The Urban Wilds

Southwestern PA, USA

Beneath an abandoned middle school, Western Pennsylvania

Under the mattress on the floor in this shot, there was a giant burn-hole that dropped clear through to the basement. We wouldn't have known it was there had the corner of the mattress not been sagging into the floorboards. Abandoned houses are tricky that way, you never know if your weight might just be the last straw for those creaky floors. But, then again, what fun would it be if there wasn't that element of surprise?

As ironic as that sounds, I much prefer the long forgotten urban ruins to the creepy, recently deserted ghost town. I like to think it's because the latter is too eerily close to reality for comfort. That's one of the best parts about urbexing though, there truly is something for everyone. 

My favorite photos are those which transport the viewer into a different time and place. Seeing an imaged drenched in history tells a thousand times more than words on a page. While I might be a history buff who spends too much time with her nose wedged in the pages a book, but I actually prefer experiencing the past to reading about it. Being immersed in physical space, surrounded by the sights and smells of the past is really quite incomparable to the static activity of reading. As a native Pittsburgher, exploring the history around me will never grow old; the deeper I look, the more amazing things I find. The urban wilds are calling. Answer them. 

There are very few places that truly unnerve me. Being underground, feeling closed in and without escape, is one of them. I wouldn't say its claustrophobia, rather a fear of the  tens of tons of earth above me. Being buried is a terrifying notion. Exploring the mines and mills of Western Pennsylvania as I do, the possibility of venturing underground is very clear and present. The ability to muster up the guts to do it? Decidedly less so. 

More open now that it had ever been before, Carrie Furnace beckons historians and explorers alike from beyond it's chain-link fences. What was once classified as a project belonging to the Department of Defense, mills like this now lie dormant, waiting for a different type of spy to sneak in past their gates and photograph their rusty, derelict interiors.  

 Crawling through the cramped pipe arrays of Carrie Furnace, I finally stumbled upon this gem; a view looking up, light filtering down and resting delicately on a select few rusty surfaces. Like some looming monstrosity rising from the depths of hell, the steel pipe structure at center obscures the light from above as matching towers on the left and right impart a claustrophobic sense of stifling closeness. Welcome to the belly of the beast. 

Urban exploration, how I love you so. The thrill of re-discovering something that had been lost to generations is so difficult to put into words. I think this guy captured it exactly. If anyone picks this up as a blog/band/website name, by the way, I'm taking all the credit. 

I know by now it might seem like I'm pretty hypocritical. "Ooooh, get outside and explore" she says, "Sally-forth and visit new places" she tells us, while the only site it seems like I've explored has been the Carrie Furnaces in Homestead. That's not really the case, I've done quite a bit of 'splorin' this year. Have you ever fallen in love with a place so much that you can't stop looking through the photos you took there? Reminiscing with ever post you write? That's Carrie to me. Its a marvel of an urbex site. If you're ever in the Pittsburgh area, its as quintessential to the experience as french fries on your hamburger.  

Line is a critical element of the composition of a photo. Without the metal hook and cable creating a strong left-right curve in this picture, the long focal length would prevent your eye from traveling naturally from the foreground to the crane in the background. Despite emphasis on how important it is, that doesn't make line any easier to recognize and incorporate into your shots. Good composition is something you must practice, something you must become adept at hunting. For me, finding beautiful lines where others fail to is one of the most fulfilling things about photography. 

Its very impressive to me how far manufactured HDR effects have come. Sure, my camera can handle doing real HDR, but when you've got an entire site to explore, who has time to waste on it? When the results of 'fake' HDR are this sexy, it's hard to say no. Adobe Lightroom at its finest. 

Macro photography allows for increased environmental control you don't get from landscape photography. Being a little anal retentive, I always love getting the opportunity to focus on tiny details rather than sweeping vistas.