http://www.taylorgifts.com/images/products/P36766B.jpg

Allows dad to use his cell phone hands free, without plugs or wires. It supposedly works with any vehicle and any type of cell phone.  Just plug the Jupiter Jack into the phone (where a head set would go) and preset the radio to 99.3 FM. The device transmit’s the phone sound thorough the vehicle speakers. Average price is twenty dollars for two devices.

Flashlight Slippers

http://www.google.com/products?q=slippers+with+flashlight&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=0q6fS-PLMseXtgeHs4CQDg&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=image&resnum=3&ved=0CCsQzAMwAg

Okay, this has got to be the coolest idea ever; find your way to the fridge, bathroom, or kids room without ever turning on a light. Weight sensors in the slipper alert the LED light to activate. Once dad takes the slippers off, and there isn’t any weight in the slipper, the LED light will automatically shut off. The sensor only alerts the LED light to come on in darkened environments. Most brands come with two lithium batteries that can be replaced. Depending on the brand, the LED light will light a path 20-25 feet. Brands range in price from $30.00 to $300.00.

Mr. Beer

http://bblmedia.com/make_home_brew.html

The Mr. Beer gift set includes everything dad needs to brew his own beer…right down to the bottles and caps.  If your dad isn’t an alcohol drinker, they also make a Mr. Root beer, that allows your to make your own root beer. There are five different kits to choose from. The cheapest kit, at $40.00, has everything dad needs to make 2 gallons of beer in 14 days. Then, the most expensive gift set, at $179.00, makes 16 gallons of beer. Refills can be purchased for all the gift sets. 

TOMS Shoes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nozomiiqel/4121036113/

TOMS shoes not only are a stylish gift, it allows you and your dad to become philanthropists in the process.  The premise that TOMS shoes was founded on is simple- one for one. For every pair of shoes a person purchases, TOMS shoes gives a brand new pair of shoes to a child in need. TOMS shoes come in a variety of patterns, stitching, colors, fabrics, etc.. They even come in a vegan style that is made of recycled materials and no animal byproducts. Prices range from $40.00 to $80.00.

“BALF” From Brian Noyes Illustrations

Brian Noyes is one of the newest artists on the Illustration scene.  His variety of skills is what sets him apart from the rest, with his ability to transfer from using guache to pastel to digital painting without missing a beat.  His art is seemless and inspired by a variety of sources including graffitti, travel, music, film, and childhood.

“Fo’ Drizzle” from Brian Noyes Illustrations

On the front page of his website is a self-portrait illustration, his logo, and information about himself, from there you can view his portfolio and sketchbook, which contain amazing images.  My favorite are his character design sketches for BALF.  

“The Death of Noyes” from Brian Noyes Illustrations

In the portfolio are a variety of images that include descriptions of the piece as well as the mediums that were used.  There are caricatures, posters, character designs, and even a recreation of the “Death of Marat”.  If you are a fan of illustration, and just enjoy cool artwork be sure to visit his page which is linked below!

http://noyesillustration.com/

As you’d expect, then, I especially love cards to which card draw is attached to another ability.  When that ability is particularly good, well, that card earns a special place in my heart.  Say hello to Brainbite!

This card lends itself more to discard-control type decks, partially because of its higher mana cost and partially because of the blue mana required to play it.  However, this card trumps a lot of other discard abilities because it lets you not only look at your opponent’s hand but also pick ANY card and have them discard it (as opposed to most similar discard spells which specify nonland cards or something like that).  Not only that, it’s a cantrip!  (For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it’s a spell that allows you to draw a card alongside doing something else.  It originated in Ice Age (I think) with spells that allowed you to draw a card on the next turn’s upkeep.)

There isn’t much more to say about this card except that it creates a nice swing in card advantage and allows you to see what your opponent’s got coming as well as to eliminate their biggest current threat.  I would strongly consider using this in a control deck; it doesn’t seem like you can go wrong with this card.  Until next time!

Handmade washcloths make wonderful gifts and are also incredibly useful around the home.  After learning to crochet, a friend of mine made several washcloths and remarked on how much better they work than the ones she bought at the store.  Making a washcloth with single crochet stitch is easy and allows for you to use your own creative ideas.  To make this washcloth you will need cotton yarn such as Lily Sugar’n Cream or Peaches & Creme (a ball of this can run $1.50-$3), a size I hook, and a pair of scissors.

ABBREVIATIONS IN THIS PATTERN

Ch = chain
Sc = single crochet
St = stitch

DIRECTIONS

Make a slipknot and ch 32.
Sc in 3rd st from hook.  Sc in each ch in row.  Turn.
*Ch 2 (counts as first sc).  Sc in next st and in every st in row.  Turn.
Repeat from * until the washcloth is the length you would like.

BORDER
Sc 3 times in first corner st.  Sc across each edge (you may have to make your own stitches for the side edges, as they won’t have readily available stitches.) 3 sc in each corner st. to make a rounded corner and so your washcloth won’t curl.

Tie off and weave in ends.

If you have any questions about the pattern, please feel free to leave a comment!

Make a chain of however many stitches you would like.

To start the row, wrap the yarn around the hook

and insert your hook in the fourth chain from the hook.  The three stitches you just skipped will form the first double crochet.  (Most patterns allow for this.)

Wrap the yarn around the hook again…

and pull it through the loop.  You will now have three loops on your crochet hook.

Wrap the yarn around the hook again

and pull it through two loops.

You’ll now have two loops remaining on your hook.  Wrap the yarn around the hook again

and pull it through the remaining two loops.

Ta-da!  Double crochet!  That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Repeat the process for every chain stitch in the row.

When you’ve finished one row, turn the work like you learned in How to Crochet – Single Crochet, except this time, chain 3 after you turn.  This will count as your first double crochet.

Continue your row by double crocheting in the NEXT stitch and in every stitch to the end.  Turn your work and continue until your piece is the desired length.

Once you’ve mastered it, try out your skills with the Easy Double Crochet Placemat!

Make a chain of however many stitches you would like.

To start the row, insert your hook in the third chain from the hook.  The two stitches you just skipped will form the first single crochet.  (Most patterns allow for this.)

Wrap the yarn around the hook…

and pull it through the loop.  You will now have two loops on your crochet hook.

Wrap the yarn around the hook again

and pull it through both loops.

Congratulations!  You’ve just made your first single crochet stitch.  Repeat the process for every chain stitch in the row.

Once you’ve reached the end of the chain, it’s time to turn.  (Patterns will note this.)  This means you turn the work you just did around.

To continue with another row of single crochet, chain 2 to start the row.  This will count as your first single crochet.  (Some patterns will tell you to chain 1 to start a row.  I find it’s a matter of personal preference.)

Insert your hook in the NEXT stitch…

and complete the single crochet stitch as you did before.

Continue this for every stitch in the row.  To go on, turn and continue as instructed above, for as many rows as you like.

Once you’ve mastered it, try out your skills with the Easy Single Crochet Washcloth!

Next: How to Crochet – Double Crochet

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If these young men were twentyyears old when this photo was taken in  then they would each now be one hundred and forty four years old (were they still alive).  Although the majority of Farsari’s pictures of people are posed, they give us a valuable insight in to the costumes and manners of late Victorian era Japan.  This is purely to give occidental readers a timeline.  In Japan this period was known as the Meiji Restoration which began in 1868. Farsari photographed  the end of the 250 plus year old Tokugawa Era.  Based in Yokohama, Farsari had had a rather convoluted journey to end up where he did.  He began his career as a military man and served for a while in the Union Army in the American Civil War.  Perhaps this image of Japanese warriors reflected his interest in the military but they are certainly resplendent in their heavy looking armor. It would be for his portraits that he would be particularly remembered, but his landscapes too are quite remarkable, capturing as they do a world now lost to us.

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Farsari was very much a commercial photographer and his compositions were designed to be sold mostly to foreign visitors to Japan.  His landscapes often picture what we might call a slightly enhanced version – even romanticized – of Japan but were very highly regarded at the time.  Something of a libertarian, Farsari had joined the American Civil War as he was a fervent abolitionist and his photographs reflect his ideas of equality – women are portrayed as often as men and not in subservient positions.  For many people who had never been to Japan his images would shape their ideas of the country – and to some degree they would also contribute to the ways in which the Japanese regarded themselves.

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It is a strange thought, looking at the modern looking faces of these Japanese women to take in the fact that they have all been dead for the greater part of a century at least – the photograph still seems incredibly new and fresh somehow.  Although Farsari had arrived in Japan in the 1870s and had traded photographs (among many other things) it was not until the 1880s that he taught himself photography, seeing it as a lucrative living for reasons we will outline later.  In 1885 he went in to partnership with Tamamura Kozaburo. Together they acquired an already existing studio, the Japan Photographic Association.  Within a few years the two had fallen out and were in competition with each other.  Not for long.

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A street scene from the late 1880s.  It cannot be understated just how difficult it would have been to capture this scene at the time.  Due to the photographic techniques of the day these subjects would have had to remain still for four or five seconds in order for the picture to be captured without blurring.  As you can see the attempt was not one hundred percent successful as there was movement during the exposure time.  However, as a piece of social history this photograph is invaluable.  No one is sure how long the partnership between Farsari and Kozaburō lasted but it was not long.  By 1886 Farsari and Tong Cheong (a Chinese photographer) were the only commercial non Japanese photographers working in the country.  By 1887 Farsari was on his own.

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So it was that Farsari became the last foreign photographer of note in Japan at the time.  Over the years his images would become widely available through various media  – mostly books, periodicals and travel guides.  His work, though, would transpose photography. One of his most famous shots, of a Japanese high class woman being transported to an unknown destination would be reproduced the world over as a china figurine and prints, the clothing and the expressions of the subjects intact.  One can only guess as to whether they may have changed their expressions had they known how widespread and well known their anonymous faces would become.

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Image Credit

His pictures would become the inspiration for artists too.  Take for example the view above of Shijo-dori, Kyoto.  This 1886 picture would become the inspiration for the French painter Louis-Jules Dumoulin who would in 1888 add a few touches of his own and come up with ‘Carp Banners in Kyoto’.

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Farsari’s picture shows Kyoto on a normal day.  Dumoulin takes the original image and turns it in to a festival.  Perhaps today Farsari may have pursued him through the courts for copyright breach.

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His reputation at the time was not quite unrivalled and there were also setbacks,  In 1886 a mysterious fire destroyed all of his negatives.  A lesser man may have give up there and then.  Farsari on the other hand embarked on a half year tour of Japan and took enough photographs on his journey to replenish his stock and reopen his studio.  By the time he left Japan in 1890 this would number over a thousand.

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Why is Farsari so special?  As has already been pointed out, he wasn’t exactly alone in terms of foreign photographers in Japan – and the home grown variety numbered many.  What makes him still stand out today is the high technical standards (for the time) that he demanded from his own work.  In fact his techniques had a large influence on the development of photography as an art form in Japan, not bad for someone who taught himself in order to make a living.  Perhaps that is another reason why he is still remembered so well – that need to make a living for himself combined with his natural and great entrepreneurial skills ensured that his photographs were disseminated and his name and reputation grew concurrently.

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Although incredibly popular in his day, the later part of the twentieth century saw a lot of critics of Farsari’s work point the finger of accusation at his photographs.  They maintained that inconsistency of quality for the sake of production in large quantities was evident and his work was dismissed by some as something akin to the tourist kitsch we can buy today.  However, that has since been reappraised and the historic and artistic significance of his work has been recognized again.  Certainly by the amount of museums that contain collections of his work his reputation is probably now safe.

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Certainly, you only have to glance at a picture like ‘The Officer’s Daughter’ above to see that the composition is exquisite.  Furthermore Farsari employed excellent artists and used the highest quality paints and paper that he could get his hands on.  The results are stunning.

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Although his photographs could be purchased individually, Farsari realized that the real money was to be made by developing the trade in albums.  So, his studio produced the sepia monochrome prints that were then hand-colored by local artists.  These would then be mounted on hand decorated album leaves.  The leaves were ultimately bound between either lacquer boards or silk brocade – and sold at a high price to interested collectors.  This is somwhat reminiscent of the way the Charles Dickens would publish his novels as monthly episodes and then release the complete novel before the publication of the last individual instalment.  Either way it was very canny marketing on Farsari’s part.

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Image Credit

He sold a lot too, particularly to European and American visitors to Japan and to those foreigners residing there who wanted to take a visual memento away with them. They were expensive, of course, but that ensured a certain clientele and the likes of Rudyard Kipling waxed lyrical about his work.  By 1889 Farsari wished to return home to Italy and become Italian again (he had relinquished his nationality when he went to the US to fight in the Civil War).  As you might expect from such a character, in order to try and facilitate his re-entry to the country of his birth he presented a deluxe album to the King of Italy in 1889.

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His request did not fall on deaf ears and he returned (with his daughter Kiku, the result of a relationship between him and a Japanese woman).  Although he returned home it is not clear, however, if he was granted his citizenship again.  However, it was in the city of his birth, Vicenza, that he died in 1898.

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Image Credit

His studio continued in Japan despite his absence.  His long trusted studio manager, Tonokura Tsunetaro took over the business. His greatest coup was gaining the sole rights to photograph the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo in the mid 1890s.  The business became fully Japanese in 1907 and records indicate that it was in business till at least 1917.  It is unsure when it ceased to be, as the city of Yokohama, where it was based, was mostly destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923.  However, Farsari’s photographs remain a testament to his life’s work and he will be always known as the man who shot Old Japan.

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If you enjoyed this, then you will also like these other photography related articles.

The Incredible Century-old Photography of Prokudin-Gorsky

The Incredible Century-old Photography of Prokudin-Gorsky (Part Two)

The Depression Era Photography of Dorothea Lange

Bokeh for Beginners

The Extraordinary Anti-Nazi Photomontages of John Heartfield

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A gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque statue and they were designed to convey water away from the roof and the sides of large buildings although they were more purposeful than that.  We associate them mostly with medieval times thanks to a certain hunchback but they have been around much longer than that.  They are more than just scary statues as if they were not there then the mortar between the stones of their buildings would, in time, erode away and the building would fall over.    Many gargoyles take the shape of animals and – lost to our modern minds – these creatures were chosen for a purpose.  This is why.

The Lion

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Both lions and their female counterparts were a favorite choice for the makers of gargoyles.  Here at Dornoch cathedral in Scotland a lovely lioness leans and growls at passers by.  The lion was by far the most popular non-European animal to be used on churches and cathedrals in the middle ages.  They were popular as gargoyles during older times (Pompeii is full of them) and they had symbolised the sun, with the golden mane representing the solar wreath of our life giving star.

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However, by medieval times, the builders of cathedrals would use the lion as a symbol of pride, which is of course one of the seven deadly sins and therefore to be avoided by the God fearing denizens of the towns below them.   This one at the Collégiale Saint-Martin à Colmar, Haut-Rhin in France looks particularly proud.  Other than lions you will not get many other felines represented on these centuries old monuments.  Cats were symbols of witchcraft and so were avoided as gargoyles (although occasionally you may find a cat’s head attached to a serpent’s body).

The Dog

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This fine gargoyle can be found at the top of the Philippe le Bel tower in the ducal palace of Dijon again in France.  As popular then as they are now, dogs were rarely  kept simply as pets and were often given guardianship of a home at night.  As such they were seen as clever, loyal and faithful.  So on one point they can be seen as those stone animals given the role of protecting these buildings but there was another reason for their presence too.  Dogs are always hungry and were often common thieves during these times and so were included on the sides of cathedrals to show that even such a faithful animal as the dog can fall prey to the temptation of the devil and commit the sin of greed.

The Wolf

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Returning to Paris and this time the Sacré-Cœur, here is a fine example of the wolf as gargoyle.  Although wolves too were linked to greed they were respected as an animal that lived through cooperation with its peers – and they gave rise to the ancient metaphor ‘the leader of the pack’.  They were also linked to priests whose responsibility it was to protect the people from the devil – so the wolf was the protector of the lamb of God, as it were.  Gargoyles come in packs too – and this was because the architects needed to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof.  A single gargoyle would not be much good in a ferocious storm.  Their strange elongation is also deliberate as the extra length will ensure that the water cascades as far away from the wall as possible. 

The Eagle

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A monstrous eagle as gargoyle on the Saint Rumbolds Cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium.   These were protectors of the buildings, particularly against dragon as it was said that they were one of the few animals capable of destroying a winged serpent.  They were also highly respected for the vision (which was again used as a metaphor and seen as foresight) and legend had it they had Phoenix like qualities.  They were, it was said, able to heal themselves by looking directly in to the sun which itself is an ancient symbol of deity.

The Serpent

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Krakow, Poland has this fearsome serpent to warn people of the sins of the flesh.  The serpent is associated with original sin and as such can be found (most often winged) all over the cathedrals of Europe.   From the days of Adam and Eve the serpent has been the symbol for the continual struggle between good and evil.  In terms of the seven deadly sins, the serpent represented envy.  Scarily enough they were also thought to be immortal which meant that the daily struggle against the sins of the flesh would carry on for all eternity.

The Goat

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Barcelona Cathedral has this marvellous goat gargoyle.  Like many of the animals featured here it had a duality of nature in the eyes of medieval Christians.  On one side they were thought to be Christ-like because of their ability to find food on steep mountainsides and nourish themselves from almost nothing (the Feeding of the Five Thousand springs immediately to mind as a parallel).  On the other hand they were seen as quite venal creatures and were often seen as a symbol of lust – yet another one of those seven deadly sins.  Plus, of course, which animal would you associate with Satan?

The Monkey

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Our nearest relatives were seen as what happens to us when nature goes wrong.  Often associated with stupidity they were, however, mostly associated with cunning and laziness.  For this reason, their own particular deadly sin was that of sloth.  It is no surprise that a large part of our examples originate from France.  The word gargoyle comes from that language.  Gargouille once meant ‘throat’ and the word itself came originally from Latin.  There is also a connection to the French word for gargling – gargariser – and that is reflected in the Spanish gárgola as well.

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Other languages are more precise.  The romance of Italian is levelled somewhat – its word for gargoyle is grónda sporgente which literally means a protruding guitter.  In German – always a direct language they are water spitters (Wasserspeier) and the Dutch go one step further – waterspuwer means to vomit water.  And yes, that is where we get the verb ‘to spew’ in the English language.  However, animal gargoyles aside, the most delightful of them all are often considered to be the Chimeras.

The Chimera

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York Cathedral in the North East of England has a set of particularly scary chimeras.  Although we might not be too afraid of them ourselves, used as we are to the like of the Saw movies, the average medieval person – superstitious and illiterate – would find them pretty scary.  A chimera is born when different types of body parts come together to make a completely new creature, such as a happy, a centaur or a griffin (with mermaids being popular in fountains for obvious reasons). 

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Milan cathedral has a fine set of Chimeras too, where renaissance thinkers stand next to strange creatures from the minds of the mad.  These chimeras are no strangers to the heights of medieval religious buildings and were seen to represent those who underestimated the power of the devil.  Although he could not create life he could mix it up to produce truly fearsome creatures – crimes against nature.

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Some of the most famous gargoyles in the world can be found at Notre Dame in Paris.  Even Disney studios cannot divert from their sense of foreboding, even if one of them does seem rather bored.  Wouldn’t you be after six centuries?  To get to the root of the gargoyle legend, though we have to go back even further, to a time when Christianity was only six centuries old.

The Legend of Gargouille

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The French have a legend around one of their saints, Romain.  In the seventh century he was made the Bishop of Rouen and he fought a creature called the Gargouille.  It was a dragon like creature, with wings, a long neck and was able to breathe fire.  When Romain subdued the dragon he was not able to destroy its head as it had been tempered by its own breath. So, it was mounted on the walls of Rouen cathedral to scare off evil.  The above, however, is from de Kathedrale Basiliek van Sint-Jan Evangelist.  When it comes to gargoyles, then perhaps the architects of these amazing places knew that what people feared most of all was what lay within.  Perhaps that is why some of the most disconcerting of all gargoyles do not portray beast.  They show the beastliness of humanity without visual metaphor.

People – Do we fear ourselves the most?

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Tour Cathedral has some very scary individuals but these are not animals or chimeras.  These are people.  The moment of damnation is frozen in time for hundreds of medieval souls throughout Europe.  Mouths agape they scream through the centuries as a constant reminder – be vigilant against the devil or this may happen to you!  Possibly the most frightening of all gargoyles are those that bear such a close resemblance to ourselves?

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St Vitus’ Cathedral in Prague has this particularly scary example of the form, perhaps made even scarier by the infant that she is carrying in her hands.  As we have seen many animals had dual meanings when represented as gargoyles and it is also true of women.  The gender is both venerated and reviled at the same time.

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This can be found in Nottingham in the Midlands of England.  A reminder for all eternity not to try and chew your toenails.  Anyone who has read Chaucer has quite possibly sat bolt upright when confronted with the occasionally vulgar sensibilities of the Middle Ages.  They called a stone a stone in those days and most certainly, the gargoyles of Europe often reflect this in no uncertain terms.  If you were outside a cathedral you were closer to hell than being inside – and the tortures of that fiery place were never far away.

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This gargoyle in Valencia, Spain, leaves you in no doubt that the devil will have you exactly where he wants you if you do not mend your ways.  Yes, he is – if you were in any doubt.  We may see these stone representations as somewhat lewd and maybe even a little comical.  That was certainly not their original intention. As well as having somewhat different attitudes to the human body and its functions, medieval Europeans had a rather more publicly scatalogical humor than perhaps we do now.

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Again from Spain, this unfortunate woman atop Lonja Cathedral in Valencia is captured for all eternity answering the call of nature in a paroxysm of agony.

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Leave it to the Germans to make things blindingly obvious, however.  Again, reminiscent  of the denouement of one of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, this gargoyle from Freiburg Cathedral turns tail and delivers you your final ignominy.  Time to repent, no doubt.  Whatever gargoyles represented at the time, time itself has delivered them another factor with which to provoke our thoughts and feelings.  They have survived the centuries, through war and famine and have been there throughout the lives of almost countless millions of people.  If we do not think of them today in purely religious terms they do at least give us pause to consider our own mortality and perhaps what we may leave behind us.

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Westpark Mental Asylum is the perfect place to start our tour.  Here for years the unwanted and bewildered were shunted until the hospital was closed down in the nineteen eighties.  The wheelchair serves as a somewhat spooky reminder of its former residences – given over to ‘care in the community’ and the place was left to moulder. Abandoned hospitals are a favorite ‘target of Urban Explorers. They resonate with the suffering of those long dead.  The fact that these abandoned places can be transformed, through the lens, into something so ethereally beautiful as this is a testament to the creativity of the photographer.

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An abandoned paper factory in France is our next stop. There are certain risks associated with urban exploration as many abandoned locations can be heavily guarded – and not just with cameras but with real live security guards.  Part of the thrill of the infiltration is to avoid these and successfully gain entry.  Pivotal in the code of urban explorers is that the entry, task (usually photographic) and exit should involve no harm to others or to the place that is being explored.   To deliberately vandalise a location is looked upon as something approaching sacrilege.  The results are remarkable.  You can almost imagine the chief of the factory sitting at his desk ordering people about.

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There are always risks in the act of urban exploration.  To begin with many of the structures are unsound and the roof could collapse at any moment – not to mention the floor giving way.  There may – in the case of abandoned industrial sites – be chemicals and other substances carelessly left to rot out of their containers.  Asbestos is a consistent problem which urban explorers must face and this forces some of them to adapt to the situation and wear respirators when they feel that their health might be affected.  There is even the potential surprise in many abandoned buildings that they could still be inhabited – by not so friendly squatters who jealously guard their home.

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A hall in an abandoned coal mine in Eastern France is the site of this picture.  It is almost reminiscent of a great many scenes in the Nightmare on Elm Street films where Freddy chases some new hapless victim around before eviscerating them with his claws.

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This remarkable place is an abandoned mansion in Lebanon.  A little force and the door revealed the history of the house.  It has been the home of a Lebanese politician, Tajieddin el-Solh who had been Prime Minister of Lebanon in 1973 and again in 1980.  Discovered in the house were files full of vote lists and other political documents – the house had seemingly been abandoned during the civil war.  As the city tore itself to shreds the house quietly moldered away. 

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The photographer here, Craig Finlay,  was discovered by security but managed to persuade him in to giving him twenty minutes to capture the effect of entropy on the house.  The results are wonderful photographs but it has to be remembered that the photographer took his life in to his own hands in order to take tem.  Hizbollah are more than active in Lebanon and can view anyone poking around with a camera as something of a threat to say the least.

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Belfast in Northern Ireland and this abandoned shopping mall looks eerily beautiful when caught on camera.  Urban exploration has steadily increased in popularity partly due to the fact that the media have produced a number of television shows on the subject, bringing a once almost hidden activity to a large mainstream audience.  The first rule of urban exploration – to take nothing except photographic images and leave only footprints behind has been somewhat usurped by those with other agendas.  This has created concern among property owners and the authorities of various countries that the properties that are explored are being systematically ransacked by those who do not sign up to the code of Urbex conduct.

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An abandoned military hospital in Antwerp – surprising sometimes what is left behind and this CAT scan machine seems to want to leave as well.   The photographer who took this ended up locked inside twice.  Part of the hospital is still in use and the photographer managed t o walk in through the main gates on a national holiday (when it was quiet).  The second time he was locked in he managed to find an escape route through an unlocked window and then return to his task of documenting the place through his photography.  Many people would have jumped through the window and run off at that point.

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Detroit, Michigan – and although the urban decay of this city is well documented this picture had to be included in this collection because of its composition and also because of the forlorn looking piano at its center.  Urban explorers will often find beauty in desolation and this wonderfully caught shot is no exception.  One can imagine the grandeur of this place in its heyday.

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The City Methodist hall in Gary, Indiana is described as the ‘Mount Fuji’ of Urbex photography because it has been visited for that express purpose so many times.  However, with the snow fall it looks almost majestic in its decay here.

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The magnificence of abandoned places can make them ideal for photography – and this place is no exception.  In Lucca, Italy, this is the site of an old tobacco factory.  The glass ceiling and the width of the factory floor makes it ideal for black and white photography.  Abandoned factories are favorite places for urban explorer – especially the detritus left behind.  Below, there are several shots from an abandoned ceramics factory at Abingdon in the English country of Berkshire. 

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Where once people busied themselves with the day’s work there is now silence.  One can only wonder who used these lockers.  Which despondent worker tried in vain to brighten up his locker with a Pepsi cola sticker? We shall never know the answer but the remnant of working lives do lead one to ponder on mortality.

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It is almost as if something apocalyptical has happened and that the human population of the world has been decimated leaving all the buildings to slowly decay at their own rate.  Although this sort of environment poses its own risks to the health and safety of the photographers it has been sanitary sewers that have caused the most accidents to urban explorers.  Toxic gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide can build up and poison those unwary or unwitting enough to visit the sewers without respirators. There have been many fatalities over the years.

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A linseed factory outside of Toronto, Canada, which was abandoned in  the 1970s  offers the opportunity for a marvelous shot.  The warmth of the colors are in stark contrast to the decay of the environment.

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An abandoned workshop in Bratislava.  Much urban exploration takes place in the early hours of the day and so the journey starts when it is still dark.  The sites that you will visit will not have electricity so one of the things that you should always remember to take with you on your journeys is a flashlight.  And don’t forget the spare batteries either.

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An abandoned factory in France.  You can see here just how dangerous going in to these abandoned buildings can be.  The gaping hole in the floor is just one of many potential accidents waiting to happen that can befall the unwary visitor.

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An abandoned ballroom in Lyons, France, where the youth of the city once regaled themselves.  Fortunately the age of digital photography means that whatever you discover (and it has to be said you are unlikely to be the first) then at least you should be able to get enough shots to satisfy yourself – and you will not run out of film.

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We will leave this short exploration with a shot from an abandoned hospital in Colchester, England.  Urban exploration, it has to be said is not for the faint hearted and for those of you happy to do it from your armchair, as it were, we hope you have enjoyed this short tour of some of the great sites of Urbex.

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The Chateau de Chillon in Switzerland is described as a magical place by many who visit the historic monument.  With a history going back over a thousand years the beauty of the site has inspired many over the centuries, including Rousseau and Byron.  Here, the sunbeams radiating from the clouds catch a breathtaking moment.  Sunbeams have a rather more scientific name – and that is crepuscular rays.  This is because of the time of day at which they are most likely to occur – those around dawn and dusk.  In photography these times are often referred to as ‘The Golden Hour‘.

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Patrick’s Point State Park is located in the heart of the redwood country of California in the US.  It is home to a huge variety of tree species and is famous for its hiking trails and sandy beaches.  This amazing picture was taken there and captures perfectly the peace and majesty of that which we take so much for granted – a tree.  The crepuscular rays are perfectly caught as they stream through the branches – and it is the object of the tree itself that makes this vision possible.  Crepuscular rays are only visible because the columns of which they are made are separated by areas of darkness – in this case the tall and elegant tree in the picture.

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Golden Gate Park (again in California) never looked so ethereal as in this picture, which unsurprisingly has been a finalist in photographic competitions.  The rays make the place seem so peaceful – rather than eery and the contrast between the dark and light if superbly done.  It almost seems part of a dreamscape rather than an actual photograph.  Quite simply a stunning picture which should be used in tourist brochures for the wonderful city of San Francisco.  A trick of the light means that crepuscular rays, which are near parallel, seem to diverge.  This is because of something called linear perspective.  With this objects seem smaller as their distance from you increases and so it is with sunbeams.  It also occurs because of reflection and scattering.

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The winter sunshine beams through the high windows of a mill in Baltimore, Maryland.  Although one would normally associate crepuscular rays with natural surroundings, man made object such as this workspace, when the sun is at the right height can be endowed with an almost cinematic atmosphere.  You can just imagine a movie star such as Mel Gibson or Clint Eastwood walking on to this ‘set’ to deliver another prize winning role.   Here, the airborne dust in the workshop has scattered the sunlight and made the rays visible to the human eye.  This is due to something called diffraction.  Although diffraction happens with many objects, the single most colourful example is light.  It is the same effect that you get when you look at the tracks on a DVD and you see a rainbow pattern.

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This marvellous picture is entitled ‘God talking to some cow’ and it is easy to see why sunbeams have been associated with the divine throughout human history.  In fact some of their alternative names refer directly to deity.  They are often referred to by religious people as the stairway or gateway to heaven and it is not without the most atheistically inclined imagination to picture this.  They are also called Jacob’s Ladder by many – which is a method of getting in and out of heaven described in the biblical Book of Genesis – imagined by Jacob when he flees from his brother Esau.

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Stephen’s Gap Cave in Alabama gives the photographer an opportunity to capture some immense crepuscular rays.   If you look carefully down at the bottom of the sunbeams you will see a solitary caver, dwarfed by the immensity of his surroundings.

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The Rocky Mountain National Park offers spectacular views at the best of times.  Here is something quite astonishing that does not happen every five minutes.  After a day’s hiking, the photographer Adam Baker noticed that a thunderstorm was coming and it was coming in quickly.  He considered that he would get some interesting pictures out of this atmosphere and was taking pictures of the alpenglow on the mountains to the East.  He turned around and saw this – some of the most amazing beams you will ever see.  These beams lasted about five minutes and only disappeared once the rain started to come down.

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Many photographers will hang around for hours for the right light, as did the person who took this incredible image of an abandoned building in downtown Detroit.  The sadness of the abandoned building is juxtaposed by the emerging rays of the dawn sun.  The real impact of this scene comes because of  the contrast between light and dark – also known as chiaroscuro.  It just goes to show that something which many would consider completely uninteresting – in this case a fading and derelict office – can become a thing of beauty.

Trees do seem to ‘capture’ sunbeams particularly well.

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The architects of many religious buildings have exploited the beams of the sun in order to heighten the religious experience of those who worship in them.  It comes as little surprise that another of their many alternative names is ‘fingers of god’.  Sunbeams are more often than not yellow or red because of the path through the atmosphere at dawn and dusk has as much as forty times more air as those at midday.  This effect in the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome is, however, much later in the day than we would expect and very much part of the architect’s plan – as such they could almost be called ‘engineered’ sun beams.

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Portrait photography can also be enhanced by the correct positioning of a subject in the path of sunbeams.  This shot was taken in an empty charcoal warehouse in Singapore as part of an outing of a photographic society.  It’s quite lovely.  However, for many, sunbeams will always be associated with the wonders of nature.

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The ancient Greeks thought that sunbeams were what the gods used to draw their drinking water up to Mount Olympus.  They have also been called ‘backstays of the sun’ as the backstays bracing a mast come together like sunbeams.  Perhaps the best name of all for crepuscular rays comes fron New Zealand.  The Maoris call them the Roped of Maui – for perhaps the best reason.  Maui, from their legends, used sunbeams to restrain the sun and so make the day longer.

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You may also like:

The Golden Hour of Photography

Dreams of Dark and Light – Chiaroscuro and Rembrandt Photography