Manor House B

Mark and I have had a weekend of UrbEx, starting with Norfolk on Saturday, to visit a beautiful but VERY lethal manor house, that was literally falling apart around us.  Collapsed ceilings, fallen stairs, spongy floors and gaping voids were everywhere, making it essential to take extreme care and watch where one was putting one's feet.

All the following photographs taken with Lumix LX3 on pinhole camera setting.

Some of the very old documents lying around on the table

Organ details - it was a beautiful instrument

Looking up through the kitchen ceiling!

This is how dilapidated much of the house has become

The amazing old hand pump in the scullery

They thought this would keep us out ............... wrong!

All that remained of the second set of stairs

Ground floor looking up

The main staircase

One of the very dilapidated upstairs floors

Mark at work

Going down?

This upstairs corridor was lethal - there was a

strong possibility of ending up downstairs

without having to use the ladder to get there

Looking down

Mark photographing the organ

More organ details - it was too good to resist

"Beauty in Decay" Book Launch

On Thursday last week I attended the book launch of my friend Jeremy's (Romanywg) new book "Beauty in Decay", a photographic tribute to UrbEx and the exploration of abandoned buildings around the world.  Held in the Resistance Gallery in East London, the selection of photographs were beautifully printed on art paper and looked sensational on the walls amidst the eccentric bowers of ivy which decorated the place, along with various other objects like a stuffed owl and dressmakers dummy.  Met lots of other urban explorers that I have so far only "known" via the medium of Flickr: Ill Padrino, Shando, Useless Psychic, Batram, Olivier Burnside, D-Kay, Rusty, Gaz Mather, so great to finally put some faces to names!

Some of these photos are a bit dark - I was trying to avoid using the flash as I wanted to capture the atmosphere of the gallery, but can see with the benefit of hindsight that a bit more flash might have been a good idea!  Ho hum, live and learn.

See these links for more information on the book and the gallery.

The stage is set....