We got in touch with Attila Deák, a 46-year-old Hungarian 3D artist, creative director, architect, photographer and the founder of The Urbex Club, to learn more about urbex photography and his experience exploring derelict urban structures.

The Urbex Club is an online platform (website, Facebook) dedicated to the team’s urbex travels. “We’ve visited more than 260 sites all over the world. Our site documents the highlights of the silent worlds. Over the past 22 years, we have been to hotels, castles, barracks, warehouses, villas, hospitals, and cultural venues, among others, scattered across 45 countries, and world-famous ruins such as 30+ ancient temples, Angkor in Cambodia, Chornobyl and Pripyat in Ukraine, the giant abandoned hotels of Croatia and the ‘haunted’ Ghost Hotel in Bali.

We are trying to focus on publishing consistent high-quality photos, and a detailed in-depth background story as well. This is perhaps the most interesting part of the project – constructing the narrative collectively. What was the building used for? Who owned it? Why did it become deserted? Often people who are closely linked to the site chime in with personal stories or observations.” Scroll down to read the whole interview!

Attila Deák is a graduated architect, and he is leading the movie team at Brick Visual, making architectural visualization movies for the leading developers. The artist shared that as a hobby, he is a backpacker, traveling all over the world: “I really like to get off the path, take photos, and do travel vlogging, but my biggest hobby is urbex photography.”

The artist has been intrigued by deserted constructions since the age of 9 when in Hungary, the communist era ended, and the whole country was full of freshly abandoned buildings left there by the Russian troops. “We started to climb fences with my cousins to enter these factories, resorts, schools, offices, and barracks, but it was completely hidden from our parents, they thought that we were perfect kids. So it’s been 36 years that I’ve been an urbexer. Now taking it more and more seriously, as well as having 11000+ followers, gives me so much appreciation and positive feedback.

I started taking photos around 19 when I traveled a lot, and later I realized that people really like my photography style, and what I really like is to take artistic photos to show the strange mood of these sites. It makes me happy to present the unreachable decayed places to the viewers who probably would never be brave enough to enter any abandoned building.”

After exploring so many forgotten places, it might be hard to pick the one that has left the biggest impression. However, Attila shared that the “Arzt villa” in Germany was his favorite abandoned building he has ever discovered. “We had found hints of the location on Facebook among comments, but I had to wait 3 years to be able to pinpoint exactly where to find the mansion. This amazing building consists of many intriguing spaces and objects, like surgery with test tubes and various medical equipment, a library replete with books, a fully equipped kitchen from the seventies, etc. The most interesting piece is the grand piano which is worth a couple of thousand Euros, still in good condition. Owing to the spooky charm, haunted mood, and relatively intact fixtures of the villa, it later became a world-famous urbex location. Sadly, fame has taken its toll on the mansion – several objects such as formaldehyde bottles with animal remains have been stolen from the surgery.”

Exploring abandoned places is not a walk in the clouds and one should be aware of potential hazards before venturing into such locations. According to Attila, this is an extreme hobby in a way because most of the properties he visits are difficult to find and access, and there are several serious dangers. “I never go alone, because these places can be really dangerous, the structure of the roof-less buildings can collapse anytime. Most often I explore the urbex sites with my wife, and The Urbex Club has got two more members who often come with us in Europe and Asia. Once I’m there, I follow a set of unwritten rules – the ethos of the urbex community is that you don’t share the whereabouts of the site with anyone, as that would attract vandals or thieves who would strip the building of its values. You don’t move or take any objects either, or arrange the scene for a photo – you are only a spectator who captures what is there to see, to archive it because it will disappear soon and probably forever.”

There might be different approaches to urbex photography. While some focus on the location’s historical and cultural value, others are interested in capturing the aesthetic appeal of the decay. As a lover of photography and ruin enthusiast, Attila ventures into secluded and empty buildings to experience the melancholic beauty of the abandoned. “I’m trying to capture the whole building with a wide lens, but I’m also using a long lens to portray the amazing details. The color scheme of the original photos are rather nondescript – I go a bit overboard when editing them to create a more exceptional image. I really like to enhance the color settings of the images with my own style to create a cross-balanced color grading composition that would attract more attention. This way when I post these works to the blog and social media, I get more engagement (likes, comments, shares) and visibility. The more people I reach, the better, because the stories that accompany the images are incomplete – I need the online community’s input to get more details about the history of the place, which is my overall goal besides chasing good feedback and likes.”

Attila shared that the process of finding locations starts with extensive research before embarking on an expedition. “I’m spending long hours examining urbex forums, Facebook urbex groups and pages, Instagram feeds, Google satellite maps, and books to find leads for interesting locations almost every week. These are only bits of information, so I have to be observant of the background, surrounding environment, and clues that give away at least the country of the site. After I connect the dots and identify the place, finally I add it to my private urbex map on Google. Now I have thousands of locations everywhere rated on a four-star scale. Whenever I’m traveling the world, I use this as my guide and make stops along the way. Sometimes I’m refreshing the information, is it still there, or has it been demolished, or is it being reconstructed, or is the area protected, is it possible to go in, and how.”

Lastly, Attila revealed that he always wanted to share his urbex adventures with friends who are also talented and experienced photographers but he couldn’t find anybody except two mates. So the artist is still open to accepting new members who are ready to discover abandoned places, document them to a high standard, and also do the research on the background story! So, if you’re interested in this type of adventure, this might be your chance to join the courageous and creative team!