The beauty of old and derelict industrial sites

One of the workshops that's becoming a favourite of our guests – and still is one of ours, too – is the Industrial Heritage workshop. And there's good reason for that, even though it came into being almost by accident.

A couple of years ago, we visited the German Ruhrgebiet. This used to be a vast area with heavy industry, until the 1980's/1990's. After that, most of the chemical plants, factories, steel mills, coking facilities and mines were gradually closed down. We went to see if any of these were suitable to photograph.

What we were looking for mostly was not so much one of the perfectly groomed museums that the Germans have turned some of the sites into. No, we were looking for an unpolished site that had been left after it's closing much as it had been – as if time had stood still, as it were.

We were lucky. When we turned up at a rather small site carrying our photo gear, the lady at the reception reacted enthusiastically, asking if we were there for the photo tour? Since we aren't big fans of guided tours, we told her no. But with a little smile she announced that the “tour” would take us places the public wasn't allowed to enter: unpolished and rough. We were sold.

It turned out to be amazing. Wandering through near-dark machine rooms, flooded cellars, and climbing dusty conveyor belts, we had far too little time to take it all in. Our guide Klaus Peter turned out to be invaluable. Not only had he been working for years at this plant, so he knew every corner – he was an avid photographer himself, and very sympathetic to the fact that we really needed half an hour in a dimly lit battery to set up the perfect shot.

That's exactly what still makes this trip unique. Not only can we get to places the public can't, ensuring unique shots – the tour is a little bit different every time. This is partly caused by nature taking over the site. The railway tracks have gotten covered in weeds over the years, dragonflies have colonised the water basin, ferns have started growing in the batteries; it all gives the place a unique, very “sleeping beauty” atmosphere. One early cold morning we even spotted a herd of roe deer between the batteries. But also, each time we do the tour, another area of the site has been cleared, making it possible for us to explore new areas and buildings. So each tour in itself we do here is unique!

If you would like to join us on this unique tour, better hurry – there are just a few places left in our April workshop. If you like low light and atmospheric, “rough” images, or would like to practice High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography, this is just the trip for you. You'll need sturdy shoes and need to be ready to get down and dirty, but we can pretty much promise you great and unique shots!

Architecture in Valencia

We're constantly on the lookout for new workshop possibilities, and besides animals and landscape, I have one other photographic passion: architecture. And for some reason, Spain seems to have been a breeding ground for excellent architects through the ages.

Veles e Vents
(architect: David Chipperfield)

When thinking of Spanish architecture, the first city that comes to mind is inevitably Barcelona. However, the architecture in that city has been photographed to death already. Therefore we opted to visit Valencia lately, to see what could be done there.

We were not disappointed. While Barcelona is absolutely beautiful, most of its architecture is dominated by the Spanish art nouveau style (“modernisme”) represented by, amongst others, Gaudí. Valencia is more of a smorgasbord of different architectural styles, ranging from medieval Gothic architecture to modernism to ultra-modern. Especially the latter proved to be pretty spectacular.

Oceanogràfic
(architect: Félix Candela)

After deciding to reroute the river Turia in order to prevent flooding of the city, Valencia was suddenly left with 9 kilometres of dry rived bed. What to do with that? Well, of course, you ask a famous architect that was born and educated in your city to design a prestigious complex of museums and art centres. And so a whole complex of spectacular buildings, designed mostly by “local boy” Santiago Calatrava but also by Félix Candela, arose within the city. Work was started in the '90s of the last century and completed in 2005.

Throughout the week we spent in Valencia, this complex proved to be the most rewarding subject. However, we were in for a few surprises while shooting this spectacular architecture.

Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía
(architect: Santiago Calatrava)

The sheer size of the complex and its buildings forced us to take a different approach when shooting. For starters, comparing viewpoints to choose the best composition took hundreds and hundreds of metres walking back and forth (which is pretty gruesome in the July summer heat in Valencia, by the way – thank god for the excellent beer garden on the grounds!).

Also, we usually to like to have our images as “empty” and “clean” as possible, but here we deliberately chose to include people in our shots, just to give a good feeling of the sheer size of the buildings. What surprised us the most is the seemingly endless amount of good viewpoints – the buildings are so beautiful and so vast you seem to find a great shot wherever you point your lens.

Mercado Central
(architects: Alejandro Soler March
and Francisco Guardia Vial)

Since Valencia has many more beautiful buildings to offer (both old and modern), we've spent more than a week shooting at different locations. We've come back with quite a few images we're very pleased with and like to share with you — please see our website for more images.

Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe
(architect: Santiago Calatrava)

If you are interested in any of these or similar images, please let us know; they are available as prints in various sizes and finishes. If you would like to photograph any of these buildings yourself, please send us an email – we're investigating the possibilities of a photography workshop in Valencia and will gladly keep you informed!