Urban Exploration

[Brian Ellis]

There's an interesting article on the MSN home page www.msn.com today titled "Extreme Photography:Urban Exploration."

[reellis67]

Great link, thanks! I really enjoy looking at these types of images. There is something about the way we treat old buildings that really grabs my attention, and some of these Urban Explorers have a good eye from photographic composition.

- Randy

[Scott Davis]

I saw that article too, what a shame the subject of the article insisted that the best way to get into what he's doing is with a Nikon D-70. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the distinct impression that digital didn't do as well with reciprocity failure conditions as film does. Also, a D-70 has no hardware-based perspective controls, and it can't do truly wide-angle shots because of the image chip size.

[Gordon Moat]

I don't think any of the Nikon shift lenses work properly on a D70. One would need a D200 or D2X for that, and there is still an issue of the angle of light striking the CCD. Even with 35mm film, shift or tilt/shift lenses are not nearly as effective as using a view camera, though they are okay to use hand held in good lighting conditions.

I do quite a bit of urban imaging, some of it advertising related. My walk around hand held gear is 35mm or medium format, though I sometimes take a 4x5 with me. The biggest problems with the 4x5 are the large tripod and limiting my time under the dark cloth. I think it is important to be aware of any people near you, or anyone coming up to you, especially at night.

Anyway, seems there are many more wilderness landscape people on these forums than urban photographers. If anyone else is doing urban imaging, especially night imaging, I would be interested to read about your experiences. I was thinking of getting that small Berlebach table tripod as a more compact tripod for these situations, but does anyone else have other suggestions?

Ciao!

Gordon

[reellis67]

That's my understanding as well. Pixels get 'stuck' or 'hot' on long exposures causing colored spots in the image. Not that they can just fix it afterwards, but still... A 4x5 might be good, but if you have to bail out quickly, it might be better to forgo the movements in lieu of speed. All things considered, I'd bet a range finder would be the way to go for most places - quiet and light.

- Randy

[reellis67]

I've done some urban work, and most times during the day it is no different than down the trail. The occasional interested or irate person, sometimes a police officer or worse, rent-a-cop. At night is a different story - I'd certainly want to have a second person if for no other reason than two people seem much less likely to be hassled than one person hiding under the darkcloth.

- Randy

[David A. Goldfarb]

I shoot in the city and use a darkcloth with the 8x10" or 11x14" cameras, but if I want to be quick and am working alone in a place where I want to be aware of my surroundings I shoot 4x5" and use a folding hood.

[Marko]

Nice article. I found Lost America.com/ (http://www.lostamerica.com/) some time last year and found it very impressive.

As far as reciprocity failure on digital cameras is concenred, there is none. Digital sensors respond in linear fashion in this respect, but they do exhibit other problems when it comes to night shots or other long exposure photography.

Notably, it's the noise that stems from heating and also battery life. Noise can be dealt with relatively successfully either in camera (depending on manufacturer) or in Photoshop. Battery life, on the other hand, cannot be extended and depends solely on the battery type used (and operating temperature to an extent). The in-camera noise correction compounds the battery life problem because it typically takes as long as the exposure itself.

[reellis67]

Lost America is quite interesting. I believe that he also has a book out with many of these images if you prefer, as I do, to view in person. I have no idea how good the reproductions are though...

- Randy

[paulr]

check out my good friends at jinx ... their book "invisible frontiers" is a great read.

www.jinxmagazine.com

[400d]

I was thinking, am I the only one bringing a 4x5 to UE? (I haven't done any 4x5 UE work yet).

I feel that I will only use 4x5 if the image has the potential to print at really high resolution in the future.

For example, a recent visit to the Jersey bay area:
http://i6.tinypic.com/13zwjgx.jpg
http://i6.tinypic.com/13zwl0k.jpg
http://i5.tinypic.com/13zwlcg.jpg
http://i5.tinypic.com/13zwlq8.jpg

Obviously these are snapshots, just to record my little trip, by no means they need the 4x5 resolution.

[poco]

400d,

I've been doing UrbEx with 4x5 for years. Samples can be found at my crude website: http://www.michaelveit.com/

The two biggest problems are portability and, of course, exposure times since interior scenes tend to be very dim. Having a good handle on reciprocity of your film is a must, obviously.

As far as portability goes, I've climbed to the top of several buildings where the stairs have been removed and hauled the gear up afterwards on clotheslines (several resulting shots on the site). So anything is possible, if you're determined. But making a quick exit from locations is a different matter. I've played cat and mouse with both security guards and unsavvory fellow explorer types that showed up unexpectedly. These days, with a bad foot, I'm more likely to bluff unpleasant encounters out. Every situation is different and calls for judgment, and sometimes the best defense lies in high-visibility. I've bought a hard hat and neon construction jersey that I sometimes wear and am still amazed how much authority that seems to lend my being in places and at times that are, on the face of it, totally outrageous.

Anyway, there's no question Urb-Ex with LF is very possible with enough commitment and thought.

Cheers...

-Michael