urban exploration

  • First trip to New England

    I’ve been wanting to go to Boston and New England in general for a while now, so as soon as Shay and Jerry said to come up to meet, do some exploring, and eat some good food, I didn’t hesitate to book a flight right away. I’ve known these guys on Instagram for a couple years now, so I knew it would be fun. Unfortunately, Shay had something come up and couldn’t meet up this weekend. Hopefully next time. By the time I got to Boston, picked up my rental car, checked in to the hotel, and drove to Jerry’s house, it was getting kinda late, so we didn’t have much time to explore. read more

  • Busted in Bama

    I got a random text from Geo last week, asking if I wanted to go to Birmingham to do some exploring. I just got back from PA and getting ready to go to Detroit the following weekend, but sure why not. Birmingham is one of those places that always produces locations. I’ve been there three times to explore and have only been to one location more than once. This trip was all Geo. He had a handful of places I’d never even heard of before. The first, some sort of girls correctional center. This was one time that I really wished I had worn pants (or brought a machete). We basically made our own path through the dense brush and finally hit some pavement. The first building we see definitely seemed like a prison building. It was mostly cell-like rooms. The last building was a chapel that was pretty boring and had the worst clock tower ever. read more

  • First trip to Pittsburgh and a bunch of new Philly

    A few weeks back, Fran said I should go up to Philly for a weekend to explore. I figured it would be a good opportunity to also hit Pittsburgh, so I booked a flight. It was a quick, three-day trip, leaving out early Friday morning and coming home before work on Monday morning. read more

  • The “Chicago Experience”

    ←Days 1-2

    On day three, Matt and Beth were tired from St Louis, so they decided to take it easy and do their own thing. The first stop on Sunday was coincidentally one of the locations Matt was asking about earlier. One of the more popular places, this abandoned church wasn’t very big, but it still had incredible detail left inside. The architecture and ceilings were amazing, but it didn’t take much time to explore. read more

  • Chicago to St Louis

    What started as a road trip from Chicago, through St Louis, possibly stopping in Memphis, then back through Atlanta with Matt, Beth, and Pete, ended up being a flight to Chicago and a quick drive to St Louis for a night. read more

  • Merry Christmas morning explore (and revisit)

    Several years ago, Scott and I were desperately trying to figure out a way to get into the huge abandoned GM assembly plant in Doraville. We knew of a couple people who had been busted there, but we also knew of a few that had been in and out with no problem, so we knew it could be done. read more

  • A trip to plan a trip

    After planning for a couple months with Matt for a trip to Chicago, I thought it would be a good excuse to go down to visit him in Florida to talk more about our specific plans. I also heard that an abandoned hotel that I’ve yet to explore was open, so it was a good opportunity to check that off the list too. read more

  • Planes in the woods

    We weren’t sure if it would be worth the drive, but Sergio and I decided we’d finally go check out the abandoned airfield we’d seen pictures of. We thought it would be best to leave in the afternoon and drive through the night, so we could get there for sunrise. Seemed to be the best plan of action, and everything worked out great….aside from Led getting pulled over for doing doing 55mph in a 35mph zone in some tiny town in the middle of nowhere. read more

  • Bad luck in DC

    Sergio has been bugging me about going to Maryland/DC for months now, so even with my flight to California approaching the next week, we decided to take a “quick” 10 hour drive (in rain the whole way) for the weekend. After leaving pretty late on Thursday afternoon, we arrived at the first location around 9am on Friday. We met with Chris in the rain at an abandoned school to start it off. It was a pretty big elementary school with a huge pool, gym/auditorium, as well as indoor and outdoor playgrounds. I walked around mostly alone, so after exploring those areas and the rest of the two floors, I packed up and left my stuff by the exit. Following a short search for the rest of the crew, I realized there were two more floors at the school that I missed, but I was too lazy to go back and get my tripod and bag with my wide angle. Luckily, we would return later. Here are a few shots from the first stop.

    stairs desk slide tv best ramp Thurgood court full court pool

    Next, we stopped by a hospital, walked around it in the rain, but found no way in. Hungry, we decided to grab some tasty breakfast nearby at Cafe Kimchi, then head to another hospital. This one was semi-active, and there was a lot of activity in the area and on the property. Regardless, we managed to make our way in. The first building housed probably the best room we saw on the trip. It has a small autopsy auditorium with crazy lights, a morgue, and a ton of microscope slides containing who-knows-what. We spent a good amount of time there, before we explored the rest of that building and another. Nothing really noteworthy in the rest of the buildings we explored.

    full room table observation Cytology drawers samples slides bloody slide morgue open morgue  cabinet machine lecture hospital testing hospital

    We went to check out an unfinished mega church, but a marked car was patrolling and drove onto the property. We decide to go eat again and to wait a bit before giving mega church another try. Better luck on the return, as we were able to get onto and off the property with no issues. Interesting location, but no one is going to spend hours there. It’s basically one huge room. Not the best to photograph, but it would be fun if you like heights/climbing. Decent way to wrap the first day.

    mega mega mega mega

    The most annoying thing about the trip was redoubtably the hotel. I guess others have had an enjoyable stay there, because it was recommended to us, but it started terribly when the front desk said my reservation was automatically cancelled because I was on the do-not-rent-list. Here we are 10 hours from home, been up since the previous morning, and now they’re saying I can take it up with the hotel manager the next day! After reminding the front desk of my situation and his further investigation, they realized that a guy from North Carolina with the exact first, middle, and last name as me was the one on the do-not-rent list. Weirdest coincidence ever. Oh well, shit happens. They reinstated my reservation and gave me my room keys. Now we can worry about plans for the next day. Friends from a couple hours away, Becca and Fran, were staying at the same place, so we met outside early in the morning and went back to the first hospital to give it another try. Denied again! Since Becca and Fran hadn’t been there yet, and I missed shooting the 2nd and 3rd floors, we made a return to the school from the previous day. I was surprisingly able to get several more shots there.

    pool broken glass pool ball space room hallway tv tv vacuum ashes

    The others had ideas for a shoot at an abandoned mansion a couple hours away, so we head up that way. We walk up the driveway and find a big house, hidden amongst several extremely expensive homes in the area. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get many shots here before I was approached, questioned, and asked to leave by a middle-aged, well-dressed guy. We start packing up and walking back to the cars. Becca made a joke about calling the realtor, so I look at the sign and realize that’s the guy that kicked us out. He must live next door or was called by the next door neighbor when we walked up the driveway. Either way, he was relatively nice and disappeared once we started leaving. On to the next one. After a quick hike through the woods, we arrive at the next abandoned home. Abandoned houses aren’t really my thing, but I took a few shots before we go to a train tunnel/weird altar in the middle of the woods. With the sun going down, it was time to head back to the hotel. It was quickly evident when we walked in that housekeeping had not straightened up the room or made the beds (not a big deal). Then I realized they took all the towels from the room, clean and dirty, and left us no towels at all. Remembering Belina said we ran out of toilet paper, I check, and not only did they they take the empty cardboard roll, but they also left us no toilet paper. I had to run to the office to retrieve all of this before we can take showers or use the restroom. I was promised we’d be treated to full-servicing of the room the next morning. With Sergio and Belina staying at the hotel to sleep, I met up with Becca and Fran for dinner at City Tap House (which was really fantastic) and to do a little night shooting around the streets of DC. Got back to the hotel around 2am, so (as always) I thought it would be a good time to edit a few pictures before hitting the sack a while later.

    pool pool crime scene hot tub hand chair tub bunny pink room

    We took it somewhat easy on the third day and ended up meeting near an asylum around 10am. We stayed there most of the day, exploring several buildings, and all ended up towards the back of the property and just kinda hung out for a minute. Bored, I decide to head back to the chapel to get a few shots there real quick before we leave. I ended up stopping at two other buildings and shot those before I got back to the chapel, where Becca and Fran were already waiting. With a long drive ahead of them, Becca and Fran take off, so I’m alone again. I shot the chapel for a sec then texted Sergio to just meet me at the front main building, so we can leave from there. Just before I reached the building, I peek down the street and here comes a white security truck. I’m pretty certain he saw me and accelerated quickly, so my first instinct was to take off. I ran faster than Usian Bolt down the street, through some brush, and into a building, while I can hear the guy yelling something at me from a distance. I flew through the building to the opposite side, trying to get to the next building, but the door was locked. I go downstairs to the basement, feeling pretty trapped at this point. Barely able to catch my breath, I call Sergio to let them know what happened and they’re in the building next to me. After a quick search, I found another door on that side of the building and coordinated with Sergio to go to a door across the street. As he peeked out to make sure the coast was clear, I ran over to the building they were in. Finally all together, with the help of google maps, we made our way back to the car without issue. After being kicked out here last year, I think I’m done with this place forever. Here are some shots from this visit.

    green hall luggage church classroom Pepsi machine desk dentis chair cups wheelchair typewriter piano chair pink trike full tub

    I can’t complete this post without mentioning the dinner we had Sunday night at Rustico. Not sure if the risotto “tots” or the burger was better, but I’m never going to Alexandria again without going back to eat there. I also can’t fail to mention we didn’t get the room “fully serviced” either. Didn’t look like they even stopped by this time. They may as well add me to the do-not-rent list now because I’ll never go to that place again anyway. Instead of driving through the night, we planned to stay one last night, and drive back on Monday. To get a few more shots, we got up early to beat the majority of traffic into DC to shoot in the streets there, before leaving around 10-11am to start the trek back home. Thanks to Sergio and (mostly) Belina, I actually didn’t drive at all on the way back. Was nice to chill, sleep, and edit photos for a change. Definitely have to get back to DC soon. Huge thanks to Chris, Becca, Fran, Carly, and Franklin for hanging and exploring with us.

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  • Quick drive to south Florida

    Having never been to south Florida to explore, I thought it would be a good idea to make a run down there to see what kind of abandonments we can get into. After picking up Scott, we hit the road for Naples…..well, actually just Panera in McDonough for breakfast, but we got there at 10:33am and missed breakfast by a measly 3 minutes. We settled for Starbucks across the street and then hit the road. The only planned stop we had was an old race track that seemingly everyone has been to aside from me. Definitely (as I assumed) not worth the drive alone, but a nice little pit stop a short drive off the highway. Scott wanted a few shots of him in his cycling gear, so it worked out well and didn’t take too long.

    donuts track level start finish barrelScott riding Sabotage

    Had to make a stop at Brook’s before getting a few hours of sleep, then before we knew it, we were up again at 4am and on our way to an abandoned prison. Before the sun came up, we met Charlie nearby and set off on foot. About 30 minutes later, I was covered in sweat and spider webs, but we were in. Definitely an interesting place. I’m not sure why it’s so heavily patrolled by security, but it looked like they stage training exercises there for riot situations or something. There were blank shell casings and huge holes in the concrete walls everywhere. I don’t see any reason for me to ever go back, but I’m definitely glad I got to see it.

    cell maternity ward piano daughter crumbling laundry slop slot stage yard exam room tub controls

    After the successful stop at the prison, Scott headed back to Naples, so Charlie and I went to eat lunch at Pride and Joy and look at graff in Wynwood. One of my personal highlights of the trip was stopping and taking to a few of the homeless people on the street there. After a ton of walking, we decided to head to Miami Marine Stadium to see if we can get in there for the sunset. I’ve been told several times that security keeps a good watch on the place, but there were people all over when we got there, so we just pulled up and parked right next to the stadium. There were tons of people standing/walking around with cameras, so I just grabbed my stuff and started up the stairs. One thing I’ve learned when (allegedly) trespassing is to just try to ignore horns or yelling and just proceed to where I’m going. Well, I heard a car honking repeatedly as I walked up the stairs, so I just didn’t look and kept going…until i hear “NO TRESPASSING!!! NO TRESPASSING!!!”. I figured I should probably look up at that point, and (of course) it’s security yelling at us. I just turned around, walked back down the stairs, and we go down the beach and take a few shots from the sand. Maybe 20 minutes later, we see cars literally drag racing in the parking lot, and doing burnouts and donuts, RIGHT behind the security guard’s jeep! Finally, we’re just like “fuck it! we’ll go take pictures of these guys drag racing”. Luckily we walked over there, because we made our way into the stadium instead.

    beach miami skyline cover seating aisle

    Not a bad way to finish the day. It started pouring rain right after we left the stadium, so Charlie and I head back to his house to get some rest. After staying up way too late editing all my photos and waking up way too early, we head out to an abandoned amusement park to start our Sunday. It’s actually just a roller coaster now, but we didn’t get in to see it anyway. There was security all over the place, so we decided to go try a hospital instead. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was a new place and it had some nice views. Didn’t take a real long time to explore, so we took off towards the beach to try a few other locations. After seeing the kinda shitty looking locations and getting a little hungry, we decided to not even try getting in and we just ended the day by going to Kush to get some lunch instead. Here are a few shots from the hospital.

    live birth curtains views top floor

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