Legs and Borders

Niektórzy kolekcjonują motyle, inni zdzierają gardło na meczach piłkarskich lub pod ambasadami. My fotografujemy opuszczone budynki. Eksploracja miejska to spolszczona nazwa angielskiego terminu „urban exploration”. Większość zainteresowanych nazywa tę dziedzinę po prostu urbeksem. Zjawisko to obrosło przez ostatnie lata wieloma bardziej lub mniej uzasadnionymi kontrowersjami, tworzonymi głównie przez samych eksploratorów. Koniec końców urbeks to najczęściej zwiedzanie opuszczonych budynków – jest to kontynuacja i rozwinięcie dziecięcych eskapad. Eksploracja miejska dotyka całej tkanki miasta. Niekórzy popychają granice tej dziedziny w zaskakujące rejony, infiltrując np. metro warszawskie, wwiercając się do komend dowodzenia z czasów drugiej wojny światowej w katakumbach pod Paryżem czy wspinając na szczyt niewybudowanego jeszcze londyńskiego wieżowca Shard . Japońska wyspa Hashima, wykorzystana m.in. przy kręceniu przygód Jamesa Bonda w filmie Skyfall. W tym nietypowym ...

Built in 1886 alcohol distillery located in northern part of Poland done as a part of road trip with: Kwolas, Płomień, Rocko, Wilga, Szk, Culmar, Travis, EdEk, Showtek and Liściu. Main feature of this place was a very interestingly shaped furnace and lots of unusual warning signs i.e. "Drinking alcohol on premises is prohibited." (pic. 3)

The present main building on the site, is the original Mount Ellis, the brick four-storied mansion of Joseph Ellis refered to earlier and which R.I.Cohen opened in 1865. Despite the fact that its grandure is a little decayed, it would have been a substantial and imposing house in its day, befitting a wealthy businessman. The foundation stone that R.I.Cohen helped to lay, can still be found in an outer buttress wall on the right hand side of the property, near to the frontage. It is below the immediate ground level as part of the lower ground floor. The inscription is much eroded but one can just make out 'LAID [BY] J J ELLIS...' but the rest is almost perished. It seems that after Ellis' death the building reverted back to educational use. By 1898 'Mount Ellis' had become 'Westmount' and was the junior branch of Dover College. [jtrails.org.uk].  Until the fire in 2007 it's been used by Kent County Council as Adult Education Centre. Really p...

Solo visit. Building is being demolished at the moment (but slowly, Polish way). Factory was operational from 1884 to 1994. Builder of the plant was the Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck, the owner of numerous mills and mines, and magnificent mansions in Świerklaniec. Cellulose factory was established in 1884, and to increase its profitability in 1899, paper mill has been added to process the raw material manufactured on the spot. In 1918 a consortium was taken over by the German company Natronag. The year 1922 brought further changes, Paper Mill become part of the newly formed Polish state. Then it began a period of it's greatest prosperity. One of the most important dates is 1925, when the owners purchased the largest and most modern paper machines at the time in Poland. Before World War II the factory produced 9.6% of the total paper production and 20.1% of cellulose in the country. It suffered from bombs and arson during the war, and never really came back to it's for...

One of the best abandoned places in Częstochowa at the moment. Visited on few occasions with sesyjni mordercy crew, goblinz strikes back. Factory was functioning from 1889 to 2002. Elanex is one of those industrial complexes, which in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shaped the face of the textile Częstochowa. Land was purchased in 1889, and factory was established in the same year under the name of Motte, Meillassoux and Caulliez. The brick and stone architecture contains Neo-Gothic style, designed by Edward Lilpop well known in Łódź and Warsaw, the architect of many buildings, mainly banks. In 1926, "Motty" changed its name to Union Textile. After the war the factory was called the Wool Industry Plant Częstochowa (imienia Koszutskiej), and finally Elanex. It has been closed in October 2002.

Visited with sesyjni mordecy last year. Really beautiful building. Opened in 1857 it was the first cement plant in the Polish Kingdom, and fifth in the world. Factory was producing portland cement. Jan Ciechanowski was it's original owner, and the first director was eng. Emil Konarzewski, who ran it for 20 years. Stanislaw Ciechanowski, son of Jan, leased and eventually in 1925 sold the plant to the Belgian conglomerate Solvay Cement. The Solvay plant expansion ran until 1939. Cement produced at this plant was used i.e. to fortify Silesia before the war (Obszar Warowny Śląsk). On 31 July 1979 after exploiting coal deposit from underneath the building (which caused damage to the structure), plant has been closed.

Here you can appreciate probably one of the few hdr'ed pigeon eggs online! that's something isn't it.. history: The Ramsgate Flour Mill was built in 1865, and closed in 2005 when the site was sold by Rank Hovis to a private developer, as it was no longer commercially viable. The mills became Grade II listed in 1988. World War II tunnels underneath the mills:

Big credit goes to Subversive for helping me out with location, he pointed though a bit further down the road so had a bit of e xploring before finding it, never mind :) The place turned out to be quite a chilled explore, and the weather was... great. History: In the 1980s, the Copyhold site was sending loose earths and packaged cat litter around the world. By 1995, however, due to falling profits it was announced that the company would close 10% of its 100 plants. Copyhold fell victim the following year and the Laporte Group ceased fuller's earth production altogether in 1997. Visited solo in 2011, and as you can see i was romancing with heavy hdr's then, heh.