Abandoned leather factory / Hylätty nahkatehdas

  Trespassing old abandoned places... Just how cool is that! A week ago I where on my way to Ostrobotnia and the town of Kokkola. Just a couple of days before the trip I made a Google search for old abandoned buildings and places in the area just to see if there would be something to explore nearby. Bingo! In a not too faraway village there seemed to be this abandoned leather factory. With the help of the old trusty Google Earth it was pretty easy to find the exact coordinates for the building. I was waiting for a mostly empty building, but it was a nice surprise to notice that there were quite much of the old equipment left on its place, so exploring the factory was very exciting. Here's some images..


  Aina on niin mukavaa löytää ja tutkia hylättyjä rakennuksia ja fiilistellä ränsistyneitä mestoja. Oli pieni hetki vierähtänyt siitä kun viimeeksi oli päässyt mitään hylkyä pällistelemään, joten kun oli tiedossa että ollaan lähdössä Pohojanmaalle ja Kokkolaan, niin pakkohan se oli pistää pieni haku "Kuukkeliin" ja tarkistaa mitä ympäristöstä löytyy. Montaa klikkausta ei tarvinnut vaivautua tekemään kun löytyi hylätty nahkatehdas ihan Kokkolan liepeiltä. Google earth-palvelun avulla koordinaatit pystyi paikantamaan aika helpolla ja heti kun oli mahdollista, niin sinne. Monestihan hylätyt tehtaat ja talot on melko tyhjiä. Firmat ja omistajat ovat vieneet kamansa pois tai sitten joku mukava kanssaihminen on ne sieltä sosialisoinut ja jäljelle jää vain tilaa ja pintoja joita kaiken maailman vandaalit sitten käyvät yksinkertaisuudessan koristelemassa spraymaalilla ja oman mielikuvituksensa tuotoksilla. Ja jos jotain irtaimistoa on paikalle jäänyt niin ne on pitänyt pirstoa, polttaa tai vähintäänkin kaataa. Tämä mesta oli iloinen yllätys. Paljon ihan suhteellisen ehjää kalustoa ja ihan makeita tiloja. Toki töhryjäkin löytyi mutta niillehän nyt ei voi mitään. Joten seuraavaksi kuvia kivasta pienestä urbexkohteesta Pohjanmaalla...

  

Empty and abandoned

  "Abandoned" is in my vocabulary synonymous to "interesting". To enter a building to explore it is almost always a thrilling experience. During the last couple of weeks I've visited two locations from which the first one I've been in a couple times before and the access is very easy,  just walk in. It's an old coal mining factory building in quite a few floors. There's lots of holes in the ground so you just have to watch where you step. Like the case is so often the machines and equipment have been removed long a go, but the space is amazing with some pretty nice light if come there at the right time.
  The second place was also an abandoned factory, and as well pretty stripped of all machines and props. Unlike the other factory I visited, this wasn't so easy to enter in. First, the building is located quite near the center of the town and that means there's always people around, and as you will be trespassing, you don't want too many people around watching. As a second a bit annoying thing is that the main doors are closed and locked and the only quite easy point to enter is a broken window on the facade side, so the before mentioned risk of being seen by others is pretty high. Even if it was struggle to get in, it was still worth it. Here's some images from the both facilities...

Portraits in an abandoned building

  Had an awesome photo shoot last Friday. I had told a friend of mine that I'm going to try to build my portfolio and I'm in a need of models. For this purpose I made an ad I shared on Facebook. When my friend heard this he said he'dd like to be shot. I'm happy when someone volunteers, so we scheduled the shoot, and on Friday off we went. Perfect weather with some good afternoon sun and nice temperature. From a couple locations I had in my mind I chose a nearby abandoned building which was easy to access. For lighting I used the best one, the sun, and a speedlight. Some photos were made with sun only, some with flash only ( of course there's some ambient light present always ), and then we had some images with two lights, sun and flash. Here's some results...

PS. I'm giving away photo shoots this spring! If you are in Istria, Croatia or near, and you are               interested of a free photo session please contact me. You can go to my website: www.georgfagerlund.com and contact me through the contact block in the "about" section. Just tell me who you are, where you would like to get your photos done, when, and what kind of a photo session you are in a need of. Family portraits, some personal idea for which you would need a photographer, wedding portraits etc. I'm giving away from 4-6 free shoots, so be fast! Check out the ad in the end of this post... ok, it's in Croatian, but I guess that's the way most of the people communicate around here, so check it out anyway.

     

A photo shoot in an abandoned military base

  Abandoned buildings and portraits, that's a cool combination. Yesterday a friend asked me if I would like to make a few images with him in them. When someone want's to be photographed and asks me to do it, I'm more than happy to help. So, where to go, is always a good question. I didn't need to think too long, because lately I've been visiting an abandoned army base quite often. A peaceful place for walking the dogs, but works as a scene for photos too. So there we went. My buddy wanted to have a guitar in the pics, so we took one with us. For the images I mostly used a speedlight with a DIY grid attached on, plus one extra flash to get some extra light on the background or as a fill.

                                     
                            

Urban exploration

   I don't know why old and abandoned buildings are so cool. Today we entered one, just to make a few photos and it was awesome. The light wasn't maybe the best, actually it was very harsh, so it was a bit of a struggle to make any decent images. Not that an old building wouldn't be cool just as it is, but I just think that adding a person in to the surroundings makes an abandoned place look even cooler. Didn't have a model with me, so I decided to use ugly me instead. The good thing is that I don't need to care about filling model releases and such. Maybe next time when I return, and I will, I will take a model with me.

    

WHAT'S WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!!

  ... At the moment it's difficult to find the words. Yesterday evening, our walk with our dogs ended up in us returning home with a box full of abandoned, maybe just only four week old, kittens. What kind of a person leaves a bunch of helpless kittens in a park, just to be killed by hunger, stray dogs or cold or what ever else? So... we need your help!!! If you are in a need of small kitten or two, or know someone who is willing to take one, please let me know! At our household we have already six cats and two dogs... so probably you can understand that it's pretty crowded here, and not too many places left over for extra kittens. The person for whom we'll give a cat or two should be a responsible person, willing to feed the cat(s) not only with bread, but real cat food and to neuter the animal. Neutering the cat will be a financial burden, but in the long run will benefit the animal, as well as the community too. So, my question is: is there any one out there? Of course it helps if you are in Bulgaria, but even if you would be in some other country and you are ready to adopt one or two of these beauties, just let me know.