Questionnaire (Calle20)

- Name, occupation, place and date of birth.

Elmar Dam
System engineer/ administrator at a university in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Date of birth: 13-02-’76, Delft, the Netherlands
Websites: www.elmar-dam.nl , www.e-sense.nl

- Please, write in a few lines a short biography.

Elmar Dam is an "urban explorer". The literal translation is "researcher / explorer of the urban ', all urban explorers investigate pretty much anything that can be found. Elmar is especially curious about the contents of abandoned (industrial) objects that are no longer of use in today’s civilization.

- ‘Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures’. Is that the main rule of urban explorers? Why?

It is actually an unwritten rule under Urban Explorers.
We simply respect abandonment. It’s so amazing to find objects where people haven’t been for over 30 years. Imagine you will see/ find things which haven’t been touched and seen by humanity in such long time. For example, when you open a closet in an abandoned house and all kinds of personal belongings are still there: shoes, radio’s, photo’s, newspapers (back to mid ‘30s), jackets, beds which are made up and ready to be slept in… We find things some people might be quite interested in. I mean interested in stealing those. So, we keep our mouths shut on where those places can be found. We photograph these brilliant things and leave the building ‘untouched’.

Moreover, we don’t break anything to get in. You’ll be surprised how often we find windows and doors which aren’t locked. Sometimes you have to climb a bit. We tell ourselves that urban exploration is a crime without any victims.

-What is the philosophy of the urban explorer?

I think it is mainly the urge to explore urban environments which are no longer of use and which people wouldn’t normally visit. This might be because they aren’t aware of their existence or because they don’t think about entering or infiltrate a building that is closed down or never finished. Or the ‘Do not enter, no trespassing sign’ keeps them off ;-). Sometimes it’s quite dangerous to explore. Running into asbestos and chemicals as mercury or acid is no exception. On top of that we have to be aware of the dilapidated state of the
object. I’ve seen parts of roofs coming down on places where I just walked, for example.
We preserve things by photography, which might be lost in the future due to demolishment, theft or graffiti ‘artists’. Objects go from tunnels to sewers, cranes, mines, power stations, all kinds of industry, military sites, houses, and so on.

-What is urban exploration for you?

I like the research, the history, architecture, the thrill and adrenaline during the exploration, the art of photography as means to preserve and document the object. And off course the rooftop beer!

-What does it represent in your life?

I search all kinds of newspapers for factories that went bankrupt. Everywhere I walk or drive I look at the architecture of buildings; I look for derelict and abandoned places everywhere. If I see a place with broken windows or some missing roof tiles, I wish to go inside. If I’m not able to do so immediately, I will make a note or a poi in my blackberry in order to get back there later. Unfortunately, most of the time it’s no big catch.

-It seems that people don’t mind much about those building of the past, letting them die. What do you think about that?

That is a difficult question. On the one hand I love the abandonment. I love to see how nature takes back its belongings, the decay. For example, I can sit or stand in one place for over half an hour, just to taste its’ emotion, to be inspired and to imagine how things might have been in the past.
On the other hand, it’s kind of a shame to let a beautiful building die and allow people to forget about its’ glory and brilliant architecture. Maybe it’s too much to ask for to bring these buildings back in their original state, although sometimes buildings are renovated for apartments. In my opinion that’s a good middle way.
To be honest, I prefer the first option! This is especially the case, when I drove 350 km to visit a nice site where I heard of, in order to see it get renovated upon arrival. Pity!

- How and when did you begin with urban exploration?

As a 10 year old child I already had the explore urge for abandoned buildings. I spent for example lots of time in an old university in the city I lived in, just exploring and wandering the hallways. Later on, there lived some squatters and the building got trashed. Unfortunately, they demolished the building before I got interested in photography. Since approximately 5 years I photograph abandonment and have got attracted to urban exploration again. For a year now, I bring models. I personally think it turns out great to merge humanity with abandonment.

- How many places have you visited?

Not every site I visited can be found on my website. I think I visited over 125 objects in the past.

- From all the places you have been to. What is the abbandoned place that impressed you the most?

I have a few, but I think this must be a blast furnace in Belgium that is now being demolished. Besides that one, the lung hospital near Berlin was quite impressive too. Some residential houses were also cool to visit; I dig the little details there very much. At some sites I get too many disincentives to get that satisfying picture. At other sites you have to look quite good to get the perfect composition. I must say, the latter satisfies me more. When one sees a broken mirror/ toilet or the peeling paint of a door or wall for the first time, it’s overwhelming. Having seen this hundreds of times, I tend to get more critical about the composition. More and more, I try to tell a story within that one picture and let the viewer feel my emotions concerning the location in the photograph.

Elmar Dam fotografie

What im doing (twitr)

My latest Flickr: