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558 online
Server Time:
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 Seventh Stage
   
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male
 |  | UE and Professional Life
< on 7/5/2008 3:13 PM >
|  | | | Although I genuinely believe that I am not doing anything wrong in exploring abandoned property, it is something I do not talk about with my professional peers because I know that it would affect my reputation. The few times I have brought up the subject with non-explorers they always seem to talk about it in a way analogous to casual drug use. It seems to me that most people consider UE to be a deviant activity stemming from personal qualities that make them uncomfortable, like the aforementioned example.
I did bring it up once at work and talked about an abandoned amusement park that was not fenced in and had no one watching or caring about it, and spun it as an interesting spur of the moment thing. After that I had people making comments to me about my exploring in a negative way, and I had to do quite a bit of explaining to people about how I only explored the place and was not doing anything bad like tagging or damaging things.
My question to all of you is, how do you balance having this hobby with a professional life or do you balance it? Is it just that I am doing a bad job of describing UE and my adventures with people?
Brute force is the last resort of the incompetent. |
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RFR0430
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 1 on 7/5/2008 3:31 PM >
| | | | I'm a photographer, and work with other photographers. They don't care, and sometimes come along.
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MHInc
   
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada
Gender: Male
| |  | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 2 on 7/5/2008 3:38 PM >
| | | | To be honest, if people are treating you like that after you tell them what you do, you are either;
A) Not explaining it fully so that they understand. or;
 Working with a bunch of really stuck up assholes and can't grasp the concept, and think their shit don't stink.
I personally am proud of exploring, I have told many friends and co-workers, and once explained, they are actually intrigued by it. I ever took my dad out on an explore once and he loved it. I have also turned a few friends onto it as well and they are loving every minute of it.
MH Inc. Photography Canada
http://www.mhinccanada.com
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yokes
Location: Toronto
Gender: Male
I aim to misbehave
| |  | | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 3 on 7/5/2008 4:22 PM >
| | | | I work in at a law firm where everyone knows and trespassing is explicitly contrary to my profession's governing body's code of ethics.. so I just don't join it.  (besides, being on TV talking about it tends to blow cover anyway)
[last edit 7/5/2008 5:13 PM by yokes - edited 1 times]
"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel |
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Tupsumato
Location: Finland
Gender: Male
How close can you go?
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 4 on 7/5/2008 5:09 PM >
| | | | I rarely talk about my hobby of searching, exploring and documenting abandonments with anyone, including my co-workers. They don't have to know.
All information and details given in good faith but not guaranteed! |
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willskith
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male
| | | | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 5 on 7/5/2008 6:32 PM >
| | | | If you arent able to talk about about breaking the law around other people in the workplace (especially when its something as trivial as trespassing) then you are in shitty company. What is your profession?
I share my pics and stories with everyone in my department, and they all think its lots of fun.
grit your teeth in the face of fear. self repression is the true sign of a coward, toss your inhibitions to the wind. |
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insainly sound
Location: Bay Area, CA
Gender: Female
How'd we get here, and how are we getting out of here?!
| | | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 6 on 7/5/2008 8:06 PM >
| | | | My bosses generally think it's cool that I explore, and sometimes they ask to come along, but one of my bosses who has a family says he can't risk a trespassing charge, but has offered his 11 year old daughter as an exploring partner to me multiple times... weird...
Check out my photo blog! |
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Intrinsic
Location: Collingwood
Gender: Male
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 7 on 7/5/2008 8:18 PM >
| | | | I generally keep my hobby private, however I've been mentioned in the newspapers a few times. The response has been nothing but positive. People understand that every building has a past and they seem to appreciate the history.
I should point out that I focus more on the ghost town aspect than urban exploration. I feel that if I was exploring active sites, that it might change their perspectives.
I hear from former employees, grandchildren, ancestors, etc. in search of their past and they appreciate the photos and research.
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Orofein
Location: Ia
Gender: Male
We were never in this together.
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 8 on 7/5/2008 8:33 PM >
| | | | I hate it when people ask me what my hobbies are, because it means I'll have to go through at least 5 minutes of explaining things before they actually get it. Instead of telling people I explore abandoned buildings, I just say "photography". If someone is willing to listen to me explaining my hobbies, I'll tell them.
50 stars to blind your eyes, 13 stripes to hypnotize
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MHInc
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada
Gender: Male
| | | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 9 on 7/5/2008 8:35 PM >
| | | | Posted by Orofein
I hate it when people ask me what my hobbies are, because it means I'll have to go through at least 5 minutes of explaining things before they actually get it. Instead of telling people I explore abandoned buildings, I just say "photography". If someone is willing to listen to me explaining my hobbies, I'll tell them.
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Just send them to the Wiki page, beats spending the time explaining ;)
MH Inc. Photography Canada
http://www.mhinccanada.com
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Seventh Stage
Location: Boston, MA
Gender: Male
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 10 on 7/5/2008 8:46 PM >
| | | | I am a senior software engineer at a small company. The makeup is about half engineers and half sales, marketing, and quality control. They are all very smart, motivated people, and all very respectable. I love working for this company because we are working on a very hard problem and our current outlook is as good as it could be. To clarify one thing, I do not believe they would not come down on me if I start talking in detail about all the exploring that I do. I think that I could make it seem reasonable and interesting to them, but I think a lot of them would still think of it somewhat deviant.
At a previous job I worked with a guy who would date the secretaries. Although his colleagues and manager talked happily with him regarding it and were even a little envious, they still thought of him as someone with boundary problems. This made it so that if he could be overlooked for a position of authority or a promotion he was. I think I could have some great conversations with people I work with, but I worry that like him I will slowly become that crazy guy who happens to be competent.
How do you all broach the subject of UE? When I say that I explore abandoned buildings the initial questions I get are about how I deal with cops/security, hop over razer wire, get into buildings, and I get uncomfortable discussing that because it makes me sound like a criminal.
| I hate it when people ask me what my hobbies are, because it means I'll have to go through at least 5 minutes of explaining things before they actually get it. Instead of telling people I explore abandoned buildings, I just say "photography". If someone is willing to listen to me explaining my hobbies, I'll tell them. |
You hit the nail on the head for my usual discourse when I first bring it up to non-explorer type people.
Brute force is the last resort of the incompetent. |
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ActionSatisfaction Esq.
 
Location: Newark, NJ
Gender: Male
Action always satisfies
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 11 on 7/5/2008 10:34 PM >
| | | | When people ask what I take pictures of, I tell them "urban decay" instead of "abandoned shit". It sounds more professional, and therefore more respectable. Kinda like calling a janitor a "custodial engineer".
"The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life." - T.R. |
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SirJinx
Location: Los Angeles Area
Gender: Male
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 12 on 7/5/2008 10:46 PM >
| | | | Professional life, I don't tell a soul.
Personal life, everyone knows.
People are weird. |
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bandito
Location: Northern NJ
Gender: Male
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 13 on 7/6/2008 1:18 AM >
| | | | Posted by Orofein
I hate it when people ask me what my hobbies are, because it means I'll have to go through at least 5 minutes of explaining things before they actually get it. Instead of telling people I explore abandoned buildings, I just say "photography". If someone is willing to listen to me explaining my hobbies, I'll tell them.
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Exactly-but I tend to avoid personal talk. Working at a big company, I've come to realize most co-workers are assholes.
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person
Location: cincinnati
Gender: Male
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 14 on 7/6/2008 1:43 AM >
| | | | Posted by RaisinsSuck
I am a senior software engineer at a small company. The makeup is about half engineers and half sales, marketing, and quality control. They are all very smart, motivated people, and all very respectable. I love working for this company because we are working on a very hard problem and our current outlook is as good as it could be. To clarify one thing, I do not believe they would not come down on me if I start talking in detail about all the exploring that I do. I think that I could make it seem reasonable and interesting to them, but I think a lot of them would still think of it somewhat deviant.
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I'm in the same boat. As an engineer in a rather conservative industry, I prefer to keep my work and my life of crime separate, even if letting my coworkers in on things probably wouldn't have any real impact on my career.
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Billis
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Gender: Male
Nuthing Beats this Ninja
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 15 on 7/6/2008 2:36 AM >
| | | | I think that it may be because I'm young and my friends are avid at breaking the law. That its not really a taboo at my age.
*Edit Spelling*
[last edit 7/6/2008 2:38 AM by Billis - edited 1 times]
"Just tear everything down and hope that whatever comes afterwards is better, you are your own little Chaos Theory..." |
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HerbLaur
Just boobs.
Location: No Damn Good
I'd call you a cunt but you have nowhere near the depth or warmth.
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 16 on 7/6/2008 3:54 AM >
| | | | Tell people that you are "a freelance writer/photographer for an online site documenting the impermanence of the human attention span". It sounds impressive enough that it makes other people feel like they are the one's missing something. Then show them pictures.
It's like saying you work for a satellite of Berkshire-Hathaway when you really work at Dairy Queen.
I’m quite positive that you’ve slept with someone uglier than me, and I’m sure I’ve slept with someone hotter than you. So let’s just call it a draw. |
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JC
Location: Augusta Georgia
Gender: Male
Keying up @ KJ4ZNR
| |  | | | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 17 on 7/6/2008 6:06 AM >
| | | | Posted by RaisinsSuck
Although I genuinely believe that I am not doing anything wrong in exploring abandoned property, it is something I do not talk about with my professional peers because I know that it would affect my reputation. The few times I have brought up the subject with non-explorers they always seem to talk about it in a way analogous to casual drug use. It seems to me that most people consider UE to be a deviant activity stemming from personal qualities that make them uncomfortable, like the aforementioned example.
I did bring it up once at work and talked about an abandoned amusement park that was not fenced in and had no one watching or caring about it, and spun it as an interesting spur of the moment thing. After that I had people making comments to me about my exploring in a negative way, and I had to do quite a bit of explaining to people about how I only explored the place and was not doing anything bad like tagging or damaging things.
My question to all of you is, how do you balance having this hobby with a professional life or do you balance it? Is it just that I am doing a bad job of describing UE and my adventures with people?
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If they react negatively then they are Dicks, None of my peers at work or even my boss think there is anything negative about it.
In general all of my friends , family, and Co-Workers know what I do in my spare time and absolutely love the photos that it produces.
Bottom line is you dont have to defend it, If someone re-acts nagatively to it then they're a dick and just dont talk to that person about it ever again because they just dont understand.
JC
Keying up at KJ4ZNR
<a href="http://www.r...e/southernshutter?> |
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sick hearts
Location: wpg . mb . ca
Gender: Female
| | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 18 on 7/6/2008 8:34 AM >
| | | | everyone at my old office knew about me exploring and, despite thinking i was a bit crazy, responded positively. then again, i once had to explain that the finger shaped bruises on my arm were from drunk fighting my male friends and not from my non-existant abusive boyfriend, so i may have already carried a reputation for being bonkers.
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nutekk
Location: Central NJ
Gender: Male
| | | Re: UE and Professional Life
<Reply # 19 on 7/6/2008 2:27 PM >
| | | | make new friends
your current coworkers and friends are way too stuffy and closed minded
cheers !
" Take only pictures, leave only footprints" |
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