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How do minors do urbex?
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I don't mean it in a condescending way I just genuinely don't understand how they can find the time or the places.The only free time is weekends and how do you keep randomly coming across abandos??
Help me with some insight.
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Aha, holidays or weekends yeah. or and during exam blocks.
i usually do some research u can find a lot of info online & google maps helps a lot. ive found a few from friends who know some.
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Check the Melbourne instagram scene. Probably more people under 18 doing things than people over it. I tend to find a lot of the minors in the scene have issues. Urbex is their escape. A lot of them skip school a lot, steal things, come from broken homes. Urbex gives them a place to be somebody, to feel like they're a part of something. Urbex is also a social network of sorts. Sure I've found a few spots but most things I do are found via contacts I've made in the scene. Some people like to view urbex as some sort of competition, and don't get me wrong if some random asks me for spots I'd probably give them the most well known drains and be done with it. But once you build up friendships and trust is established an absolute plethora of knowledge is opened. A solo explorer is great but the social side of urbex is quite enjoyable and rewarding once you find the right people. Most of my friends are urbex based, I connected with them through sites like this, instagram, friends of friends etc. It takes time to build those contacts, you have to take newbies into drains and invite people you don't know from a pile of straw along on an expo and hope they're ok. I've explored with a lot of people, most don't hang around but a few do. One mind is great but get 10 people together and I can guarantee you that each one of them has a unique spot that no one else in the group has done. Starting in the scene can be hard, I started with drains. They're not so hard, plenty of maps floating around online and people aren't so reserved about giving out drain locations. I'd recommend them as a starting point. Then as you get to know more people you'll get to see more things. Started with drains, then came abandos, then bridge rooms, then cranes, then rooftops. It's a chain that you have to climb.
Wander often. Wonder always.
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Driving around, you tend to see things. Surfing online, tend to see things. Stuff pops up every now and again. Also as to why people do it, it varies. Some people do it so they have somewhere to smoke, some do it for the interest in abandoned and isolated places, some do it to escape from reality.
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I’m a minor and I haven’t actually gotten into the scene, but I’ve had a fascination for abandoned places since I could remember. I’m really oblivious and sheltered, so I don’t know much (thus why I joined this forum, to learn about it, and learn how to participate in it in a safe and legal manner), so I haven’t actually found anything yet, but I intend to, once I learn all the legalities and dangers and stuff around it. Why I’m interested in it, is really just to take photos. I love street photography, and I love gritty, run-down places. I love their aesthetic. I also like the idea of being somewhere where no one else goes; a sort of secret hideout. In fact, how I stumbled upon this forum came from the discovery of this urban exploration scene, which was the result of trying to look up how one could go about establishing an obscure “hang out place” without trespassing or doing anything illegal. Just a private place for a friend and I to sit and talk, because there is no privacy in my home. Then I stumbled upon abandoned buildings and the photographer in me came alive… and here we are!
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Hey 35mm welcome to the forum... Sadly you won't find many legal spots that are quiet and private as most of the time you will have other photographers,history buffs etc visiting these location on a very regular basis, in saying that you cant even get privacy in most well known Abandonment's that you have to technically trespass on private property ? I found i had to go underground to find real solitude.
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I didn't explore anything until I was in my early 20s! Lots of people I know were/are the same.

Downside of course is that I missed out on a bunch of things that I came this close to exploring (like some cool old theatres and a telephone exchange, the doors were left open but I was too anxious to go in on my own...)
Iso of the Cave Clan
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Like lone wolf said, its near impossible to find a 'secret' spot these days. The only ones I have are underground and not in tunnels or drains. They are part of cave or mine networks. These are the only things that are remote or difficult enough to venture too that they remain untouched. There are plenty of mines no one has been in in over 100years if you enjoy aerial access and spelunking :) we also have breathing apparatus and air quality meters. The use of the ba gear really takes away from fun secret spots tho lol
never die wondering ;)
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Lone wolf wrote:
20 Mar 2018, 12:58 pm
Hey 35mm welcome to the forum... Sadly you won't find many legal spots that are quiet and private as most of the time you will have other photographers,history buffs etc visiting these location on a very regular basis, in saying that you cant even get privacy in most well known Abandonment's that you have to technically trespass on private property ? I found i had to go underground to find real solitude.
Thank you! :D Oh, really? Urbanex is that popular in Australia? I haven't even seen that many photographers in general, except for a few kids at my school, and the kids in my T-VET class (with one who I tried scoping out the disused tram tracks under Central station yesterday, to find a way to the other side in hopes of entering, but we just kept going around in circles), along with the other Photography TAFE course students.

tommo wrote:
20 Mar 2018, 3:54 pm
Like lone wolf said, its near impossible to find a 'secret' spot these days. The only ones I have are underground and not in tunnels or drains. They are part of cave or mine networks. These are the only things that are remote or difficult enough to venture too that they remain untouched. There are plenty of mines no one has been in in over 100years if you enjoy aerial access and spelunking :) we also have breathing apparatus and air quality meters. The use of the ba gear really takes away from fun secret spots tho lol
Do you know if there are there any in Sydney? Being a minor, I can't venture too far. I know about the no-posting-location-information policy, so I'll try doing some Googlework (but I suck at it, that's why I found this forum). Would being in one of those be classified as trespassing or somehow illegal?

As for the "secret spot", I don't mind what it is (preferably something enclosed), just as long as not many people go there or can see us.

For the (legal) abandonments or ruins, I don't mind if there are people, just as long as there aren't so many that you can't take a photo without people being in it. Getting there is really my main concern, because I'm limited to train travelling, and I probably won't have a lot of time.
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There are very few buildings that are not trespassing... As for mines there are plenty that you can access legally but the danger level is reasonably high. And cost of equipment is huge (we probably have over $4k of climbing gear and that's not including the air meters and ba gear) I wouldn't recommend mines without experience. Without traveling much you will find to keep legal its more of the tourism scene then urbex scene that you'll find unfortunately
never die wondering ;)
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Used to explore when I was still a minor. Used to keep an eye out on the train for interesting stuff. Granted I probably had a lot less adult supervision than most kids...
Gettin Chuffed 24/7
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