Not actually the 100th post/Urban Exploration

Ok, so it turns out that 9 of the alleged 100 posts are actually just drafts. So I still have a ways to go lol.

Anyway.
Urban exploration. Urban exploration is a hobby that includes exploring and sometimes photographing abandoned and otherwise derelict and neglected locations. Popular sites are hospitals, insane asylums, factories, houses, and drains. It is not limited to that though. Any place abandoned or off-limits counts. Anyway, I find urban exploration to be very awesome, and would like to do some of it myself. Surprisingly, many urban explorers are very legal about their activities. Visits to defunct properties many times require permission, and a lot of explorers respect that. They also have a motto: 'Take only photos and leave only footprints'. They don't vandalize. The whole thing is based on the photo ops and just how interesting it all is. Awesomely enough, many explorers have their own websites where you can spend hours enjoying entertaining and often creepy photos. The best ones are the ones that actually care about the photos they take. A lot of them just take the pictures to document the trip (although they are interesting nonetheless) and are pretty all-around not-so-great pictures haha. Others are actual photographers and take really good pictures. This is the best website I've found so far: http://www.opacity.us/
And some more:

--http://www.forgottenoh.com/abandoned.html (Forgotten Ohio. I know the photo at the bottom is weird, but none of the other photos are like that so don't worry about it. He does tend to swear occasionally though so don't read the captions out loud lol)

--http://illicitohio.illicitohio.com/ (Illicit Ohio, one of the first I found, but not my favorite. He does have a lot of photos but he doesn't have a lot of locations, and he doesn't update very much.)

--http://sbno.illicitohio.com/ (SBNO, run by the Illicit Ohio guy. Strictly amusement parks. Very cool and creepy.)

--http://anc.funkybuu.net/ (AbandonedNC. Cool cause it's all around here)

--http://www.abandoned-places.com/ (Abandoned Places. Some really good photos here but the site is rather tricky to navigate.)


Have fun with those sites. I've spent hours on them. Just don't spend too much time at once, or you'll see it all in one day. It's interesting enough that you need to savor it. So limit yourself to just a few locations a day or whatever. It's kinda addicting though. Just be careful lol

These sites have really sparked up the photographer in me. I've found myself pulling out my camera more and more often. And I already use it all the time anyway.
So here are a couple of pictures of mine for ya, just cause. Enjoy :)








And one more photo, not one I took. It's a favorite of mine from the AbandonedNC website. The caption says "I'll leave this one to your imagination."