Urban Exploration with Kodak T-Max 100

Urban exploration is becoming increasingly popular through images shared on social media. 6s 50mm F8.0.

Once a rather niche hobby, urban exploration has become increasingly popular with the rise of the internet and especially so with social media. Images of some of the most famous examples like Chernobyl, Six Flags New Orleans and increasingly more of the city of Detroit, have inspired many other people to look out for abandoned buildings and structures in their locality or where they are travelling to. I have done some in the past when I lived in North Wales but it’s not something I often get to do, which is why as I ever you have to grab the opportunities when you can. In addition, what better way to explore than with a roll of Kodak T-Max 100, the final one in Kodak’s range of black and white films. It’s very fine grain perfect for capturing all the small details.

You can often find damaged and abandoned machinery like this lawnmower. 1/13s 50mm F5.6.

The buildings steadily fall into a greater state of disrepair over time. 1/8s 50mm F8.0.

Crumbling plaster work is the least of your worries. 1s 50mm F8.0.

Glass panes are one of the first things to go when the vandals come in. 1/15s 50mm F8.0.

A room filled with empty oil cans & containers. Peering through the a broken window, perhaps the are in a locked room has saved them from the worst of the destruction. 1s 50mm F11.

In this case I visited an abandoned lumber mill in rural Yorkshire, that had steadily fallen into disrepair over the decade or so since work had stopped. But why am I and others drawn to places like this? It breaks down into two parts, the structural and the human. On the first point - it is rare to be able to move around large structures unhindered, especially if it is something industrial. You get to get up close to machinery or where machinery was originally housed, you can walk the production line and get a proper sense of scale for how big these places are and how they were used. Of course, as things start to fall apart and decay you begin to saw more and more of the underlying structure, creating interesting shapes, alongside the textured peeling paint and impressive looking lichens. You can see nature taking its course as it slowly reclaims that small part of the world bit by bit, day by day, leaving you to wonder and imagine what would happen to the city or town we live in if one day we just ceased to exist.

A left behind tea pot. The days of morning brews long gone. 1/80s 50mm F1.8.

Hi-vis jackets still in place where they were left on the final day. The ivy has begun to weave its way through the shed. 1/1.3s 50mm F8.0.

The main buildings of the lumber mill. 1/15s 50mm F8.0 with polariser.

The overgrowth is taking over the old yard. 1/6s 50mm F8.0 with polariser.

Peeling paint & wooden walls make for great photography subjects. 1/10s 50mm F8.0 with polariser.

The human side is no less interesting. These aren’t just cold empty structures; they are places that used to be full of the hustle and bustle of human life. Whether people lived there or earned their living, and there is an element of sadness that this has now been lost. You are left with the question: where these people are now and what happened to them? These places often capture a snapshot in time, with many items still left in place ready for the next workday that never came. Whether that’s the hi-vis jacket that was hung up at the end of the day or the logbook that still lies open, there’s a sense that the end wasn’t inevitable and perhaps those workers didn’t know they had worked their final day.

Probably best not to touch the exposed electrics. 15s 50mm F8.0.

The shelf of abandoned essential items, from oil to coffee. 30s 50mm F8.0.

The left-behind logbook still remains in one of the rooms. 1/15s 50mm F8.0.

I am a bit unsure if this exercise bike was there originally or if someone has brought it in afterwards but it made added to the strange spectacle of the room. 1/3s 50mm F8.0.

With the fresh bag of tobacco on the table it amuses me at the thought of people calmly sitting and smoking in the room surrounded by all the destruction. 4s 50mm F8.0.

Then this is mixed with the later human destruction, the vandals who came year after year to ransack the place. Smashing glass, breaking objects, tearing up papers. Whatever it was it can seem sometimes like the place has been hit by a natural disaster. What compels these people to travel here and indulge themselves in such a way? Is it just boredom or perhaps a release of repressed energy they’ve been holding back? We aren’t to know but it adds another curious human element. Where once things were built, now they are destroyed. Left behind are also the signs of other people who came for the same reason I did, curious non-destructive exploration. Observing the ongoing entropic chaos that is slowly unfolding.

The exposed beams of the crumbling roof has great geometric shapes. 1s 50mm F11.

The wooden stairs were still holding up well. 10s 50mm F11.

However the upper floor not so much. It wasn’t safe to walk on as it has become damp and rotten underneath, putting down too much weight could see you fall through. 1s 50mm F11.

A pile of used sanding disks. I’m sure a few of these have contributed to the broken glass. 2s 50mm F8.0.

With all this considered, these places capture our imagination on the temporal and fleeting nature of our existence, nothing is truly permanent, and all will eventually be reclaimed by the life that was once concreted over. Sometimes things unfold in ways we can’t fully understand, and we are left as unparticipating observers. I’ve tried my best to capture all this in a single roll of film, but it will take a lot more practice for me to tease the sensation out of these emotional places.

A wrecked office on the operating floor, perhaps it was originally used as the manager. 1/50s 50mm F8.0.

The main operating floor where wood would have been processed. 1/8s 50mm F11.

This is where the logs would have been run for cutting. As this would have been perhaps the most expensive machinery in the mill it had been taken out by the owners. 1/2s 50mm F11.

Other cheaper items like this Hi-Fi were left behind, which is a shame as this looked like a good one. You can see that other urban explorers have put their stickers on the side. 5s 50mm F11.

I will add that, if you do decide to explore these places, be mindful of your own safety and local laws around trespassing. These can be dangerous places to visit and over the years careless people have been injured and sometimes even lost their lives. Don’t be another statistic, as is often said – it was the curiosity that killed the cat.

Do you find urban exploration interesting? Let me know in the comments down below.

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