhere. Once, a friend discovered a recently-closed hospital in the middle of Seoul. He found a hole through the barbed-wire fence, then he walked around the nearest building checking all the doors and windows. He went up an external staircase and tried the door on the second floor, then gave up. I went back a week later, did the exact same thing, only I went up to the third floor, where I found the door unlocked. 

As I mentioned before, urban explorers try not to force entry. You might think that restricts us quite a lot, but you'd be wrong. If there is no way inside currently, come back another time and see if anything's changed. Good things come to those who wait. 

Even lockpicking hasn't helped me greatly. I have a lockpicking guy I call up frequently whenever I encounter something locked. Once, I brought him to a recently-closed university hospital in downtown Seoul so he could open up a side door. But when we got there, the door was inexplicably unlocked, and before we knew it we were standing inside the hospital morgue right inside. Come to think of it, I don't recall him ever actually getting us inside somewhere we wouldn't have otherwise gotten

One surefire way inside most abandonments is a bit of climbing. The main floor may be locked up tight, but if you can get up higher you may reach windows left open or even rooftop doors improperly secured. A few years ago, there was an abandoned hotel in downtown Seoul, eleven storeys tall. I found a way to climb up to the second floor, and was easily able to slip in through a window. From there, it was a simple matter to go back downstairs and lock a main floor entry from the inside. Once you're inside an abandonment, it's easy to unlock doors or unlatch windows, leaving yourself a much easier POE for next time. 

Photo: 10POE
Climbing through a window at Dangook University. We did not bend the bars ourselves. 


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What Kirkbrides are

The pride and joy of many explorers, particularly Americans in the Northeast region, are the Kirkbrides. Kirkbrides were state hospitals created by the Kirkbride Plan of the mid-19th century, intended to provide better conditions for patients with mental illnesses.

Thomas Story Kirkbride was a follower of the moral treatment approach to treating mental illness. The asylums that were built were large, imposing, Victorian-era style with extensive grounds. The hospitals were built with long zigzagging wings that ensured everyone received sunlight and fresh air. 

Quite a lot of these hospitals were closed during Reagan's presidency, some which have sat abandoned all this time, and others which have already been demolished. There are also Kirkbrides still in use, some as hospitals, some not. 





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How to evade alarm systems

The most common alarm system is a sticker claiming there's some kind of actual electronic alarm system protecting the property. However, you can never be too sure until you're sitting handcuffed in the back of a police car. 

If you suspect there's an alarm system that someone will respond to, you can easily test this. Trigger it, and back off. If anyone comes, it's live, so plan accordingly. 

If you are certain there is a real, active security system, all you can do is avoid it. Most alarms are proximity-related anyway, so if you keep your distance you'll be fine. Usually alarms are at doors, less often windows, so you might even slip in without triggering an alarm. I recall that happening when I visited a railroad museum after hours. I jumped a wall on the way in, and when I was finished playing with the old trains, I decided to use the front gate like a normal person. Turns out there was a very loud motion detector. Fortunately I was on my way out, so no big loss. 

CCTV cameras are only a concern if you're at an active site with security nearby. Otherwise, they're probably just being recorded to be used as evidence later in case soemthing serious happens. So, as long as you don't leave any evidence of having been there, probably nobody will think to check the tapes. 

Photo: 12cctv
This warning sign was almost certainly a bluff, as we didn't see this until on the way out, and nobody came to stop us. 

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Trespassing laws

So yes, urban exploration is usually a crime. Trespassing is a crime, even if it is just recreational trespassing. But how bad of a crime, or how it's responded to, may differ. 

Here's something I won't give you a concrete answer for. Know the trespassing laws in your region. Is it a misdemeanour? Will you walk away with a ticket, or a record? How do the police treat trespassers? Look it up, or ask the other urban explorers in your region about it, since some of them likely have experience with it.

Remember, trespassing is still a passive crime. It's very different from breaking and entering, both legally and morally. 

Photo: 13trespassing
A sign out front warns of harsh consequences for intruders. If anyone is actually caught, it's less clear what action will be taken. 


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How to avoid trouble

There are two lines of defence against trouble: avoiding getting caught, and getting out of trouble when you are caught. If someone is on site looking for intruders, you really need to decide whether to evade or to cooperate. I much prefer getting past security on the way in, to getting past security on the way out. If you're inside and they know you're there, you don't have many options. Unless you're absolutely certain you can get away, cooperation is the best option. It will certainly help you weasel your way out of trouble. 

So, once you're caught, what do you say? I recommend against identifying yourself as an urban explorer. Better to say you're a ghost hunter, and let their community take the heat for it. Security or cops might not understand what urban exploration is, and it's unlikely to help the situation. It's better to say you were in the area and wandered in. My three favourite excuses are:
1) "Is there a washroom in here?"
2) "I'm looking for my lost dog."
3) "I saw a cat wander inside, and I wanted to rescue it."
These are ranked depending on how far inside they've caught me. I especially feel bold at a UE location if I do see a cat go inside. 

It is common for urban explorers to be prosecuted when caught. It really depends on the individual who is catching you. It also depends on the region you're in, as certain police departments, property owners, or security companies might be more anti-urban explorer than others. 

If you're lucky, they'll be lenient. Hopefully you read the section on ethics and they haven't caught you breaking and entering or stealing things. Hopefully they didn't catch you running, and you've been very cooperative with them. Maybe they'll decide you're not worth their time, and they'll let you go. You might get a trespassing ticket. Or you could be arrested. 

I try to be cooperative, but I don't volunteer information. As soon as I'm caught, I begin walking for the nearest exit. If a security guard catches me, he'll have to restrain me if he wants to arrest me. Otherwise, I'm out of there. Once I was caught with a group of friends inside an abandoned wedding hall in South Korea. It was at the location of a former resort, and was built out over the water. As soon as I saw a guy in a suit at the bottom of the dock, I knew we had no way out. One of my friends came up with the ridiculous cover story that he was a construction engineer, but I had the sense to walk out and keep walking. He ended up not restraining any of us, so eventually we all got away, but my friend was only volunteering for punishment by staying back. So, if you're not physically restrained, walk out. Walk alongside them back to their guardhouse, but when you reach it say bye and keep walking. Don't make their job too easy.

14avoid
In an abandoned neighbourhood, an urban explorer is stopped by a concerned demolition worker. All he needed to do was keep walking. 

14lakeland
At Woncheon Lakeland Resort, we were trapped inside this restaurant when someone came up the dock. 


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Dealing with dogs 

There are two types of dogs you have to worry about: guard dogs and police dogs. Knowing a bit about dogs will probably not help you. 

Guard dogs are defensive, and all you need to figure out is where they can go and where they can't. Some guard dogs may not actually be supervised. If they start barking at you, there may not be anyone coming to investigate. They are, after all, dogs, and dogs bark. I've considered a number of tricks to win guard dogs over, from bringing them food to talking to them. I'm not convinced any of these tricks would work, but if they do it would take several return visits. 

Police dogs, on the other hand, are sent in after suspects and will maul them. They are especially trained to maul you if you are in a prone position. If you face police dogs, your best bet is to give yourself up before they're unleashed. 

Photo: 15dog
Not all dogs are unfriendly. 


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Good parking spots

The logistics of exploring can get pretty complicated, even for relatively simple tasks such as parking. You thought parking downtown was tough? Try parking by an abandoned hospital out in the open, or an abandoned factory in a still-active factory district. Your car gives away your presence to anyone around. 

So, what are your options? Park a distance away and walk. The best place to park is in the parking lot for a big-box store like Walmart or Staples, where they won't bother monitoring individual cars of customers. Residential areas can be okay provided you find the right place. Obviously condos with assigned parking are out, but you could probably get away with parking on the street as long as you aren't near any driveways or directly in front of any one house. 

Cyclists and bikers have the advantage over car drivers, because it's easier to find a hiding place for a one-person bike or motorcycle, and it's easier to make a fast getaway if you're being pursued. I drive a scooter, and at the first sign of doubt I double back, jump on my scooter, and take off. 

Photo: 16park
It's best to find a less conspicuous parking spot, or you risk alerting people to your presence. 

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There's no such thing as ghosts

A few years back, I was planning a visit to an abandoned mental hospital in the countryside of South Korea. It was mentioned on a ghost-hunting website, so one of my Korean companions joined to get more information. She introduced herself and told them about urban exploring. They warned her not to bring any camera equipment there, because the ghosts would make it stop working. Well, we went, and I've been back with the same camera two more times, and it still works. 

If you're going urban exploring, you need to be mindful of a lot of things. Ghosts are not one of them. There has never been a case of a living human being being killed by a real ghost. Until there is, I don't think we have any need to fear. 

Urban exploration is not here to tell you what happens after death. After the death of a building, maybe, but not where your soul goes when you die. But here's something I can say pretty confidently: we don't wind up as disembodied spirits making scary sounds in unsafe buildings. If the dead can see us from wherever they go, they certainly can't influence the natural world in any meaningful way that gets our attention. 

UE locations are not silent places. You'll hear boards creaking, water dripping, things blowing around in the wind. You might hear footsteps, or even voices outside. When you look at pictures later, there may be dust particles, lens flare, reflections, or after-images present. Is it more reasonable to assume it's caused by something natural, or supernatural. 

Pay no attention to the myriad of ghost-hunting TV shows: not one of them has ever found proof of a haunting. 

Photo: 17ghost
Ghostified inside the abandoned mental hospital. No ghosts got in our way. 


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What asbestos is

So, what exactly is asbestos? It's a harmful fibrous crystal substance once used as insulation and flame retardant in a lot of old buildings. It has been shown to cause cancer after long-term exposure, and has been banned by the EU. Asbestos abatement, or removal, is a popular business, and involves the temporary closure of buildings while the asbestos is cleared out. 

Among urban explorers, there are varying levels of concern about asbestos. Some wear respirators inside abandoned buildings, while others just don't care. Asbestos is only really dangerous in enclosed spaces, but is less of a concern in exposed buildings with open windows. Also, it is only a threat if the asbestos can become airborne, which is known as friable. If it is secured, it is only a threat if someone disrupts it, such as during abatement procedures.

If you know a location has an asbestos risk, a respirator is a good idea. However, you should also be mindful of your clothes, which can collect asbestos particles to be inhaled long after you've left the building and removed your respirator. 

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Recognising unsafe floors

One of the biggest concerns in abandoned buildings is the risk of collapse. Fortunately for me, I live in a country where almost every floor is made from thick concrete; I've had a few close encounters, though. 

Wood is the most dangerous building material, several decades post-abandonment. Followed by this is metal that has been entirely rusted through, although I've been impressed at how well rust can hold up. Being careful on both generally means knowing when enough is enough.

The two most obvious rules on sketchy floors are to not go together as a group, and to go slowly, one foot at a time. If there are already holes, that means the floor is already unstable. The safest way to cross unsafe floors is to find if there is some kind of support structure underneath, and walk only on that. Recently I visited an abandoned amusement park, where the merry-go-round had rusted through and there were many gaping holes. I was able to make my way across it by seeing where the metal ribs were underneath the rusted floor of the ride, and being sure to step only on them. 

Another area of concern is stairs, which can often be deceptively weak. The safest way to walk on stairs is with your feet along the sides, rather than the middle where your weight will have the most effect.

I've gone through bad floors and steps before; fortunately none of them have been that high off the ground. Many other urban explorers have not been so lucky. 

Photo: 19unsafe
Wooden structures tend to be the worst. There were more steps on this staircase just minutes earlier. 

==================================
Draining

Why would anyone do it? It doesn't hold the same aesthetic appeal of a nicely decayed abandonment. When you go draining, it's more about the journey, not knowing what lies ahead. It's about the physical space, situated below a city. It also tends to be less about photography, and more about getting out alive. Drain photography involves a lot of light-painting techniques which will be discussed later. 

After abandonments, drains are the most popular UE locales. There are many of underground tunnels to explore, from the obvious storm drains and sewers to steam tunnels, transit tunnels, and even catacombs in some cities. However, the storm drain is the most prevalent. A storm drain is what it sounds like, a drain for allowing passage of water, either a stream or rainwater, from an inconvenient place to a convenient place. They may not always be filled with water, but they can fill up quickly. 

Draining is a daunting task when compared with aboveground exploring. If you're my age, you probably heard stories back in the '80s about kids wandering into storm drains and sewers in search of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and dying in one of many unpleasant ways. This has happened, which means a drainer must be takes his or her life in his or her hands. ions should especially be made for lights and extra lights, and backup lights for when the extra lights fail. In the catacombs of Odessa, Ukraine, urban explorers found the dead body of a girl who lost her way, ran out of light, and slowly wasted away in the pitch blackness for presumably a few days. Her body was eventually retrieved, but not before many explorers foudn her. 

A lot of problems with draining can be resolved by picking a good entrance. The absolute best drains are the ones that open onto a river or other body of water. You can be sure that they'll have good air quality, and there's less chance of getting trapped. Going around popping manholes is for more advanced drainers--certainly more advanced than me. If you think popping manholes with a manhole key is tough from above, imagine what it would be like from below, not knowing whether you're surfacing at a busy road or in front of a police station. Basically, you should never do this unless not doing so would mean certain death. For the purpose of this book, I'm not going to endorse anything harder than entering storm drain entrances, or maybe lifting grates; I can't speak for anything beyond my abilities. 

Before you do any draining whatsoever, you should give a thorough read of Predator's guide to draining on Infiltration.org. Almost everything I can say comes from what I remember of either his advice or Il Draino, both members of Cave Clan.

Photo: 20drain
An underground river in Seoul. Originally a stream, it was covered up to create an elevated road. 

20draining or 20draining2
Inside a storm drain.



==================================
Who Cave Clan is

One name you'll hear a lot of in UE circles is Cave Clan. They're probably the oldest urban exploration group, even predating the coining of the term itself, having formed in 1985. Originally from Australia, they have chapters in most of Australia's biggest cities, and some members have since moved around the world. 

As the name suggests, they are mostly known for underground explorations, although if you were to put an abandoned building in front of them, they would almost certainly explore it. They have caused controversy for encouraging people to try exploring underground spaces, but they've also demonstrated responsibility by popularising some safety rules. They seem to be credited for the golden rule, "When it rains, no drains." They also don't advocate exploring alone, and popping manholes from underneath. They also have been known to leave items behind for others to explore, such as information about their group and instructional documents. 

If you're not in Australia, your chances of encountering Cave Clan are low. You still may find members online now and again, though. All the members I've talked to have seemed very friendly. 

==================================
-How to stay safe in subway tunnels

Subway tunnels can be a serious danger. Not only do you have trains flying blindly through, but you also have the third rail to contend with. Not only that, but many high-profile arrests have been made connected with train tunnels. 

Some countries are safer than others. For instance, French urban explorers seem fairly comfortable with their subway system. There are American subway tunnel explorers, but they face severe punishment if caught. 

It's safest to stick with abandoned tunnels, or tunnels under construction. I've had many chances to explore the latter, and I've even found all sorts of tunnel-building machines. Once the tracks get installed, things get more dangerous, as they may have the power on, and they might even be already testing the tracks with subway trains. The window where you can visit safely is relatively short. 


Photo: 22traintunnel
The safest train tunnels are the ones still under construction.


==================================
Craning

I discovered craning simply by watching what urban explorers were doing in other parts of the world. They climbed to the top of cranes where they could get inside the operator cabs, climb out on the jib, and get the most breathtaking city views. Craning, you may have guessed by now, is the act of climbing a construction crane. Also, naturally, it involves infiltrating a construction site. 

This is when I put on my lightest sneakers. I also take along a bike helmet, because it's too easy to hit your head on something, especially when you reach the top. Gloves are also useful, provided they have a good grip on metal. If you're bringing a lot of gear, it's best to put it in a pack. Going up, wear the pack on your front so it doesn't catch on any safety bars. 

Craning can be surprisingly rewarding, like climbing a mountain. Once you've started, you're not very likely to get caught, even if there's security on site. I mean, do you think they just sit around all night staring up at the thing? Living in a high-population-density city, I've gone craning in a number of very publicly viewable locations. One was above a major fashion district known as Dongdaemoon that's jumping all night. Another time, I climbed a crane next to Dong Gook University, and at the top I was pretty well eye-level with the rooftop of a university building that had a popular garden. Students were continually coming out there to smoke, looking directly toward me, but still never "seeing" me. 

I'll be honest, I used to be afraid of heights, and I probably still am, but not as afraid as they are of me. When I'm climbing a crane, I still feel a little fear, but I tell myself that there's a crane operator who makes the climb every single morning, and these things are designed for him to make it up.

Photo: 23craning
When climbing a crane, it's important to know the schedule of the workers. Once you're up there, there's only one way down. 


==================================
Rooftopping

This is a good reason to infiltrate an active building. Rooftops can be a lot of fun. Almost all tall buildings have an accessible rooftop, though maybe not easily accessible. 

The best advice I can give you is: move to East Asia. The cities with a high population density tend to make the most of their space, and rooftops are commonly used for gardening, parks, parking, or suicides (we do have the highest suicide rates in the world, don't forget). Yet still, rooftops are often accessible; I estimate of all the rooftops I've tried, I can get onto about a third of them. Of course, they don't always make it easy. 

The obvious best way to check for rooftop access is to take an elevator up to the top floor, try every stairwell and walk up until you hit a locked door. Eventually, somebody will have been careless and left one unlocked. 

The best buildings for getting onto rooftops, aside from abandonments, are probably hotels, at least in Korea. The hardest are bank buildings, where they will be looking for any signs of intrusion. 

Photo: 24roof
High above Seoul. 

24rooftop
Rooftops can be a fun place to relax. 


==================================
-What not to climb

Nothing is really safe to climb. But there's a wide gap between "one slip and it's a long way down" and "instant, head-exploding death." If you don't know what a tower is for, don't climb it. Microwave transmitters and power pylons are killers. You won't know anything's wrong until it's too late. 

With microwaves, your first sign of trouble will be permanent blindness, followed by death if you are unable to quickly navigate your way down without the sense of sight. Chances are, repair workers will find your charred body cooked to the tower, or crumpled far below. 

With power pylons, you will likely explode before you get anywhere near the power lines. Didn't they give you the hot dog demonstration in elementary school? Definitely not for people who want an open-casket funeral. 


==================================
-Climbing techniques and safety

There's a lot of crossover between urban exploration and climbing. I've known some pretty fanatical rope climbers, and there are applications for parkour in urban exploring. Other than that, I prefer to stay on solid ground. 

Climbing techniques are especially useful in mine exploring or drain exploring with no other way down. However, it is otherwise unnecessary, and the equipment can be cumbersome. If you're going to practice rope climbing in an abandoned building, keep in mind you'll have to go up again to untie your equipment. That's why it's most useful for underground trips, where you'll likely be coming up the same way and can collect your equipment on the way out. Anything involving rope climbing, unless it's a short distance, requires skilled climbers. If you're not a skilled climber, invite one. Don't expect to learn everything you need to know from a book; the discipline of rope climbing takes a lot of practice and experience. 

Another discipline that may help with climbing is parkour, which is a noncompetitive sport created in France aimed at traversing urban landscapes by running, climbing, jumping, and of course landing. You may be familiar with it from the James Bond reboot Casino Royale, which features Sebastien Foucan, one of the founders of parkour, in an extended chase scene early in the film. Like urban exploring, parkour, or free-running, or whatever you call it makes you look at your urban surroundings in new ways. Parkour offers many helpful techniques in climbing, jumping, and landing. One advantage of parkour is the lack of equipment. However, it can be dangerous if used on unfamiliar structures or places with structural flaws. An ill-placed glass shard could really ruin your day. 

I can't remember ever doing anything too crazy involving climbing. I don't think I've ever climbed higher than the second storey, and I've only used ropes for equally short climbs. Otherwise, I pretty well stick to ladders. 

Photo: 26climb
Probably the best advice for climbing a ladder is to not let go. 

26climbing
Remember not to look down.

26ladder
Some ladders can be rickety and loose if they haven't been used frequently. 


==================================
-When to give up 

This is not an extreme sport. We're not huge risk-takers. Well, those of us who want to live to old age, anyway. There are many reasons to call off an exploration. The weather can be an important factor on whether or not to go. So can human or structural factors. 

Remember this saying: When it rains, don't go in drains. It rhymes, so remember it. Not too long ago, a group of hipsters in Seoul organised a party at the mouth of a very large storm drain located under a bridge. They had all sorts of artsy things, painting, trendy music that they all hate now, and the invitation said "Come rain or shine." And it did rain. Partway through the party, the drain overflowed and swept a lot of their equipment away. This was about half a year after one of the members told me they're not urban explorers, so they don't have to listen to any urban explorer advice. Not even if they rhyme, I guess. 

Craning is difficult to plan around also, for weather reasons as well as worker reasons. Rain will make climbing that much more difficult. Also, you probably don't want to be on a tall metal structure in the event of lightning. 

When going craning, you have to be mindful of the schedule of workers. I don't know if it's just South Korea, but I've witnessed construction work going on at 1am. For me, the optimal time for craning is 3am. Too late, and there's the risk that coming down you'll meet the operator coming up. So yeah, it's really more of a middle-of-the-night activity. 

When it's raining, abandoned buildings can be a good place for refuge. I can't think of a single weather pattern that would keep me away from abandonments, provided entry's not too difficult. Once you're inside, you're pretty well shielded from precipitation. 

What would make me give up on an abandoned building is demolition. If demo has already started, even if it's just one wall, I would avoid the building. In Korea, they have an interesting way of demolishing tall buildings in high-density areas. They plop an excavator down on the rooftop, and it gradually chews its way down. I know of one instance where this caused the building to collapse prematurely, killing a couple workers. That was Nasan Homeplace, an abandoned department store I'd explored months earlier. 

Another factor is sensitivity. If there have been security problems lately, it's probably best not to go. Recently, the New York police caught a somewhat suspicious guy in a train tunnel. Around the same time, they also caught two urban explorers in an abandoned tunnel. These guys would've had no advance warning of the other arrest, or that security may have been heightened as a result. 

A few years back, I had to scrap a foray into Seoul City Hall, which was in the early stages of being abandoned, due to another recent incident. Another very public structure and historical landmark, Soonglae Gate, had recently been torched by an elderly man protesting his eviction. I decided if I were caught somewhere as high-profile as City Hall, I'd be public enemy number one. 

Photo: 27cops
After a vicious rooftop battle with evictee protesters, the riot police established a heavy presence around the building where it took place. 

27nasan
A few months after I went inside this department store, it collapsed during the early stages of demolition, killing two workers. 

27roof
I make it a point never to go into structures that are already partially demolished. 



==================================
Tailgating

You've probably done this before. Tailgating is a technique for getting past locked doors, especially ones requiring some kind of clearance or ID card. It's especially useful for active buildings, and I use it mostly when I'm looking for good rooftops. I did this in one luxury apartment building, and foudn a swimming pool and hot tubs on the roof. 

In order to pull this off, you have to wait for someone to come in or out, and you get through the door before it closes. I like to stand back a bit, so I can create the illusion that I'm just arriving at the same time the other person opens the door, so the only reason I'm not punching in my code/swiping my card is that the other person beat me to it. It's a good idea to say thanks, because you might have a long elevator ride together. 

Another trick, I like to have my cell phone out and pretend I'm talking with someone already inside, and I'm just trying to figure out if it's the right place, or I'm waiting for them to come down. But more about that next

==================================
Credibility props

To look like you belong there, you can use credibility props. This could be anything from a clipboard and hardhat to a towel and slippers if you're in a hotel. Another great modern credibility prop is the cell phone, which can be used to avoid talking to people, or to drop the suggestion you belong there. This is a type of social engineering, basically manipulating social situations to get what you want. 







==================================
How to deal with hobos

Many abandonments are not truly abandoned. A lot are inhabited by homeless people who have nowhere else to go. Homeless people generally mean you no harm, but it really helps if you make it clear that you mean no harm as well. This is a good reason to maintain decorum at all times, because you never know if someone's hiding around the corner. When I run into other people in abandonments, I immediately take on the role of guest; I'm the one intruding on them, and I'm the one who's dangerously near to all of their personal belongings in the world. 

If you meet a homeless person, it's best to be friendly, and if they seem agitated, it's time to leave. If they are friendly, it's worth having a short conversation. They might even be able to tell you about other good abandonments. This is also a good reason to carry cigarettes, even if you don't smoke--you can give a few to the homeless people to get on their good side. 

I find during the daytime I'm more likely to run across empty sleeping bags and old food, because they're out working, collecting bottles, or begging. I leave their belongings well alone. 

Homeless people deserve your respect--partly because you're in their turf, and partly because you don't know what hardships brought them there. In my home province in Canada, Alberta, there was a massive economic boom due to the tar sands, which led to the creation of jobs faster than houses could be built for everyone. Many people who came to Alberta for work had no choice but to live in homeless shelters and tent villages, simply because there were no homes for them. Meanwhile, they'd been working and raising quite a lot of money, yet still homeless for reasons beyond their control. 

30evictee
This old woman lived in Okin Apartment, one of Korea's earliest highrise apartments. She had no place to go, even after everyone else had left.

30hobo
A homeless man comes out on the rooftop of an abandoned church. Once we ran into him inside, we quickly backed out. 

==================================
Scrappers

Scrappers are kind of the mirror-universe urban explorers. They use a lot of our techniques to get inside buildings, and they even may do research online to find abandonments the same way we do. Their goal on entering an abandonment is to collect scrap metal or anything else of value for resale. This is illegal, and dangerous, and can be frustrating for our-universe urban explorers. More than once, the cops have been called on scrappers in an abandonment, only for the cops to show up and catch urban explorers instead. Unlike us, they're on the job, and they might act to defend their livelihood. It's probably none of your business, so it's best to give them a wide berth. 


==================================
What to do if you discover a meth lab

This is a concern more in the US than anywhere else, but because it's such an extreme case, it's worth it for everyone to know about. I've heard two accounts of urban explorers accidentally discovering meth labs. Both accounts led to a quick retreat from what would've been an almost certain death. 

In the first case, an urban explorer got into an abandoned building. He headed down the stairs, noting there was glass strewn about which made a lot of noise on the way down. At the bottom, he heard whispers in the darkness, followed by footsteps of several people running right for him. He turned tail and got out of there.

The second encounter, an urban explorer was walking around a complex with many medium-sized buildings. In one building, he ran into a very tall Latino guy with lots of tattoos. The guy shouted "He's got a camera, kill him!" and he found himself running for his life from multiple pursuers. 

Meth cooking is serious business. It's extremely unstable, so meth makers look for uninhabited places to make it. They will also guard their meth labs with their lives, or more often, your life. You might talk your way out of trouble with cops or security guards, or make friends with hobos or even scrappers, but meth makers will not let you off with a warning. 

Signs to look for might include smoke coming from a building, improvised security systems such as glass on the floor or objects set behind a door to be knocked over if someone goes through, or lookouts who have no other reason to be there. 



==================================
Why a building is abandoned

This one I'm not going to answer for you. You're the one going to the building, so you should find out. Obviously searching online is useful; there are probably articles about its closure, or if it's been closed a while its impact on the area, and if you're lucky, it'll have its own Wikipedia entry. You might be able to figure out when it closed, why it closed, and what the future plans are. Maybe it's just closed for renovations. Maybe it'll be demolished next month. Hell, maybe it'll be demolished the weekend you're planning on visiting. One of my more high-profile visits was to Seoul's central train station, which was under renovation at the time. I did some online research and uncovered decades of rich history: mass celebrations in 1945 at the end of Japanese imperialism, battle damage during the Korean War, and decades of public protest and civil unrest, leading up to democratisation in the late 1980s, all in the square in front of the building. You owe it to a building to learn its history; it will make the experience all the more personal.

You might be able to find more information on the inside. It's not rare to find personal belongings, including documents, photo albums, greeting cards, and in hospitals, confidential patient records. It might help you piece together what happened here. 

In Seoul, large areas of the city are abandoned at once for urban renewal. Residents are often driven from their homes by hired goons, who spraypaint intimidating or ominous messages on walls. They also pile garbage in doorways, and may resort to smashing walls with a sledgehammer. I've learned to gauge how amicable an eviction was based on numerous signs of hired goon activity. It has its own unique mark that differs from buildings that are closed for renovation, or just plain out of business and left alone. 



Photo: 33why morene
It's a good idea to get to know the area surrounding an abandonment. Right next to a large abandoned neighbourhood, we found a thriving marketplace.

33why
Often old buildings are destroyed to make way for the new. 





==================================
Camera manual settings

There are many urban explorers who don't have cameras, but ultimately, it's all about photography. Not many people can tolerate the conditions of an abandoned building or a claustrophobic drain, but anyone can appreciate a well-taken photo taken in these conditions. That's why photography is key to urban exploration. 

The difference between a mediocre photographer and a pretty impressive one is a basic knowledge of manual settings. It may not be so important if you're using your camera for family pictures or for drunk shots of your friends in a bar, but inside UE locations with difficult lighting conditions, you'll need to know shutter speed and aperture.

Shutter speed is obvious: the amount of time the shutter is open, exposing film or sensor to light. The slower the shutter, the longer the exposure, and the brighter the image. It can range from several seconds, to a tiny fraction of a second. In a dark room, you might need to stabilise the camera to take a 30-second exposure. If you're capturing something in daylight, you can probably get away with 1/500 of a second or 1/1000 of a second. If it's a fast exposure, your hands are steady enough to hold the camera still for the required time, but anything faster than 1/30 raises the chance of blurring. I use a lightweight Nikon D40 so I can go a bit slower. It's possible to do even slower exposures if you're braced on something, but if you go longer than a second you'll need a tripod or something else. Some cameras have a setting called "bulb" which basically means "as long as you want." This setting is great for astronomical photography, which requires long exposures, or lightning photography, which may require long waits before a flash.

Aperture is harder to fathom. It's the size of the aperture that lets in light during an exposure. It works similar to your pupil: small in bright light, dilated in low light. But the F-stop number is inverse: a small number means a wide-open aperture, and a large number means a small aperture. If you're in a low-light setting, you can open up your aperture to the smallest number, and you won't need to take long exposures. But if you have a tripod, it helps to set the aperture on a high number and raise the exposure time. This results in sharper images. For macro photography, it's best to have a dilated aperture, which shows depth of focus much better. 

A third setting you can manipulate is ISO, or film speed. This is just about how receptive to light the film is. Higher ISO works better in low lighting, but the trade-off is graininess. I try never to use an ISO setting above 800, but usually I'm on the lowest ISO possible. 

Photo: 34manual
Manual settings allow you to take a longer exposure, capturing light in new ways even in the darkest night. 


==================================
Rule of thirds

What makes a good picture? The two most important things are a good eye and a good subject. The camera itself is less important; I've seen iPhone cameras work wonders in the hands of an expert, and expensive SLRs with fancy lenses take crap photos in the hands of an amateur. So, composition is key.

The rule of thirds is helpful for composition. Basically, when you look through your camera, you should divide your field of vision into nine squares. A beginner's instinct is to fit the subject right in the middle square. However, most photographic subjects look better off-center, exactly along one of the imaginary borders with the key element at one of the corners. 

Lines are important in rule-of-third compositions, and it's important to keep them straight. In a landscape, the horizon should be along the lower line, with a key element at the corner. Or a doorway or corner could be along the vertical line. 

The rule of thirds sounds counterintuitive at first, but it has been well established for a long time, predating cameras to when painters used it. It may seem more appealing to have a symmetrical image, but unless you can get it perfectly symmetrical, using the rule of thirds is superior. 

There are of course times when you don't need to use the rule of thirds, but you should always be mindful of it. 

Photo: 35thirds (we need to crop some of the right off)
The rule of thirds uses lines to locate a subject in a prominent part of the picture.


==================================
Using a tripod

Tripods are so useful, you almost have to learn less in order to use them. The difference between having a tripod and not is huge; it allows you to take steadier shots in much lower lighting conditions. The only problem is it's more gear to haul around, and takes time to set up. I prefer using a ball mount tripod, which is easiest to adjust on the X and Y axis simultaneously. The other kind is the pan-tilt mount, which allows you to connect your camera to your tripod quickly, but can be frustrating to aim. 


==================================
Light-painting

What to do if you're somewhere that's too dark for photography? Use your flash? No way. Light-painting is a method of using your flashlight to expose an image. It's best done with a tripod and a long shutter speed. All you do is take the picture and shine your flashlight on whatever you want photographed. You can experiment with shining the flashlight from different angles, getting realistic lighting or something completely impossible. If you have multiple flashlights, or colour filters, you can experiment with colour, creating brilliant images. 

This trick is especially useful in storm drains, which might otherwise not be very interesting to capture. 

Photo: 37light
This karaoke room was pitch black, so I used a flashlight to bring out the detail in an embossed painting. You can see streaks from my light on the right. 

37lightpainting
Lightpainting people requires they stay absolutely still. This image was created in two exposures, where we took turns lightpainting each other. 


==================================
Data recovery

It's possible if you're caught, you might be asked to delete your pictures. But never fear, they're not lost forever. There are many free data recovery programs available online. All you need to do is stop taking pictures and get your camera home. If you take any pictures, it may reallocate space where some of the deleted pictures were stored, and they may be irretrieveable. 



==================================
Where to discuss urban exploration online

There are several websites dedicated to urban exploration. Some are communities of explorers, either global or regional, and some are more for armchair explorers. A couple examples of armchair exploration websites are darkroastedblend.com and weburbanist.com, two places that regularly feature UE photography, among other things, and can be good places to whore out your shots. 

A few examples of explorer websites are UER.ca, CaveClan.org and 28dayslater.co.uk, where you can ask for advice, share locations, or post your pictures. UE websites tend to be somewhat suspicious of newcomers, until they've proven they're good explorers. Up until then, anyone could be a vandal or a cop. UER uses a trust system, where members start at a basic level and go through an approval process to get full membership. Of course it's not airtight, but it can be useful to find out how trustworthy someone is. It may seem paranoid at times, but there have been cases of actual police monitoring the site in an attempt to catch urban explorers. 

Also, sites like Flickr and LiveJournal have pages dedicated to urban exploration photography. These aren't places where you can have discussions about urban exploration, so the discourse on there is quite different. It's more about trading praises than anything else. They're also not the best sites for getting constructive criticism, just positive feedback. You'll either get positive feedback or no feedback at all. 

==================================
What to share online and what not to share

What pictures you share and what information you give out can be critical. As I mentioned before, it is not a good idea to give out entry information into buildings. Sometimes also the name of the location can bring trouble, as there are law enforcement agencies and property owners who Google some of these names from time to time. You'll know if you posted something you shouldn't have, because you'll get ten people pointing that out in no time. 

With pictures, it's safer because Google can't find it based on the picture alone. If you have pictures of other urban explorers, it's a good idea to get their consent first before you show the world what they look like. Also, be careful that your pictures don't explicitly give away your point of entry. 

Some places are just too high-risk to post at all. I sat on pictures of an abandoned American military base for over a year until I heard the news it was demolished and I finally shared them. In some cases, it's better to just not publicly share them until conditions have changed.


Photo: 40share
It's important you get permission with someone before you put pictures of them exploring online. 

==================================
About the Author
Jon Steed

I've been officially engaged in urban exploration on an almost weekly basis since 2007. 

I say "officially," because when I was as young as ten, I would spend my summers exploring construction sites in the evenings when the workers had all gone home. I made many visits with friends to various condo developments, usually with the intention of prowling around, evading security, sometimes evading each other. WHen I was aroudn 14, my friends found an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of the city, so we rode our bikes there and tried to convert it into our secret hideout. I learned quickly that abandonments are not places you'd want to hang out in for a long time. 

I got my first official taste of urban exploration in 2005, shortly after I moved to South Korea. A friend back in my hometown, Edmonton, Canada, told me about it, and explained an unusual situation. He was being pestered online by someone who didn't seem to be who he said he was. The guy was basically collecting names of urban explorers. I offered to help out, since I was out of any Canadian legal jurisdiction, so I added him on MSN and began feeding him made-up stories, just to see what would happen. It turns out other Edmonton explorers found out who he was: a detective hired by property owners of a local abandonment. 

Not long after that, I began hearing about the massive urban renewal projects in Korea, where large tracts of urban land are evicted and eventually demolished. The time between eviction and demolition can actually be quite long, giving an opportune window to go in and see the former homes. I tried it a few times, then gave up for a couple years.

In spring 2007, I bought a new scooter. Taking it out on my first test ride, I randomly happened across an abandoned neighbourhood. It looked like the place had been blown away, so I named it Little Nagasaki. Not long after, I discovered that Seoul--and ultimately all of Korea--is covered with abandonments. Over time, I've visited and catalogued around 100 UE locations in Seoul alone, and over 160 countrywide. 

Although urban exploration is popular elsewhere, I was the only one really doing it here, at least on that level. No Koreans seemed the least bit interested, being more interested in the highrises that would eventually replace these older districts. It was a bit lonely not having other urban explorers to collaborate with, but it was good in that I was the first to visit most of these locations. It wasn't long before my photos were getting noticed. 

Since then, I did some exploring in my hometown when I went home for a summer, and in December 2010 when I went to Hawaii, I managed to locate several fascinating abandonments, from sugar mills to an old hotel. I also met a local guy with an interest in urban exploring, and he took me to a few sites. 

In June 2009 I got a grant from Space Beam, a publicly-funded art collective based in an old rice wine factory, so I put the money toward printing photos for a slideshow and creating a UE manual not too different from this one, although more Korea-biased. 


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Conclusion

Hopefully, now you have some basic understanding of what urban exploration is. Something about dirty old buildings, something about infiltration, and it usually means bringing your camera along. Without having tried it yourself, you can't predict what it'll be like, nor can you predict how you'll feel. 

Urban exploring isn't for everyone. It's is not exactly a walk in the park. There are health and safety hazards everywhere, and these untended places can get pretty filthy. There is also the constant fear of getting caught, not to mention the primal fear of the unknown. 

Urban exploration enriches your life, and changes your perspective. Once you've tried it, you start noticing things nobody else sees. A lonely hallway, an enticing rooftop, a ladder that leads to nowhere. You begin noticing these things, forming plans. Most of what you get from urban exploration probably won't help you unless you survive a nuclear war or wake up in a zombie apocalypse. At the end of the day, urban exploration is a hobby--a sometimes-lethal, sometimes-illegal hobby, but still a hobby. 

We are drawn to beauty in decay and entropy. Go to an abandoned house and see the beauty in it, capture it. Trace the faded footprints of humanity preserved and corroded by time and isolation. It is both sad and beautiful to see the triumphs of our civilisation wasting away. As was written at the base of the destroyed statue of Ozymandias in the desert, "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" 








