Today was the day I would finally get to see a spot I have wanted since I had started exploring. It’s a abandoned football field that is located in Michigan. We had woke up maybe an hour or two before the sun had rise. Once arriving at the location we met up with another few explorers. I wasn’t expecting to be meeting up with so many people but it was very nice meeting people who I had followed and always wanted me through Instagram. I would say the the number of people we had all together was about 10 people today which in my opinion is way too much. Moving forward we all started walking towards the stadium. The weather in the morning was very cold it must’ve been in the 20s because I was wearing gloves and a beanie. As we cautiously approached we watched as the security trucked circled around the stadium every 5-10 minutes. After he made another round we started running towards the stadium.
Once at the stadium we all struggled to find a way in, I found a way in by climbing along with Jordan, Bren, and some of the others. Although unfortunately some didn’t go through entree and found another way in. Once in, I immediately took out my camera and was just amazed how beautiful the place was. I took as much photos as I can climbing from the to the top and racing my way down to the bottom. The whole thing was just unreal and so much to take it. It was just a good feeling to be at a place you have seen but never thought you would ever go to. Although I was having the time of my life I ended up losing my friends. Me and another explorer named Jason stuck together and started heading out. As I climbed out myself I met up with the others. I started racing out and then a police car had pulled up in front of us. Fortunately they let us go, they had said someone called the cops on us and said “Photographers are gonna be at Pontiac Stadium at sunrise".” I was shocked that someone had went out their way and told on us.
After that we all grabbed breakfast at burger king and continued to explore. It was by then that we realized that this was way too much people to explore with. So we all shot two abandoned schools together and decided that we should split up and meet up later. Our group went on our own and we pretty much shot about 3 churches and a few other spots. None of them really stood out too much they all started to feel the same after shooting so much through the week. We even tried attempting an abandoned zoo but unlucky enough the cops was hounding us around. Driving around though, I realized that Detroit does remind me of the movie 8 Mile very much. The way people dress and the feeling you get driving around really makes me think of the movie. I do really like the city though it is something I am not used to especially the cold weather.
It was getting late and we had time for one more spot. So we joined back up with the group to shoot one more spot and it was another school. The whole school was pretty decayed besides the library, auditorium, and basketball court. While taking photos though, we heard some people scrapping some coppers out the school. It was a awkward situation but we did not want to get involved with them so we let them be. After shooting we all had departed and went to bed early because we wanted to knock out two more spots and check out this place called the Heidelberg Project the next day before my flight back.
The next day had come, It was early but the sun was already out. The first spot we were going in was an old abandoned church with alarms on them, at least so we heard. Even with an alarm we were going to do a “run and gun” (shoot everything as quickly as possible.). The way in was simple we jumped a fence and into a widow. Once in we started shooting immediately, we didn’t hear anything go off so we continued and ran to the other side. We then decided to just leave and not risk it after getting a good amount of shots. So we left and got into the car immediately. Safe and sound but then a cop car comes next to us and just said “no urbex” . We laughed and he just drove off.
The next spot was a big building with a nice lobby and roof architecture. The way in this one was pretty tough since the fence had no holes and barbed wires one the top. So we decided to just do it the hard way and hop over a barbed wire fence. Once over we shot everything on the bottom floor. Jordan decided to just go back to the car. Me and Bren continued up and we heard a loud noise outside but we did not know what it was. We got to the top and shot everything, Jordan then calls and said he's hurt and that he wants to take off. We then rushed down and to the car. Jordan was in the car bleeding a big from his arm and face. He got caught on the barbed wire trying to hop back over and messed up his arm pretty bad. Our trip was over and we had to call it from there. I unfortunately did not get to see the Heidelberg Project but overall it was seriously one of the best times of my life.
