RurEx and the Art of Creative Trespass

UrbEx, or urban exploration, is the hottest of hot photography trends at the moment, it seems, if one can judge by what art directors are selecting as upper-tier stock or by popularity on crowd-sourced sites. I have to admit, I love them myself. Personally, I love an old empty building, love sifting through the debris left behind, love to watch the succession of nature over architecture. My biggest gripe was that you can't do UrbEx if you're not urban.

RurEx, as a term, is much less popular, less well-understood, and that may be due in large part to a long existence under other names. Sometimes known as "barn-hunting," "old-housing," or, as I've heard somewhat derogatorily, "junking," RurEx is the exploration of small towns and rural areas, houses, barns, and business districts, often abandaned.

Lest ye think that I'm jumping aboard this train at the height of its popularity, I feel I must mention that I've been an old-houser almost since birth. On my father's farm still stood several old homestead sites, complete with limestone and framed houses, cellars, outbuildings, even one with a wine cellar. This last, I considered so enchanting, the house so lovely, and the setting so idyllic that I dubbed it with the highest of all honors, calling it "The House at Pooh Corner." Give me a break, I was three.

Anyway... back then no one really cared if you were poking around in their old houses, and hell, we lived so far in the middle of nowhere that who was gonna catch us anyway? Now, I worry about it just a bit more. Police and landowners alike watch for trespassers because of the rural meth explosion; liability and litigiousness scare farmers perhaps even more. However, it's just not all that practical to go poking around for landowners when you see that beautiful old barn or the burnt-out house.

I'm not going to try to defend my propensity toward trespassing; I know it's naughty and fully expect, every time I partake, to get a warning, a ticket, or handcuffed. That's a risk I'll take. One, because I can run fast enough if I have to, and two, because I've found that a confident bearing keeps people from questioning if you really belong in there.

So, without further ado, here are a few of my RurEx shots. Remember that you can buy prints or send free eCards of these, and be sure to check out my Etsy store. I sell groupings of shots there (some from the blog, some not), so if you want a group of 9 or 16 prints to put on your wall, it's more economical to do it that way.