The Empty 'Ghost' Cities of China

We've been documenting abandoned buildings, sites and even abandoned ghost towns for over 10 years but we've never seen anything like the empty cities of China.

Ghost towns normally have meant towns once occupied but through some kind of economic hardship, or some kind of natural environmental disaster, that has rendered the town unable to persist as in its former glory days due to its present hardship(s).

The empty ghost cities of China are notably peculiar in that they've never been occupied, but have remained ghost towns since their inception.

These are abandoned cities from the get-go. It's peculiar. Even surreal.

Why are there Dozens of Ghost Cities in China?

Exploring Historical Buffalo, New York

                                    (The Swannie House, Buffalo NY/Image copyright of Lieuxabandonnes)

I hopped on a Greyhound bus on Thanksgiving Day and headed to Buffalo NY. As it turns out, traveling the US on Thanksgiving isn't recommended; finding a meal or even snack is near impossible. One of my greatest memories of this trip was the hospitality and generosity of the bus driver who shared his thanksgiving meal with me. This was my final lasting impression of what it means to be an American before I headed home to Canada.The six days I spent in Buffalo would be my final photographic exploration of the USA, and it was a memorable visit to say the least.

I had some locations in mind to explore, but as it turned out, local advice changed my mind about where I'd actually explore. I stayed at the Buffalo Hostel and met three photographers who were exploring that week. I have to say that really was a bonus to have inside information ie routes of travel and so on. One of the photographers was a seasoned expert about the historical grain elevators of Buffalo NY and even offered to take me along and go down the elevator shoots together. Teach me the ropes, if you will.

I ended up declining after mulling this over a few days because I follow my intuition, and the thought of not having the physical strength to pull myself back up once down didn't seem terribly appealing ... maybe if I was 20 years younger ... As it turned out, intuition is best. A month later an injury from previous months manifested in Canada, whereby my neck and spine collapsed and was paralyzed for almost a year down my left side of my body. Due to my injuries, I'm very cautious about exploring, and as you know, while it doesn't happen often, some explorers have perished in unsafe buildings.

What remains memorable to me are the unintended discoveries along my route, like stumbling upon an abandoned fuel station called Sam's. That's a first. I've never seen so many American flags in any city, nearly every image has a flag somewhere. Up the road at the corner of Ohio and Michigan I stepped into the Swannie House for some downright good tender vittles and washed it down with a beer. Several hours of a constant drizzle of rain in late November left me cold to the bone, so stepping into the historical Swannie House wrapped up my visit to Buffalo in such a positive note.

The staff were super friendly, so I lingered at Swannie's listening to local history. I pulled myself away as I had a bus to catch in a few hours back to Canada. I stepped out the door into the cold rain on Ohio and made my way back to the hostel, threw my damp clothes into a dryer and said my final farewells to Buffalo NY.

                              (Old Hardie Kentucky Straight Whiskey/Images copyright of Lieuxabandonnes)

Abandoned Manitoba: Follow Us as We Document the Hidden Abandoned Places of Manitoba

(Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba circa 1895. Source: National Archives of Canada)

Some of you are aware that Canada has never been considered one of the best countries in the world to explore abandoned sites, due to Canada's national policy for demolition projects of derelict buildings or converting derelict properties over to new owners, often into the hands of non-profit organizations. Oftentimes, a non-profit revitalizes a derelict property preserving it into a historical monument for decades to come. Alternatively, many a non-profit just doesn't have the funding to make a complete conversion and a vast number of the buildings remain derelict at the site for decades longer.

These properties are wonderful opportunities for photographers and historians to explore. Unfortunately, for many of us, we don't know they're out there to explore. No one is going to advertise these histories, locations and so on unless you travel the country roads a lot or keep up with the sporadic media reports about these landmarks. Your only other resource is spending unlimited hours in historical archives.

I'm all for preservation of historical sites, but the renovation process often renders the historical artifacts and architectural features obsolete. Once lost, these are never recovered unless someone documents them first. The preservation and renovation leans more to a symbolic historical monument then anything tangible. We need to remember that often times those derelict sites contain histories our culture doesn't want to remember. And that's why we not only call those marginalized and abandoned but also the forgotten one's.

The kinds of explorations some of us do do NOT end up in our Canadian school system's text books. History is continually erased where those would like it to be erased. However, I ask a vital question about this erasure. How does a culture, a nation, whatever this may be learn from their past mistakes in this manner? Perhaps we're all prone to wanting to hide our mistakes, shove them in a deep, dark closet or up into a musky, damp attic until the day we throw it all away or demolish it out of sight and memory.

Sometimes we can't even do that, as in the cases of nuclear tragedies such as Hiroshima, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Well, as some of us know, this is when we encounter the BS campaigns, orchestrated by governments, the international media and big corporations that have an invested interest in these outcomes. And they would just like us to know they would prefer we know as little as possible. Happy, ignorant sheep continue to be consumers, and every nation needs consumers. Some of us are still waking up' and enraged that democracy seems to have very little to do with 'protecting' the people and more to do with protecting big corporation, this includes the lies and coverups to cover up all the environmental disasters throughout history due to big corporation.

This also includes the cover ups of institutionalized 'mental asylums' where those not wanted in society were suddenly labeled with a 'mental disorder'. Imagine living in a generation where parents or your husband, just thoroughly sick of you for whatever reason, you've become an emotional or financial burden, maybe your husband didn't want to suffer the public embarrassment of divorcing you? So they could just drop you off at the nearest asylum? You have to wonder if those family members slept at night considering the 'cutting edge' therapeutic technologies that went on in asylums, like lobotomies, ice baths, electric shock therapy and brutal restraints to name a few.

This is why it's so essential for some of us to document what we can before it all fades. For me, sometimes it's a fine line between truth and deception, life and death and giving honor to those who have been forgotten, most often buried in unidentified graves. Just another number. No name. Their voices muted and then demolished out of memory. Out of history. This is my passion. Follow us this year as we travel and document Manitoba's abandoned places. Sometimes haunted places. The voices of the past still speak, of our ancestors, our history, right out of their unidentified graves, if we listen closely enough.

Defending Elena Filatova

Over the last year or so, since we wrote a blurp about Elena Filatova on this blog, I've randomly run across some unsavory words about Elena across the web. It appears some peeps want to think Elena is a fraud.

I'm not buying it. In the first place Elena's photography is photojournalism, it's not piped up with Photoshop for some fraud attack. Get real people. It borders on slander and public slander, and unless you have proof, you shouldn't publish stuff like that.

Lastly, getting permission to enter a site to photograph is not fraud. I have. Other's have. One example we've already published here. And it's actually sometimes the right thing to do in some circumstances.

Breaking and entering doesn't make you or anyone a photojournalist, an explorer or a historian. It's make you a person committing a B and E. And whether Elena had permission or not doesn't take a way one iota of the decade of heart she put into her mission.

North American Grain Elevators

The history of grain elevators is a rich and diverse discourse in North America. Both the USA and Canada contain fascinating historical landscapes of the early agricultural boom which once permeated North America.

Grain elevators stood tall and proud in urban cities as well as in rural communities. Beacons of prosperity and wealth, these elevators cast a gentle aura of hope, stability and safety upon everyone. After all, everyone has to eat to live.

In the United States, I recently visited Buffalo, New York - an historical grain elevator mecca. Many grain elevators in Buffalo have been abandoned; a play ground for urban explorers and photographers. After laying barren and open to the curious, there is talk of demolitions these days.

After visiting Buffalo and its rich history of grain elevators, next on the list is the exploration of Manitoba's rural grain elevators in Canada - what is left of them. Manitoba has also been recognized as a mecca for a history of grain elevators, but many have been torn down.

The flimsy safety of believing these sturdy historical landmarks won't be demolished is vastly replaced with a surety that these landmarks will not be there as long as we once took for granted.

A Peek into Asylum: One Photographer's Perspective of the Interior World of Mental Asylums

 

(Photographer: Christopher Payne. Title: File Boxes)

If you love the idea of photographing abandoned buildings and institutions, yet don't like the idea of trespassing on private property, you might like the way Christopher Payne went about photographing 70 mental hospitals across 30 states between the years of 2002 to 2008. Christopher Payne, photographer and architect, was given open access to visit and document the history of the American asylum in his newest book, Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals. We peek into Payne's perspective about the interior world of mental asylums from a photographer's (and architect's) point-of-view.

"We tend to think of mental hospitals as “snake pits”—places of nightmarish squalor and abuse—and this is how they have been portrayed in books and film. Few Americans, however, realize these institutions were once monuments of civic pride, built with noble intentions by leading architects and physicians, who envisioned the asylums as places of refuge, therapy, and healing." 

 (Excerpt: Asylum Project Statement)

Take Nothing but Photographs, Leave Nothing but Footprints

If you've ever read any of our past article posts regarding our views about trespassing or breaking and entering, then you know we don't agree with a sub-group of certain explorers these days. There are at least two other methods of gaining access to a building. One is express permission as Payne's six-year project clearly illustrates, and we like how his creative project exemplifies how gaining access to non-accessible institutions through legitimate routes benefits the documentation of abandoned institutions before they are demolished forever.

Another method of exploration is to visit one of the many hospitals and prisons that are open to the public. I've heard explorers suggest these are less exciting alternatives; well, all I have to say about that is they need to figure out why they're doing what they're doing and why they're effectively ruining it for the rest of us. It seems to me photographers and historians do less damage in buildings, are less interested in the hype about infilteration, thus follow urban explorations golden rule:

"Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."

There are times when someone needs to tread softly and go through an already open door (Note: That does not mean pick a lock or kick the door down ... ), but those moments are only known by the faint footprints left behind. The footprints left behind do not need to be published all over the web inviting vandalism and thrill seekers. This is why there is such heavy security these days at many of the remaining locations not yet demolished - at least in our humble opinion.

Copyright and Permissions

Photographers that trespass also need to keep in mind that without express permission from the owners, your published photography, or even photographs entered into photography contests could be forfeited without the proper permissions from the owners of the property.

A Photographer's Approach

Granted, it could take years to gain permission to enter and photograph some of these decaying institutions, but that holds a particular excitement on its own. Furthermore, Payne was able to photograph some off-limits buildings that housed residents, meaning the buildings were not yet vandalized, nor looted and stripped of their interiors and artifacts. This fact actually makes Payne's photographs of particular interest. In context, this lends to his work an engaging mixture of sweeping interior landscape and still life. A few of my favorite photographs from Payne's collection are 'Patient Toothbrushes' taken at Hudson River State Hospital, 'Hair Salon' at Trenton State Hospital, 'Unclaimed Cremation Remains' at Oregon State Hospital, 'Patient Suitcases' at Bolivar State Hospital, 'File Boxes' at Spring Grove State Hospital and 'Bowling Shoes' at Rockland State Hospital.

Technique: Use of Light, Space and Minimalism

Another aspect of Payne's Asylum collection I like is his minimalist approach. In fact, I prefer to see images of asylums that are clean, bright, simple and elegant. In fact, many of Payne's images run counter-intuitive to the mainstream urban exploration crowd. Sometimes when I'm viewing the dark, shadowed images common to urban exploration, I simply wish I could see the details of an image in the light of daylight. Maybe my age is telling in itself, but if I have to squint that much to see a darkened image I am finding it not worth my time more and more these days. It's simply a matter of taste and style, but I've really enjoyed the use of light, space and minimalism of Payne's Asylum project. If you're interested in viewing a sample of images published in the book Asylum, you can view the slideshow here.

If you're interested in viewing Payne's projects, you may visit his website here. I also enjoyed his project listed under North Brother Island, in New York. Christopher Payne also has more upcoming gallery exhibits in 2012-2013 in Belgium, Netherlands and Italy.

Rockwood Insane Asylum Upper Canada

Upper Canada's Rockwood Insane Asylum, open from 1859 to 1959, cared for the criminally insane. In fact, the hospital was built by the labor of those convicts by which the hospital was intended. Patients slowly moved in from 1859 through 1870.  The facility is considered a Kirkbride, although it may not represent the original Kirkbride designs in every respect.

Rockwood was Kingston, Ontario's asylum for 100 years, later transitioning into the Providence Continuing Care Centre - a community facility for those coping with mental disabilities. In 2000, the facility buildings were empty after 141 years of service to the surrounding community.

In 2011, Providence Care is beginning a new facility construction next to the original structures at Rockwood. It's hard to say at this time if they intend on preserving the original structures at Rockwood, or eventually demolishing them.

I'm hoping they will not be demolished. In the past 40 to 50 years until more recently, Canada seemed to demolish their historic structures, such as hospitals and prisons, rather promptly in comparison to the USA and certain European countries. However, these days, Canada is moving in a different direction regarding the preservation of historic landmarks.

But much depends on the structural integrity of the buildings, and if a demolition permit will be granted. However, it is also unfortunate Providence Care is going the route of building a new structure rather than revamping the original site as their new facility.

It usually turns out almost every time I've seen this approach taken with other care facilities the new facility is poorly constructed, and the overall cost is a lot more than the total cost of refurbishing the original facility back to its earlier days of splendor. I find this a misfortune.

There are few photos of Rockwood since its 2000 vacancy. The reasons behind this appear to be a very strict security patrol. But I'm not sure how many permissions they give to researchers and media at this time.  Evidently, paranormal investigators also haven't been granted any access or route to investigate as of yet.

So many of these historic monuments are severely restricted these days, especially over the last 5 years; it is rather unfortunate for those of us attempting to actually document something worthy of being documented. In many ways, it is partly due to the explosion of the popular urbex movement around the Internet, and young misplaced arson's reading about locations via the Internet, which were once more privately known about but suddenly everyone and their sister knew about. Locations were flooded, and often vandalized.

The Internet in the end has been the slow death for true explorers, and with the demolition of so many buildings already occurred and with so many more to come - even Beelitz around 2013 - I feel a sense of urgency as an era comes to a close never to be seen again. For those really into infiltration, I suppose it hold its charms.

I'm seeing more and more art exhibits these days reflecting urban explorer artistry. Sadly, I feel Canada overall missed out on this exodus of artistry and history married in spirit. In historical documents, there are various places in Ontario that declare they have no records, including photos, of past architecture, but at the same time Canada's policies, whether local, provincial or federal toward urban explorers has not been a welcoming partnership in the truest sense of historical collaboration.

Beelitz Germany does not restrict visitors to the hospital, where certain buildings are still in use, while others are vacant a good number of years. Some visitors are past patients, or families of past patients, others are photographers and explorers. I totally wish Canada and even parts of the USA had taken this approach, especially in facilities where parts of the facility are currently active.

It seems perfectly logical and even gracious to allow visitors, rather than the attitude of exclusivity and fear predominating the scene these days. After all, it is everyone's history and legacy, so why the stingy high security mentality? Once again, we are crossing the joining rivers, a crisis of delineating what is private property and what is societies common rights to access a heritage that so many would like us all to forget about, like it never existed.

But as much as we need the present and a strong future, we also need a map of our past. We need historians of all shapes and sizes. Not only those schooled with mainstream paradigms, but those of the collective. We need the postmodernists and neomodernists as much as the rest who help us interpret and deconstruct our collective histories of the urban environment, along with our collective interpretations of any societies view on madness at any given time in history. 

Urban Explorers

Urban exploration can be identified as the study of modern relics. Urban explorers explore human made landscapes and the curious along with photographers, archeologists, sociologists etc are all potential participants in urban exploration. Urban sites such as abandoned architecture, sewers, tunnels and ghost towns are some of the places urban explorers study our collective man-made relics.

The website, Urban Explorers, I discovered more recently contains relevant information and tips for new and seasoned explorers along with forums and a network where you can create a profile, make new friends and connect in explorations.  Their unwritten rule states “Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints.” The website is easy to navigate, organized and looks to be a network worth a visit. 

Gothic Prison Architecture

Admin Circular Door:

Part of the oldest sections/Gothic structure at WV Penitentiary, which includes the older high security cell units as well. The door straight away is a beautiful Gothic style circular door that admitted new inmates into the penitentiary. This circular door is classic, and will not be seen in new prison architect. Once behind this door, there is no way out. Or perhaps it's better to say once behind this door, you are on your own ...



All Material in this Photo Blog Gallery is Copyrighted & May not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my permission. All Rights Reserved.

Prisoner Art & the Paranormal

The painting on the wall was created by a prisoner at WV Penitentiary, in memory of the woman he murdered. If you're familiar with the 'shadow man' at WV Penitentiary - TAPS recently debunked the photos (possibly erroneously) - the shadowy apparition has been sighted and captured in this newer cafeteria, as well as the hallway between it and the older cafeteria. Various individuals have captured images of likeness to the original shadow man images at different times, daylight and midnight, and locations. I found this wall art spookier in a
real way far more than the possibility of seeing the 'shadow man.'


All Material in this Photo Blog Gallery is Copyrighted & May not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my permission.


All Rights Reserved.

Urban Exploration: The Golden Rules

Urban exploration can mean different things to different people. And that's fine. But since our exposure to the Internet, exploring has become a popular past time with all kinds of different theories about what it is ...

I think we can all agree on one thing though, that explorers go places most reasonable adults won't. I'd like to share a few Do's and Dont's about urban exploration.

Our Urban Exploration "Do Tips":

1) Explorers have a natural curiosity. Exploring started when I was a child. I bet for many of you the same applies. I get real excited before I explore. However, as an adult it's often illegal in certain situations. Do No. 1: Know your rights, and legalities. 

2) Explorers scout their location, online and off. Before the Internet, explorers scouted locations, so the Internet does not make scouting easier, and actually could lead to mistakes. Research is a part of scouting as well as visiting the physical location. Do No. 2: Do your research and try to avoid foolishness.

Foolishness tends to land explorers in jail, or with a hefty fine, or possibly getting shot with a rifle for invading someone's home unwittingly ... Like in this video inserted below. It's likely best not to bring along those break-in gadgets like in this video below, because this leads us to one of the main 'Do Not' Tips (Do Not break and enter).

 

3) Do be respectful of others, artifacts, and yourself. Other dangers associated with exploring can include loss of limbs, or even death, from falling through a floor or staircase. It has happened, so 'do' be careful.

4) Have fun. Exploration is not an elitist past time, but open to anyone who has a sense of adventure and curiosity. Likewise, those who think the idea of fun is vandalizing, looting and stealing are not urban explorers. They give urban exploration a bad name.

5) Do attend locations which have tours, or open houses or are willing to to give you a private tour. Urban exploration is not all about infilteration, no matter what others say. 

Our "Do Not Tips" Are:

1) Do Not steal anything. Taking is stealing. The golden rule: Take only photos, leave only footprints. 


2) Do Not force entry. That's called break and enter you know. Most explorers, when practicing infilteration, seek out existing openings. Unless all is boarded up, if in doubt, assume someone is occupying the location before wielding that crow bar!  Try knocking on the door, and be sociable, it at all possible ... 

3) Do Not make assumptions based off of Internet data because sometimes locations are occupied, or are revitalized, and no one has gotten around to updating this yet. Tread softly.

4) Above all else, Do Not become a self-righteous urbexer. We all did this when we were kids - it's fun. As adults though, explorers share slices of history that are actually interesting and enrich our art and culture. Focusing on how exploring benefits the community at large keeps the elitist ego trip in balance ... Keep your ego in check.

When these are in balance, urban explorers gain our respect for venturing into spaces where no one else has dared to go before.

An urban exploration video of an abandoned church:

Urbex Explorer: Mike Dijital

Recently, I was exposed online to Mike Dijital’s urbex work and degGi5, so I wanted to (humbly) write a few words about Mike and his work as urban explorer simply because he left an impression on me.

I was exposed to Mike’s explorations one night as I was seeking out a possible local urban exploration group near to me. I stumbled on an AC article, written by FreakMamma, derived from an interview with Mike Dijital. One thing lead to another – you know – following the links, and now its history to be written about.

Mike Dijital’s work symbolizes what authentic urban exploration is all about. You may want to look at his work, which you can find at his website. His work has been featured in Weird US’ Weird Massachusetts, as well as having a hand in films such as Session 9, Nothing Better, and the research and trailer for Project 17.

Mike also has a few publications in circulation, some in collaboration and his own collection of photography in Abandoned. It doesn’t end there. Mike’s hobby is definitely a passionate one.

He is also the founder of degGi5, a private group forum for explorers, including the weekly degGi5 show on Thursdays. The forum is a safe place for explorers and urban armchair explorers alike.

All Material in this Photo Blog Gallery is Copyrighted & May not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my permission.
All Rights Reserved.