Fort exploration December 2019

Driving through decay

Due to the absence of posts in the past few months, some of you (the HIAT readers) asked me if I engaged into the ironic deed of abandoning the blog. Well, not that I ran out of places and thing to write about, but I got tired of posting the photos that are already out there, on the internet. Because of that, I struggled a bit and finally got myself a nice DSLR to go out and capture them myself, maybe even some of those that have not been captured before. This is one of the first sets I made with the new camera. I'm still learning the art of using a good camera, as I mainly worked with phone or cheap cameras until now, so don't expect to be amazed by the level of professionalism just yet.
This was a test run which I did from my car. It was 30 minutes to sunset and the area is full of dogs, scrap metal thieves and other dangers so I didn't go inside any of these structures. If any of my old readers are still among my present readers, you will probably recognize this area, which was posted twice before when I visited it with Alex. If not, here they are:

Communist industrial ruins

The industrial leftovers of communism in Romania

Shipwrecks of the world

Haven't posted shipwrecks until now, for the main reason that people are pretty aware of their existence. They always fascinated me though, what's better than a huge steel machinery, left to rust and disintegrate at the hands of nature? 
Also fascinating is the fact that many shipwrecks even redefined history, cultures and media (the Titanic for example).
Being that I live in a port city, which once based it's industry on the Danube, growing up I've seen a lot of shipwrecks, some of which were in a state of decay, similar to some of the photos in this post. They were not left there due to an accident, like a rock or iceberg collision, but simply because they became "useless" once the industry went downhill, and they were just left there to rust. Most of them were sold at some point, as scrap metal, and there aren't many left these days.

Abandoned stadiums

Being that I'm not into football and other such sports that involve balls and stadiums, these places were never significant to me. For me, a stadium, mainly a soccer or football stadium, is that place where people dressed in shorts and T-shirts, run around in circles with the purpose of touching a ball. That is not my kind of fun. But recently, I found some pictures on SkyscraperCity that really caught my attention. I'm of course talking about a collection of abandonments, abandoned stadium to be more exact, just like the title suggests.

The following stadiums have nobody to run around in circles for the purpose of touching a ball anymore. They are ghostly and dusty. Weird how some things need to be abandoned in order for me to like them.

Old abandoned cars in Switzerland

I haven't posted on this matter for quite a while, and abandoned cars are one of my favorite subject when it comes to urbex. This is a very old car junkyard, untouched for over 30 years, which can be found in the region of Kaufdorf, Switzerland. The junkyard holds around 500 cars, most of them ranging from 1930s and 1960s models. Indeed these are the classics. This is worse than a graveyard, to classic car lovers such as myself.

The owner was a car dealer who didn't want these cars to be torn by pieces, so he parked them side by side on his lot. When he passed the business to his son, the cars were left there, abandoned, forever.

Abandoned airplane in Russia

Russia seems to host the largest amount of abandoned things, from factories, mines or apartment blocks, to cars or planes. Same is the case with this beauty, an Antonov An-8 plane, which was lost in Russia, few kilometers north of Saint Petersburg.

It's a beautiful model and it's decaying. I'm sure that being in a forest is not helping it decay less.

The unfinished nuclear plant

The "Crimean Atomic Energy Station" (Ukrainian КримськаАЕС, Russian КрымскаяАЭС) is a nuclear power plant that was never completed, situated in the Republic of Crimea, Ukraine. It was intended to create energy for the whole area, but construction was terminated earlier than planned.

Construction works on the nuclear plant were started back in 1976, when Crimea was part of the Soviet Union. The construction progress was very slow, lasting for more than 10 years. Shortly after the Chernobyl disaster, there was an inspection at the plant, which resulted in it being closed down, even before it got a chance to server it's purpose.

This is how a new nuclear power plant was left behind, with equipment and everything. Some parts of the equipment and nuclear reactors were reused, however, at other nuclear plants in Ukraine.
The nuclear power station building is also featured in the Guiness  book of records as the most expensive reactor construction in history. The city of Shchelkino, that was created to host the workers, lost half of it's inhabitants when construction on the plant stopped.

Abandoned universities and colleges

I just finished my university studies and got my bachelor degree last month, so I figured I'd show you guys some educational abandonments. Universities are an option, for young students that just got out of high school, and want to learn more about a particular field. 

For different reasons, some of these universities and colleges got abandoned, and students cannot learn useful information there anymore. Some of these abandoned educational facilities, were the best option for students in the area, who now have to either go to another university or college that is probably far away, even in another city, or just opt for those new born online universities (which I wouldn't recommend, but how am I to decide what's good for you). Going to another city to continue your studies can be a tiring process, it surely was for me. Taking that into consideration, I'm not even sure why I am planning to continue with my maters's degree in another country, but I am.

Now, let's just enjoy the decay and hope that the students in these areas will have the chance to study in these buildings, if they ever get reopened.

By Jeroen van Vliet [bsidez]

The textures of decay

These textures are some of my favorites, gathered from Michael Chase's work. His posts are one of the reasons that make me visit Tumblr almost daily.

Michael Chase is a photographer that tries to expose the beauty behind decay, especially decayed surfaces. He says on his blog that:

The idea of impermanence is a central theme in my work. I use color, texture, and composition to highlight the subject of decay. The main objective of my work is to draw attention to the passing of time and immediacy of separation. I also want to show the viewer that beauty can be found in unlikely places.

Indeed, his work is awesome and I think he is doing exactly what he's trying to do, showing that beauty exists in unlikely places.

So here are some of my favorites. He has a lot of metal textures and wall textures, which I approve of. Visit his blog for more, way more.

Assan's Mill in 2012

In the previous post, I presented Assan's Mill to you. The photos from that post, taken by Reptilianul were taken in 2009. The photos in this post are made in june 2012, right after the latest fire. As I mentioned in the previous post, Assan's Mill is a frequent destination for urban explorers, graffiti artists, hobos ... and arsonists. 
The mill was set on fire (by nature or people?) several times before, and the latest fire lasted for 28 hours before firemen could put it out, on june 7th, 2012. The last fire before that was on the night of may 13th 2008 and required the work of 80 firemen. The good thing is that there were never any victims due to these fires.

Assan's Mill

This mill is pretty popular and a frequent destination for local explorers, graffiti artists, hobos, and arsonists. It was the first steam mill in Romania, built in 1853 by two merchants, Gheorghe Assan and Ioan Martinovici. Even though it's considered a historical monument and it has a heritage value for the industrial heritage, the mill is going through an advanced state of decay, which is made even worse by the homeless scavengers that sell every piece of metal they can find here. The property is 5 hectares (12.3 acres) wide.

Kharkov Armoured Repair Factory

This is the somewhat abandoned Krarkov tank repair plant, that used to repair around 60 units and 55 engines monthly, before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Krarkov (or Khrarkiv) in Ukraine, hosted one of the best tank units factories in the 1930's. This plant was designed for repairs, and now it's not very active anymore, but still going, although it looks like it's perfectly abandoned. Now it just looks like a very neat scrap yard, full of abandoned tanks and military equipment. The fact that the plant doesn't have any more work to do, means the tanks are not being used, therefore no wars are active, which is a good thing. That doesn't make it less sad that these tanks are left there abandoned. Wasted money.

Abandoned plant in Russia

This abandoned factory in Russia, makes a perfect scenery for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. based movies or games. The location is very eerie, and if you played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or if you watched the movie Stalker 1979 you will see why this place fits like a shoe.

Also, the explorer that took these photos had quite an adventure. He had to run away from guard dogs and climb the buildings to get away, but he successfully managed to capture the best out of this place. I recommend visiting his blog, at the end of this post.

The Nikulinskaya Mine

The Nikulinskaya mine is the largest mine in the Moscow mine field. It was abandoned in the early 2000's and today it's just another abandoned mine. The entrance to the mine is flooded so nobody can get in. Any other parts of the site, like the office buildings for example, have been scavenged, and even things that had a minor value were stolen. Also, grass has now started to grow indoor.

The abandoned depot

This depot, in Bucharest, was used for hosting trams and buses, until 1965, when the main tram route was canceled.

Author: Reptilianul

Site: reptilianul.blogspot.ro