[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

On 12/18/2017 at 7:30 PM, helbob said:

The steel temple

Nice shot, the Jittapawan pier is one of my favorite places to shoot!  I was actually there Sunday before last (some pictures below) and discovered a beautiful old tree inside the abandoned building next to the pier.  Actually a bit of research on the location earlier this year and wrote a pictorial for Stuff New Zealand, it's a truly unique place & interesting to see all of the different perspectives from various photographers who take pictures there.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

Below are images from few locations I've recently documented with links to the series' & descriptions if anyone's interested.  Apologies for exceeding the 3 picture/post limit.

 

1 - The Grand Ayudhaya Hotel on Ratchada in Bangkok, across from the (defunct) Poseidon entertainment complex.

 

2 - I revisted the Batman club in Pattaya & found a room where someone is sleeping.  I like the creative decor, making use of discarded spraypaint cans.

 

3 - A vast derelict apartment complex in Samut Prakarn, a leftover of the Tomyumgoong crisis.

 

4 - An abandoned lacquer factory in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

On 12/8/2017 at 12:13 AM, helbob said:

Beautiful abandoned wooden house

Great photo, whereabouts did you take it?

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

7 hours ago, George FmplesdaCosteedback said:

I do check in as you take some excellent pictures, but not every day or week as other things are more important.

Others have contributed too, I like photography but Photoshop touch up stuff I despise in professional work.

 

Have you considered the disused amusement parks in Bangkok (and elsewhere)?

Might be worth a look.

Last picture is funny, I'll show that to the missus...

Scare the pants off her!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion.  I didn't actually mean that I think everyone should check/contribute to this thread every day, but rather that there used to be regular contributions but hasn't been a new post in over a month.  

 

As far as using Photoshop, I'm sorry that you have such disdain for it, but it's one of those 'don't hate the player, hate the game' situations, as digital image processing (LR/PS) has become standard in the field (bizarrely enough most professional photographers don't actually use film anymore in the year 2017), which anyone who is in regular work in the field will attest.  I can certainly see where you're coming from when photos become something completely different than they originally were when the the shutter was pressed, such as adding unicorns or overdoing the HDR in landscapes nonsense (halos on skies are a personal pet peeve) that wasn't there.  When I teach elements of photoshop or lightroom to my students, I always remind them that we use this software to bring out the best of the original image, not over-enhancement which often makes it look fake (especially overdoing saturation/contrast/detail extraction).  

 

My mentor, Dennie Cody (the head of the Bangkok Photographers group) has been a pro for over 50 years.  He started shooting only black & white film in the 60's, moved to color in the 70's or so, and switched over to digital sometime in the mid-2000's.  I've heard him on several occasions talk about all the hours of tedious work that he used to have to do with processing images in film (dodging/burning, etc.) back in the day, and how the software now does the same thing in mere seconds (and there's no way that he'd ever go back to film).  In the end, Photoshop and Lightroom are here to stay, and if one of the requirements of being a photographer in the digital age is that know how to use them & do so the right way.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

I got into an abandoned art gallery just off of Sathorn 1 road a few weeks ago & today the series was published by Unilad.  My full series from the location is here on my website. Not sure if anybody really follows this thread anymore, but I've really enjoyed seeing the places that have been shared from around the country.  I hope it keeps going, but if not, thanks everybody for sharing what you've shared.

 

Below are a couple of images (one that I took at the gallery but didn't publish in the series), part of an ongoing project I'm working on that explores abandoned places & Thai beliefs with regard to spirits that haunt them, calling it 'ghosts of abandonia'. 

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

Was very pleased to have my pics & interview published in CNN Style today, glad to be able to share my photos from Thailand with more of the masses.  They also made a gallery with my photos from Bangkok.  The 'ghost tower' photos aren't my images, however, as I've never been in there, though it is in my neighborhood.  Not really interested in getting in, but would like to check the movie when it comes out!

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

On 7/27/2017 at 4:31 PM, Curt1591 said:

When were you there last?

 

Some time ago, there were people living in the building, mostly in the surrounding buildings. However, when we visited last, 4 months ago, the entrances were sealed off and there were "No Photo" signs placed around.
sides of the river and will be connected by an aerial tram. Can't figure why they don't want photos taken ....

I hope that, whatever their plans are, they preserve the beautiful main staircase of the customs building.  Would be a shame to tear it out and build a new one (though that's what the gentrification-happy city council seems to like doing.)  These are from 2015

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

I shot a series at the abandoned Dolphin Bay mansion in Som Roi Yod & one of the pics was published yesterday in The Guardian as a 'photo of the day'.  The full series is here & the article is here.  A very unusual place to see anywhere, much less in southern Thailand

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

I found this demolished soi yesterday, very close to where I live in Bangkok.  It seems that the owner has pulled the lease and is making way for a new condo complex.  This area in Bangkok has a majority of Chinese-Thai families, and the distinctive red 'sarn-pa-bhum' has been left behind from each of the 50 or so units.  The man in the photos was there with his friends gathering metal and other junk to sell, all the while huffing paint thinner fumes from a can.  The wording on his shirt holds a bit of irony.  Nice enough guy with I imagine a rough life to live.  Full series here

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

Hi.  I'm just back from visiting the US & have a few places lined up to shoot back in Thailand, but I recently entered this series into the Magnum Photography Awards 2017 & thought I'd share.  The series is titled 'abandoned siam' and includes 10 photos from different sites that I've shot over the past year.  I don't expect much to come from it in terms of winning anything, but I do look forward to getting some feedback from industry professionals associated with Magnum.  Thanks for viewing!

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

Apologies as these photos are not of Thailand, but I've been out of the country for a month and this thread seems to have died down, so I thought I'd share some of my recent pictures (more than the allowed number, I know, sorry.)

 

I've been in the US a month visiting family (returning to Bangkok soon), and have been given the access to shoot some superb abandoned sites in Texas and in my home state of Arkansas, including several sites that are on the national register of historic places. Attached are a 3 urbex photos that I've taken

 

I finish my trip with a solo exhibition of my Thailand 'abandonia' work on Friday in Hot Springs, AR for which I'm very grateful for the opportunity.

 

The abandoned sites that I shot in the past month include an 87-year old Gregorian-style abandoned orphanage, a former children's tuberculosis sanatorium, a 16-floor Art Deco Medical Arts building from 1929, an underground 1920's bowling alley once frequented by Al Capone & Lucky Luciano (only remaining feature is the scoreboard with a supposed nom de guerre of Al Capone himself), an abandoned minor league baseball stadium, a former pecan company/boxing arena/KKK meeting hall(yikes), a 1912 art deco-style electrical plant, a former early 20th bordello, an 80-year old derelict rural church at a cemetery, and some notorious hotels/casinos from the early 20th century which are rumored to be haunted.

More of the building series are here: http://www.daxward.com/Portfolio

 

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

A few more from the Thai Fa tower in Bang Na.  I published a full series here on my website with a bit of a history and descriptions/links to stories on the deaths that have occurred here.  A full pictorial should go up for sale on my syndicator's site sometime next week.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

10 hours ago, George FmplesdaCosteedback said:

I've not seen this and I live in the area, but there is another behind the Highway Police HQ at Kannayao on Ramintra about Soi 88 just before you turn under the highway for Fashion Island. There is an abandoned Popeye's restaurant that was turned into a Disco not far away too. And did you see the DC3 on display on Ramintra?

I need to get over to that area and check these places out.  I actually lived on Nawamin road for several years and I think I know the Popeye's you're talking about.  Thanks for the suggestions 

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

Got into the abandoned tower at Bang Na, the 30-floor building that you see from the tollway with lots of graffiti.  It's been the site of a murder and several other suicides, including a foreigner that hung himself there in 2012.  The front is walled up and locked.  We followed a course shown in a youtube video, climbing a wall on the side (which has a lot of added obstacles to deter people from entering).  The only hidden stairs were blocked off, so we ended up paying a few hundred baht to the family that oversees the place (after much negotiating) to only shoot the first 3 floors.  We were unsupervised although my girlfriend asked if someone would like to come with us..so we went all the way to the roof.  It has some of the best graffiti murals I've seen & photographed, rivaling the Batman disco in Pattaya.  It is a very dangerous place with lots of drop-offs, large holes, and no safety-railing, not recommended to visit.  Pigeons also tended to randomly fly out of dark as we ascended stairway which is on the outer edge of the building with no railing or protection against a multi-floor drop.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

Many beautiful graffiti inside and outside ; 
Did u done a search about the painters?
They always sign what they have done...
Thanks a lot for sharing your photos with us;
 
what is your Ultra Wide Lens ?

Thanks. I use an 8mm Samyang manual fisheye. There was a street art event held there last March - 'Meeting of Styles' - which explains the variety of great murals.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

I put together a series & a site history after two visits to the abandoned Oscar Theater on Petchaburi Road in Bangkok.  It was once an opulent film venue and one of the nicest in town, but now sits in the middle of a pretty seedy area.  Great lighting inside, and though photography is prohibited, I paid the guard on the second floor a bit of cash and took photos for a few minutes.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

I just saw today that the Daily Mail featured my Pattaya Batman nightclub series which was first published in the Mirror back in October.  Though the part about the actual bats being in the building was not exactly true (at least I never saw or reported any bats), I thought they did pretty well with the story (as tabloids go).  This is the 4th time they've published my stuff and they tend to add at least one embellishment per story, however they are always pretty interesting reads and I'm glad to get the exposure (and a few GBP).  Also, since this story isn't viewable in Thailand without a VPN, here is the same series published on Mixmag.org yesterday.  Thanks a lot to everybody who views my pictures

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

Attached are a few more photos from the New World mall which I visited on Sunday.  Also, after getting a few requests, I've put together a photobook that documents my urbex photography in Thailand over the past year.  You can view it here with a full digital version to flip through.  I'm not expecting to sell much, it was just fun to go through my best photos and reflect on all the places I've been able to explore since March 2016.    I was also lucky to get the cover of Litro Magazine UK this month, along with a photo essay feature.  It 's a print-only magazine, so I put my photo essay here for anyone who's interested.  I discussed urban exploration photography in Thailand within the context of the 'Changes' theme.  

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

I made it into the New World mall this morning, which was a difficult climb up a tree/wall and down a very unstable and shaky makeshift ladder (pictured).  I was surprised to see that there were still a few koi and carp in the flooded ground floor (after the 3000 or so original fish were removed in 2015).  Still a great place for photos.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

I shot photos at an abandoned house in Samut Sakhon last weekend, full details in the link.  It was built by a well-off family about 40 years ago but abandoned after the family was murdered.  I got all of the information that I have from a colleague who grew up in Mahachai. Her parents were in their mid-teens when the events occurred and remember it well as it was very big news in such a small community.  Their is apparently a local archive with microfilm/microfiche copies of old newspapers which have the original stories.  I'd really like to hear if anyone has any other information about this, esp. from the news at the time. This series will be released in an article next week which I hope will be picked up & maybe even make it to Thai media (has happened once before with my Abandoned Mansions article).  If that happens, there is a chance that more information can be shared.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

The full series from my I.C.E. tower adventure is here.  The story is up for sale on my syndicator's site, but it doesn't look like it's going to sell.  Not disappointed as It was a lot of fun and I ended up with some good shots.  Thanks for viewing!  Will post some pictures later of my new project, an abandoned house in Samut Sakhon where some murders were committed decades ago.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

4 hours ago, Lannig said:

Astonishing series, really. Loved it.

Would you share the GPS coordinates of this gas station? or at least define its location? I happen to live in this area when in the LOS, can't recall seeing it, would be curious to go take a look (and no, I won't take pictures, I'm a terrible photographer anyway)

 I took a look at my navigational history from the drive & it's somewhere close to here. 

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

I finished a series of photos that I took at an abandoned gas station in Nakhon Sawan on new year's day.   The sky really added to the atmosphere of the location and made for some good shooting.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

Also, I got a few shots in an abandoned hospital which required a lot of sneaking around and diversion tactics (my gf spoke with the guard while I snuck around for just a few minutes).  They've been filming a horror movie there recently with the  director Poj Arnon.   Here are my favorites from the few photos I was able to take in two visits.

[Abandoned, Derelict, Decaying Locations Around Thailand]

I made it into the I.C.E. tower near Din Daeng on Saturday before dawn.  No comment (for now) as to how, as a story will likely be published soon.  It's very restricted nowadays due to recent vandalism done by foreign 'visitors'.  Officially I'm saying that we paid a guard.  Anyway, it's 37 floors, abandoned for 20 years since the TomYumGoong Crisis of '97, and a really cool place for photos.  Here are three of my favorites.