Urban Exploring: Hacking the Physical World

Presented at The Fifth HOPE (2004), July 11, 2004, 1 p.m. (60 minutes).

Urban exploring is the art of going places off limits to most and unseen by many. Explorers are brave souls who often dredge through great dangers for their art. Often they research and document historic abandoned places to accompany pictures and video taken on the locations of sites with enormous history. Otherwise they are simply in search of a beautiful view. John and Laura will talk about the different locations of interest to urban explorers, such as abandoned asylums, steam tunnels, rooftops, abandoned rail spurs, former used industrial sites, and deserted gold coast estates. From there they will go into how this art is best performed and various associated issues. Topics will include how to find urban exploration sites, how to go about exploring and documenting them, UE photography and video, computer assisted exploring, and research techniques to learn about a site. A Video CD presentation will be shown to illustrate urban exploring and show some cool places.


Presenters:

  • John and Laura Leita
    John Leita aka Archivist graduated with a bachelors in engineering from SUNY Stony Brook. He has done some work for Brookhaven National Labs as well as other engineering companies. He has been an avid urban explorer for many years and is currently editor and webmaster for Long Island Oddities, a magazine and website devoted to odd finds, urban exploring, and forgotten history. Much like many urban explorers, he also shares a strong love of computers and hacking. Laura Cummings-Leita aka ShadowCat graduated with a bachelors in English from SUNY Stony Brook. Since then she has held various jobs from computer instructor for the blind to English teacher. She is now coeditor and webmaster of Long Island Oddities, a magazine and website dedicated to the strange and unusual on Long Island. She has been an avid urban explorer for many years.

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