The reason I spend nights exploring such places is my ongoing photo series, in which I take advantage of the darkness to distort reality with my lights. It allows me to invent a new life for buildings which will probably never be used again. I am not here to document, but rather to create a different world.

The image creation process begins with choosing a frame and a composition. Then, I use speedlights and flashlights to create the ambiance, sometimes integrating myself in the picture. Depending on the complexity and my inspiration, one photo takes from 20 minutes to more than an hour. I avoid getting too much in a rush—it’s important to get everything right directly on location, as it saves hours of post-production!

During the peak of the pandemic in my country, I stayed at home, and thus, when the situation became better, I was excited to work again on this project. Urban exploration is more fun with friends, but with the social distancing rules, I had to go solo.

I often work until 3 am and later. Sometimes I see the sunrise; it’s a peaceful moment. When the place I picked is far from home, I camp there. It’s an interesting experience to sleep in a ghost town and to walk around in the morning!

After several months of social distancing, I am now starting to bring friends along for these night adventures. Since it is summer, I meet other explorers and curious folks. For instance, during a session in an old hospital area, I came across a group of young ghost hunters. And during one of my last expeditions, I climbed a huge, rusty excavator with a friend and some nice people we'd just met. Original situations to make friends!

If you are interested, you can find my previous post here on Bored Panda!