Guerilla photography:Derelict factory

Sometimes to get good images you have to break some rules.

My friend and I often search for derelict and abandoned buildings to photograph. There is something about these old forgotten places that fascinate us. They are relics of another age and are full of ghosts of the people that worked and sometimes died there. They exude atmosphere that only comes with time.The architecture is amazing. Unfortunately some of them are hard to get into and "forbidden zones".
This abandoned cement factory has been shut since 1930.It must have been a noisy, dangerous and dirty place to work full of huge machines and caustic materials.

Since then it has been for years a historic site protected from demolition and a place people could explore and enjoy. It has been used for movies and music videos as you could not build a better Gothic stage set.Families used to picnic in it's park like grounds.I visited it sometimes as a kid with my family.
But the ravages of time and nature took their toll and gradually it fell into disrepair and started literally to fall to bits.

It became too dangerous to set foot inside so the city closed it off to visitors and erected fences around it.But this did not deter everyone and as you can see many people have left their mark over the years since.

A few years ago the city surrounded the area with more serious higher fences and put up signs forbidding entry and promising heavy fines and trespass notices from police for anyone trying to enter.It is patrolled by security guards regularly too.The city can't demolish it because of it's historic significance as one of the first and the largest cement factories in New Zealand-built in the late 1800's.But they can't afford to restore it to a safe condition for entry.It's in limbo -like so many amazing historic sites.

The factory is on the city outskirts down a steep winding dirt road.Before entering the factory buildings we had to spend some days working out at what time the security guards did their rounds.We waited for a rainy day so there were hardly any people in the area.We agreed one of us would enter the site and the other would stay outside the fence on guard to warn of any potential problems or come to help the other if that was necessary..Then we would swap places.We agreed on only half an hour each to explore the buildings and take photos.

I won't say how we got in but we didn't damage anything and the only damage would have been to ourselves.We had a first aid kit for any injuries that we may have got getting over the fence or inside.

At this stage I have to say I am in no way encouraging this sort of activity.I realise the factory is a prohibited area because the risk of injury from falling masonry, heavy metal,deep holes and other potential injuries.The ground is uneven and strewn with masonry,glass,bottles,metal,dirty pools,all sorts of fallen stone and machinery.We were prepared for the worst and were prepared to pay the fines and be trespassed because we thought the opportunity for great images was going to be worth it.Plus we wanted to keep a valuable historic record of this place before it eventually comes crashing down forever.If one of us had been seriously injured by falling debris then that was a cost we were also prepared to pay-although we calculated the risk of that was pretty small as we were not there long.We could have been wrong.

Was all this worth it?
I'll let you photography lovers decide.There were too many shots for one post so if there is enough interest I will put up some more.

You can just see my friend in this last image dwarfed by one of the buildings.We were switching roles from lookout to photographer.

All photos taken on a Huawei P30 Pro.