Here is another idea: salvage and antiquing.

I began Abandoned back in 1998 as a small photography and history website and formally incorporated it this year. I've been salvaging (legally) for years and have just been storing items in the basement and selling on consignment.

It's pretty lucrative. I bought some lamps and about 20 stools from an industrial auction for an old mill that was going to be demolished for about $15 total (scrap value or thereabouts). No one was interested in the furnishings or lights - they all wanted the big equipment. Those items weren't even listed or mentioned. But I turned around and sold them for about $700 total.

Last year, I came across an old church in Kentucky filled with theater-style seats. Cast iron ornate ends and rather plain centers with 5-layer veneer seats. They were in good shape, with some obvious issues with being 100+ years old. I was going to sell them to an antique shop, but they thumbed their noses at me.

So I bought half of the seats with my own money. And after signing on a partner (good friend for years), we bought the remainder. In total, we have $2,000+ in just those seats alone - at $15 each.

We've spent around $100 total in supplies cleaning those seats with a Rejuvenating Oil (to remove the grime and dirt) and a Satin Wax to give them a nice appearance. Removed the gum from the seats, some major paint drips (but left the speckles) and glued any peeling veneer back together. About 95% were in good shape; 5% in fair condition.

Just looking at how much similar seats have been going for online - I'd say it was a damn good investment. They have been selling for easily $150 each on eBay.

Or what about picking up some heavy items and gutting it and keeping it for its appearance? We got a large natural gas fired heater (ceiling mounted) from an old bike shop, gutted the insides (weighed 200 lb.+) and will now be making it into a small corner table with a working fan (at its base) and putting two overhead pipes with edison bulbs at their ends.

Or salvaged wood for frames (a big deal right now for me) or for furniture. Even pallets that have been heat treated work really well!

Just some food for thought.

I've been wandering into buildings since I was a child. When I left home for college, I majored in architecture and that became my career. Much of my architectural career was restoring, renovating, and adding on to both 19th and early 20th century commercial buildings and residences. I gained access to buildings I wouldn't have otherwise even urbexing. Coupled with my joy of photography, I began picking up my childhood habits. I then became a full-time assignment (mostly architecture & real-estate) and fine art photographer.

The reality is capturing photos, the art world, and the business of photography are all separate entities, even if they overlap.

With taking photos the question is, "Do I enjoy what I take?" Simple yes/no answer.

With the photo artworld, there's two questions: "Will an art gallery display my work?" and "Will people buy it?" I find often what will receive critical claim aren't the same thing folks will hang over their fireplace and vice versa.

With the business of photography, it's simply matching service to fill a need. If you're offering something that people don't need, you'll struggle.

My personal solution was wrapping all three together and tie it to my architectural knowledge and experience. I'm incredibly fortunate to make a good living with it and don't take it for granted. Exploration isn't everything I am, but it's part of the package.

Sorry for bumping a 2 year old thread but this topic crossed my mind today. I'm a telecommunications technologist by trade, most of my work revolves around enhancing cellular coverage in complex buildings (usually giant concrete stadiums, airports, hospitals, hotels, skyscrapers, and government buildings). One of the perks of this job is that I'm often given unsupervised access to nearly all restricted areas of a building and I usually get to work alone. It adds an interesting parallel to the exploration I do on my own time, a different fix for the same urge. All of the sites I work on are obviously active, but I get to see them in unusual states, usually outside of operational hours because nobody wants you dicking around with a communications system while thousands of people are using it.

As a result I often find myself in peculiar situations:

Eating lunch in the middle of an empty football arena.
Not a soul in sight, not a sound to be heard.



Wandering around the catwalk hundreds of feet above an empty hockey rink.



Wandering around the basements of hospitals.



And staring down upon major cities from the upper floors and rooftops of skyscrapers.



The work is intellectually, personally, and financially satisfying. It's a wicked industry to work your way into with no shortage of jobs, no expensive degree required (all I needed was a relatively cheap 2 year diploma in wireless telecommunications), and it really does offer a lot in the realm of exploration if you find yourself working for a decent company.

Taking images of/on private property of customers without their consent could be a bad career move...

I did electric meter data collection for a time. I had access to many places that would otherwise be trespassing. I grabbed a few images from time to time... asking permission if the owner was present.

Posted by blackhawk Taking images of/on private property of customers without their consent could be a bad career move... I did electric meter data collection for a time. I had access to many places that would otherwise be trespassing. I grabbed a few images from time to time... asking permission if the owner was present.

Would be a bad move in many cases yes but part of our job is taking photos of the property and system for engineering reference, every tech on site has a camera in hand. I wouldn't be posting work photos here if any customers or logos were visible or if I was instructed not to take photos.

Posted by EPOCH6 Would be a bad move in many cases yes but part of our job is taking photos of the property and system for engineering reference, every tech on site has a camera in hand. I wouldn't be posting work photos here if any customers or logos were visible or if I was instructed not to take photos.

Not aimed at you directly. It's something some here would need to take into consideration... if they value their job.



Oops... fire me bitches.

Seems like everyone has already said the same thing but I'd say your best bet would be with photography if you're looking for transferable skills. Radical Ed gave the best suggestion though.

Posted by Radical_Ed WTF are all of you people talking about? * Easy, bro. Go to school and be an abatement/demolition estimator. You get to tour everything that's coming down. You'll be one of the last humans to do a comprehensive, fully legal tour. You can bring your gear, you get paid to take photos, you get to peek in every corner, every closet, every room, every stairway. You get to do this while deducing the costs to clean it all up. You get to do follow-up tours. You get 100% unfettered, full access to everything and all the time you need to document it. You get to show your photography to the customer, the guy paying you thousands of dollars to do this. You also get full access to the original blueprints, building plans, architectural specifics and full history. You get it all, and you get paid, and you get to travel the country. What more can you ask for? You don't even have to do any actual labor. You even get to do basements, steam tunnels, drains, attics, crawlspaces, every fucking thing. You'll be the only professional explorer getting rich instead of arrested.

YOU SIR ARE AMAZING. What about building renovation or structural engineering?

Posted by NellA_NiveD Seems like everyone has already said the same thing but I'd say your best bet would be with photography if you're looking for transferable skills. Radical Ed gave the best suggestion though.

Ummm, -everyone- is a photographer today.
Hope you like weddings... a lot

So it seems more like careers translate into Urbex...

1. Towel night pregame score board check:


2.


3. Wild locker room:


4. Zamboni's:


5.

I have an uncle who majored in chemical engineering. He does environmental consulting and cleanup contracting. He gets to go to sites all over, usually old abandoned industrial plants, and takes samples from monitoring wells, as well as all throughout the building.

He's seen a LOT of cool shit and gets paid big bucks for it too.

It's great that I found this thread. Thank you for your ideas, guys.

But I assume that this year there are some changes and if you have new information, please share it. If you allow me, I want to digress a little. I lost my job during the quarantine and am desperate. I have to provide for my family, so I need to find a way out of this situation. Actually, I was advised to work in IT, but first I have to take courses and get a Cisco certification. I even found a website of guys https://cciedump.spoto.net/ who help with exams. If you have any thoughts on this topic, please share them. I need your advice, support and wish me luck.

Posted by Steed That said, my UE experience has given me a lot of very relevant skills and awarenesses for my career. It's given me a strong grasp of local history and tourism, as well as an understanding of local attitudes and sensitivities.

This still holds, although I work at a newspaper now where I can monitor news on urban developments, disasters, the pandemic, and civil unrest in real time.

Posted by Elwood_Blues Almost sounds like the plot of a movie.. Except.. what if the building was really a boat. But the boat was really a secret prison.. but the people on-board the boat didn't know it was a boat.. yeah. yeah.. that would be cool.. Sorry man.. couldn't pass that up..

What movie is this?

Lol..