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UER Forum > Rookie Forum > Permitted Exploration (Viewed 15053 times)
SouthPaw 


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Permitted Exploration
< on 1/28/2015 3:21 PM >
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There are times when either a site is too heavily guarded to just waltz right in or it may have a planned use in the immediate future after just recently closing.

In any case, due to not being able to just walk in, you might want to look at getting permission to explore. Therein lies my question:

Anyone have experience with permitted explorations? Who do you talk to, and what is the best thing to say to hopefully gain entry to the facility?

Is there also any way to tell if it is even worth it or if you'll immediately be shot down.

(I've got two locations I'd like to photograph, but the one in particular I would like advice on what to say.)




Granuaile 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 1 on 1/28/2015 3:36 PM >
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I was wandering around one day and came upon an abandoned church that people were working to restore. I approached the man outside and asked him about what they were doing. We talked a bit and then I asked if I could have a look around. He said no problem and let me have access to everything. I was climbing ladders up to the attic and to where the bell was etc. The guy just left me alone and said have fun. Moral of the story: sometimes...just sometimes people are very cool about things. I guess it all boils down to liability. If you get hurt on their property then they are at fault blah blah blah. I hope you can get lucky and be permitted access !




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DJ Craig 

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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 2 on 1/28/2015 4:56 PM >
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I've gotten into some incredible places this way, that otherwise would have been impossible. Personally, I usually take the approach of somehow connecting it to a school project, and have had a lot of success with that. But honestly, you don't really have to come up with some elaborate story. Very often, if you just say you're interested in the history of the place, and want to take some photos, you'll get some yes's.

Some explorers will say this completely ruins the fun and defeats the purpose of exploring. I whole-heartedly disagree with this, and I've had some incredible experiences with "legit" locations. I would say, hey, if you don't like exploring legit locations, then don't do it!




"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." -Dr. Suess
Ganesha 

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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 3 on 1/28/2015 5:36 PM >
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I've asked for permission, verbally and by letter, four times; was denied three. I've tried saying that I once worked there (true), offering to do volunteer work, and offering to donate to charity. The one that let me in was the site manager of an abandoned college he was restoring. We were staying there overnight and had done some volunteer work.

I think DJ Craig has it right. If you can strike up a friendly conversation, be honest and nonthreatening, your chances are better. And having a big camera with you wouldn't hurt.

But accept that most of your efforts at persuasion will fail, and that many fascinating structures will be demolished unloved.




"The beauty of mediocrity is that anything can make you better." -Jeff Mallett
terapr0 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 4 on 1/28/2015 6:44 PM >
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Over the years I've had great luck with getting permission to explore all kinds of interesting places. A lot of these have actually been locations that I'd previously explored WITHOUT permission, but was offered the chance to get inside legitimately, and generally had a much better, far more relaxed time.

Literally everything from sewers to industrial plants to abandoned schools and tower cranes. The older I get the more people I seem to know in positions of increasing authority, and I try and use that to my advantage. People I know from highschool are now civil engineers designing condo towers, or construction company foremen, or in marketing and sales for development companies. Glad I didn't burn too many bridges in my past, because most people are usually happy to help out if they can.

That being said, getting permission usually only works when you have some connection to someone in authority - walking up and simply asking security to let you inside if almost always going to fail.

Climbing out to the end of a tower crane in the middle of the night is pretty damn fun, but it isn't nearly as much fun as riding out to the end on the trolley and having the operator spin around in circles while you take photos







I used to work for a huge automotive company and would occasionally get opportunities to explore massive plants they acquired and then shut down. I'd explored this place before on my own, but it was amazing getting permission to drive around inside this 1,000,000sqft plant with a pickup truck. We had the whole day to wander around and they literally told us that everything left inside was garbage and if we wanted to take anything, it was ours.



Of course we raided the locker rooms and loaded up on dirty magazines ;D




As far as I'm concerned exploring with permission is still exploring, and usually a lot more relaxed and laid back. I'm still venturing into out-of-bounds places, just without the ever-lingering threat of arrest. Some places simply CAN'T be done without permission.



[last edit 1/28/2015 6:46 PM by terapr0 - edited 1 times]

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mookster 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 5 on 1/28/2015 6:45 PM >
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Too often I see people turning their noses up at 'permission visits', but if all hope of a non-permission visit is out the window it really doesn't hurt to ask - I've seen a few amazing places just by asking.

The best things to do are find out who owns it - if it's a council/city owned property the chances are you'll be denied on the grounds of 'health and safety' because they don't want to be held accountable should you fall out of a window or something. Every successful permission visit I have arranged has been through developers who have bought the land, or through people who were working on site. Usually sending a well-worded email or phoning them up explaining your interest in the building and what you want to be doing will suffice if they are to agree.

Sometimes it's just dumb luck though, at one site I did in London a few years ago we were walking around the outside of it looking in vain for access that obviously wasn't there and just as we were about to give up we rounded a corner and bumped right into a contractor working on site waiting for a delivery to turn up - and instead of telling us to go away he offered to give us a guided tour of the place!




Astro 

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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 6 on 1/28/2015 6:52 PM >
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There is a location that kind of sparked my interest in exploring, many years ago (like when I first became sentient). It's an old theater that's been closed since before I was born. Since it's a theater, there aren't a whole lot of POEs for it even when it's active. This one just so happens to be attached to the city's municipal courthouse. So, there is always security for it.

Well, I kind of assumed the city owned it so I called the police (not 911, but the normal police station line) and they gave me the number for the city. The city then directed me to a man that I would later find out was the Director of Economic development. He sent me with a group of news broadcasters, but when the guy in charge of that party wouldn't allow me to go to the balcony saying it was "unsafe" then Director of Economic development decided that wasn't okay and he took me himself and let me have as much time as I wanted. There were even projectors there.

Since then, I don't think anyone has acquired permission again. But I might be wrong.

The Capitan Theater




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relik 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 7 on 1/29/2015 12:30 AM >
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Foremost Farms Dairy was on my list since the beginning of my exploring "career". It was always locked up, minus the door on the roof, which required repelling gear to get to ground floor. A security company made occasional visits every day to check doors and such, to make sure it was always closed up. After years of trying to get in without having to break anything, it was slated for demo. OH NO!
One day, while walking around the area and around the fence the demo. crew had set up, i decided to give it a shot and approach the office shack to ask for permission to explore. I expected the worst, but thankfully, i was proved wrong! He was confused to why i'd like to look around the old, rotting building, but he decided to let me have free reign. I just had to (literally) run home (20 or so blocks) to put on long pants and steel toes, but it was worth it. It was a most splendid explore.


Another time, we simply called the security office of Hamilton Manufacturing Plant, and the dude was nice enough to schedule a tour for us. That was pretty cool of him, even though he didn't let us have free reign. Oh well. It's torn down now, and access was pretty difficult previously, so i'm glad we at least asked instead of hoping one day it'd be opened up.


So yeah, asking for permission is sometimes very worth it. Depends on the situation of course, but you never know when a place is going to get the wrecking ball, so it's worth a shot.




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SouthPaw 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 8 on 1/29/2015 12:33 AM >
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Thanks for the input. I'll see how things work out in the next few weeks, when I have the time.


Posted by terapr0

Climbing out to the end of a tower crane in the middle of the night is pretty damn fun, but it isn't nearly as much fun as riding out to the end on the trolley and having the operator spin around in circles while you take photos




Definitely makes for some fascinating photos, but I think I'll take something a little more solid under my feet.




Lost Photographer 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 9 on 1/30/2015 4:29 AM >
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I hadn't really tried to get permission until today but it worked! After exploring a school I noticed the same last name on the property records for several abandoned houses in that tiny, mostly abandoned town, so I tracked down one of the owners and gave him a call. Long story short they had inherited several of the properties; he was reluctant to let me take photos at first but after talking a little he said go ahead.

I think it helps to tell them, we follow a real simple rule, "Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints."




"Live out your imagination, not your history." ~ Stephen Covey
Crashplan 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 10 on 2/1/2015 5:56 AM >
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I would say it is always worth a try to ask. The worst that can happen is that they say no. About a week ago, my university was doing some repair work on the elevators in an 11 story building on campus. There is an old water distribution system on the kind of 12th floor, but access is normally very difficult. When I asked if I could go check it out, they said go for it and simply asked I tell them when I am done.




thetrainguru 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 11 on 2/1/2015 10:31 PM >
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Its always good to try and ask, if they say yes then good, if no well...

There is a place where I live that looks great but its locked up tighter than a nun's snatch, I called the owner twice and they still tell me no due to "safety".

Its always worth the try.




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esprod 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 12 on 2/1/2015 10:47 PM >
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Now now guys the saying is its better to ask for forgiveness then permission. Isn't it?




terapr0 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 13 on 2/2/2015 4:26 PM >
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there's definitely some truth to that statement. I'll usually prefer to try first and THEN ask, because once you've been told NO, the consequences of being caught are typically amplified. Some locations such as active construction sites are just impossible to pull off during the day anyhow - there are dozens of workers, including the crane operator, who are going to see you coming from a mile away. I'll visit at night on my own and then ask for daytime permission as the icing on my cake.




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ripcity 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 14 on 2/2/2015 4:32 PM >
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I think some of the coolest things I've explored have been sort of accidental and with permission.

The best one I can think of was an old YMCA building in Bellingham, WA that I did some work at as a summer job. It was converted to apartments at some point, but the downstairs had some relatively untouched areas, including an old pool under some of the floorboards that we found. We were tearing it all apart to make room for more apartments (which was kind of sad), but made a lot of cool discoveries in the process. Lots of things written on the walls, including some "so-and-so was here" marks with dates from the 1920s. I found some old glass marbles and some photos in a bank of lockers we found behind a wall.

Others include a long-unused wood and metal shop (including a foundry) in a high school I worked at, and an old Greyhound bus barn in Portland, OR. All were buildings that were mostly still in use, with just one empty area that nobody touched. Because of the limited access, those places have been more intact than anything I'd normally explore.




Klinsli 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 15 on 2/6/2015 3:48 AM >
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I have a tendency to ask for permission because I actually am a photography student and I really don't want to lose my scholarship if I get busted. I'm also cute in a childlike way, which does help.

I managed to photograph a trailer park that was in the middle of being demolished by asking. It wasn't necessary, but it made me feel a bit more secure.

I am trying to break my habit of being a rules girl. ;)



[last edit 2/6/2015 3:49 AM by Klinsli - edited 1 times]

GearheadExplorer85 


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Re: Permitted Exploration
< Reply # 16 on 2/8/2015 2:03 AM >
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My own rule is if a place is an active site with no obvious entry point, I will ask to get in. If its active with one or more entry points, I will do a little surveillance and plan my trip accordingly. If its an inactive or abandoned site, I will usually try to get in without any exhaustive planning.



[last edit 2/8/2015 2:06 AM by GearheadExplorer85 - edited 2 times]

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Tomtortoise 


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Asking for permission to explore?
< Reply # 17 on 2/16/2015 5:04 PM >
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So I came across this location but its pretty tightly secured (at least as far as I could see with two feet of snow preventing me from checking) and has "cameras".

I'm wondering how many people have called and asked for permission to explore successfully and have any tips on what to say (and what not to say).

1.


2.






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Astro 

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Re: Asking for permission to explore?
< Reply # 18 on 2/16/2015 5:06 PM >
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[last edit 2/16/2015 5:07 PM by Astro - edited 1 times]

[02:33:56] <Valkyre> Astro your whole life is ruled by the sentence ' life is better without clothes on'
[22:16:00] <DSomms> it was normal until astro got here
Astro: Patron Saint of Drains
Tomtortoise 


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Re: Asking for permission to explore?
< Reply # 19 on 2/16/2015 5:26 PM >
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That explains it, I searched around because I thought I saw a post about this recently but my search was for permission, not permitted, thank you.




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