the revenge

14 aug 2010

Today it was time to take revenge for the last month.

One week in advance I had finished the program with some wonderful locations. The same time I was eagerly trying to find the location of HH3 hospital for future visits. And when I finally found it I also found stories about a planned demolition. During coffee break at work I took the decision to change our plans for the upcoming weekend. I constructed within 15 minutes a new plan consisting of screenshots from several locations in the HH3 area. So on Saturday we left early and arrived before eight. With a clue from Frits V. (many thanks again) we found a entrance very quickly. We spend little over 4 hours there. But with the demolition ahead several other people came in. I even exchanged addresses with a group of Germans. The next location was "Atelier Decor" (a gypsum atelier for garden decorations) Not big but rich in wonderful details. When we left one other guy came in and I shouted "Have you finally arrived. What took you so long?". He clearly misunderstood my humor and ran away. Not so funny! I called him and the I discovered it was one of the Germans from this morning. Finally we visited Hogemeyer Castle. It was sad to see it slowly falling apart. A renovation started some years ago but the ran out of money soon. The left everything on the spot. A pot of jam said best before 2006 so that gave us a clue what year it might have been. The most impressive part was the chapel. We ended this fantastic urbexpedition in a cafeteria e few blocks from my home.

These picture's are made by:Roel Boom

flounder caught

17 July 2010


It is about 3 weeks ago that we were going out for some urban photography.We planed for this day 6 locations and nice locations.The only problem was that we hat information but we did dent know exact if all the location still in a condition to photograph and whether they were easy to reach, or enter the buildings will be a big problem.Almost the hole group did a lot off research,And could found the real information what we needed.The first location we arrived,It was a massive building and in my eyes mega big,But than the first problem starts there was standing a 2.5 meters high wall around this building,so that was the first problem second problem it was in the middle of a residential on Saturday morning and a lot off people on the street,So we decided to visit the backside of the building.Than we hat the third problem a railway track.Two man off our group take the risk to walk over the railway an looked for a hole in the wall.It was possible from the railway out to get inside,but get out again over a 2.5 meters high wall was to risky,We decided than for not enter the building.Than up to the next locations we had a few,so the first disappointment was fast away till we get to the next location only problems again that was almost with the rest of all locations that day.Only one location we thought we where lucky butt by that place there where still people working because they where demolish the building.That was going on till 2 a clock in the afternoon and then we decide to go in,but here was not much left off that building.We were very disappointed.Picture off the last location is coming soon as possible.
ps the title is a typical Dutch proverb

This summer

This summer we spend our holidays is the south of Belgium, close to Virton. On our way south we stopped at Martelange, not only for the cheap petrol but for the "Ardosiere de Martelange" a slate mine. There is still some equipment left from long forgotten times. A few days later me and my wife headed for Terre rouge and the powerplant next to it in Luxemburg. That was the moment I tried to infect her with the Urbex-virus. I don't know anything about incubation periods but I guess I didn't succeed.
The best photo location was very close so I went there 4 times. It was the famous car cemetery in Chatillon. There are hundreds of old cars rusting away in a small forest. The youngest cars are from the beginning of the seventies. But most of them are much older. A true heaven fot Uxbex photographers.




These picture's are made by:Roel Boom

Charleroi (Belgium)

12 june 2010


Today we are heading for Charleroi. It is raining cats and dogs on our way to the first location; the Crypt in Namur. Perfect weather for a cemetery but the crypt was closed and no one to ask if it could be opened. The next location we were lucky. It was still raining but we could park the car next to the hall in Roux. Here they left many locomotives untouched for years. One kilometer to the south we found a mine were we spend half an hour or so. Then we drove to the highlight of the day. Old mine buildings with lots of old cars. But as we arrived it was a airsoft heaven so no use to climb the gate. Close by is a factory to be checked out. We parked in the forest nearby and headed for it. We stumbled on a old water tower. But no factory insight. I started to worry if we could find our way back to the car when we suddenly saw something red in the shrubbery. It was our car! It almost seems like we ran out of luck today. So we decided to go home with a small detour of course. First we went to the church in Ombret, or what's left of it. Impressive to see a church without a roof. A local told us it was damaged during the war. Our last stop for the day was the university in Liege. We examine the location for future needs as it is way too big to seen in one hour. I was glad to have many extra locations on my program. You never
know when you need them!


This picture is made by:Roel Boom

Nedinsco Venlo (netherlands)

This is an old building in Venlo it was an old frabric and now thei gonna chance it for houses .


This picture is made by:Toos Vullings

Venlo (netherlands)

This is a picture from a old tennis building in Venlo.


This picture is made by:Toos Vullings

Chateau de Noisy and Cristallerie in Seraing

May 15th 2010


Chateau de Noisy and Cristallerie in Seraing, May 15th 2010

Our journey started on time, we left about the midnight hour, so that we should arrive by time in Belgium.
During last week the weather was not fantastic, but this day it was great! A sunny day and a good temperature for a day making photographs. The first location we visited was Chateau de Noisy. We drove immediately to this location. We had to find a safe parking place and a spot to get to the area.
We easily got onto it and then we had to take a walk of almost 15 minutes to reach the castle without getting snatched by the propietor.
Nevertheless we succeeded, the photcameras were unpacked nearly until we saw somebody. For a moment we were hiding in the shrubs, someone of us went out for investigation and noticed these people were other people, also coming for taking a look. We returned to the castle and we were ready to start.
The first thing that got our attention was the large number of damages, we saw immediately that there should have been a lot of beauty to some time before.
At first we took some photographs at the groundfloor and afterwards we went to the upper floor. Several floors were nevertheless very bad, some of them were complete gone! The little tower looked very enchanting for climbing up, but we didn't do that.
After lunch we took photos outside, after that it was time to start our return trip.
We got into the car and continued our travel to the next location. We were ready to go to the Cristallerie in Seraing. When we arrived we could get in without any problem. There was not much time left for us. Also this was a beautiful location! The lighting was great at that moment. There were a number of buildings we could get in, unfortunately we could not visit all of them, we got too less time left for doing this. Sometimes we will come back here, who knows?
Tired but contented we started the last part of our return trip to Venlo....

This picture is made by:Hetty Schreurs