I am currently researching on access/legality of such in Benelux area.
All ears to any advise or suggestions.

Should you feel uncomfortable to disclose information in public - feel free to send me a PM.

I am basically flying blind here. Such properties are closed off and monitored in Japan and not widely available in Sweden (as far as I remember..)

Thank you very much for every piece of information you can take your time to share.

Best Regards

I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking whether it is okay to enter and photograph abandoned properties? Residential, commercial, or industrial?

Check out these guys
http://www.travelchanneltv.eu/series-info.asp?series=PhotoXplorers&ID=1337#.UG-K_rSBze4

I've taken some interesting photos in derelict/abandoned ex-military properties in the Monterey CA area. They generally have "no trespassing" signs, but are often more-or-less open and unsupervised - except for the fences. OTOH, you can often find places where the fence is down. Last year, I went into a "fence down" area to take some photos. A few minutes after I showed up, a car full of 'bangers cruised in. We looked at each other for a while. I took a few more photos. I left.

IOW, it's not necessarily the rules that you have to pay attention to...

I think the Netherlands is a more cramped country where you can't do much without being seen and not many properties are abandoned without being repurposed. There's probably still some Urbex going on but it can't be much. Belgium would be a better choice.

You should check out the amazing portfolio of this guy: http://1x.com/artist/9290
I recommend registering with the website, then more information is displayed with the photos (like the location and comments/story from the photographer).

Thank you for the tips, guys!
I am basically looking for derelict properties for certain photo shoot ideas. Perhaps something more of industrial/derelict rather than abandoned office complexes.
I recall seeing a lot of abandoned houses in Brussels. Some are simply great - just not sure how authorities/owners react to photographers entering.
And of course, to which degree those have been littered with syringes, excrement and similar...

In Holland its pretty hard to find derelict properties since its pretty crowded here and we need most housing available. If there is something its pretty hard to get into.
Office building however we have more than enough empty ones. But they not really urbex since they all are in good condition.
And again good protected now since we had a lot of eastern European people breaking in trying to steal the copper from pipes and wiring.

So I think u have a better change in Belgium. Lot more empty building. Most dutch people went to belgium if they wanted a urbex shoot.

Google for "industrieel erfgoed". I guess it's not easy to read, because most information is in Dutch, but use translate or something and you get an impression about the buildings and structures that could be interesting. There is still more than enough of it in the Netherlands and most owners won't have problems if you want to photograph the property. In fact many "verenigingen voor industrieel erfgoed" the owning unions will be more than happy to facilitate you if you are willing to provide them some of your shot material for promotion use of the activities to keep the properties alive.

In Belgium there's an almost abandoned city called "Doel": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doel

Whoa!! Incredible tips guys!
I heard about Amsterdam in particular in regard to squatting/defacing issue. As far as I know, there was an abandoned steel mill near Amsterdam, but I find very little information on it.
Belgium seems to have an incredible amount of those!!

It's a great incentive to keep those "alive" and allow people to venture in to photograph. Makes one also watch one's act in order to preserve it for others....

I found some locations so far, but there are contradictory reports on some being demolished some time ago, yet some recently dated visit reports surface.
I really need to find few special ones - would be great to get some pointers..googling some is really dead effort...

http://www.wikilovesmonuments.nl/english/ This is a quite recent list of monuments here in the Netherlands, many of them still to be photographed. If you let me know which properties you's like to visit, I have no problems to find out for you if they are still available or not. Just let me know.

Photoxplorers mentioned above have done some great urban explorer shoots in Belgium, Germany & I think France too. You would need to be in a group for safety, here in the uk such abandoned sites attract not only photographers!

eosfun: Neat stuff! Just looking through. And thank you very much for the offer - really kind of you, mate!

Arthurb: Yepp. Sadly, those do attract all sorts of people with less than exploration in mind...

jcolwell wrote:
I've taken some interesting photos in derelict/abandoned ex-military properties in the Monterey CA area. They generally have "no trespassing" signs, but are often more-or-less open and unsupervised - except for the fences. OTOH, you can often find places where the fence is down. Last year, I went into a "fence down" area to take some photos. A few minutes after I showed up, a car full of 'bangers cruised in. We looked at each other for a while. I took a few more photos. I left.

IOW, it's not necessarily the rules that you have to pay attention to...


I was thinking "Walking Dead" when I saw these pictures