Urbex exploration + fisheye lens + HDR photography = cool

Norbi - 2013-11-23 13:42:56 UTC #

Urbex exploration + fisheye lens + HDR photography = cool

I love looking at urbex photos. Images of old forgotten places (often with a fairly cool history) which are rediscovered by a few kids and their camera. I've done a little bit of looking around myself, and I have found a couple nice places (more on that at the end).
One common aspect of urbex photography is the use of HDR techniques. A style which can result in some absolutely disgusting photos...but if done well can either be used to much more accurately represent the location, or to give it a stylized graphic novel kind of look.
Another thing to consider is that you'll often be in small spaces, so the use of a wide-angle or fisheye lens is pretty common too. Personally I think a well processed HDR photo, with a fisheye lens, has such a specific and interesting look, I've always wanted to take photos like the ones I find on my internet searches...

THEN the other day, I was cycling to the shopping center with a friend, and on the other side of a field we noticed an old grey building which was covered in foliage and had no windows. We went and had a quick look, and found that all the entries had been boarded up and reboarded over numerous times. However, the bars on one of the windows had been bent in (someone was seriously motivated to get in there!), so I poked my head in and it was very intriguing. It instantly inspired me to make a little purchase, so we continued on to the shopping center and I bought myself a fisheye lens. This was followed by going home, grabbing my camera and tripod, and it was mission time!

We spent about 3 hours there. It was 1°C outside, and we were in a concrete block...it was pretty chilly, especially in the basement, but the cold was worth it. It was a very cool place to explore, a lot bigger than it looked from the outside, and also very clean...as if the floors are swept regularly, which was odd. After getting home, I did a bit of research and it was apparently an old chocolate factory. Pretty cool, although there was absolutely no evidence of this, which was sad.

A lot of photos to look through, a lot of multiple exposures to combine, and I am very happy with the results. I hope you enjoy them too.
Ladies and gentlemen, my (mostly) HDR, (mostly) fisheye, shots of the old Lammert chocolate factory in Bad Oeynhausen.
https://bit.ly/URBEX-Westfalen

Cheers,
Norbi