Urban exploration, a hobby involving climbing high-rise buildings, towers, bridges, or venturing deep underground, has become popular among some young people in the former Soviet Union. The region's vast territory is dotted with grandiose buildings and industrial infrastructure left over from the USSR, many of which are unused and empty.
Photographers like Vadim Makhorov capture striking images inside functioning power plants, while others, such as Vitaly Raskalov, take pictures of explorers clinging to Soviet-era symbols like the red star on a Moscow building. The dangers are evident; many explorers do not wear helmets, and at least one death has been reported.
Sam Namos, who photographed an explorer atop a huge satellite dish, says, 'What appeals to me the most is the ambience of lost places. The process of looking for them is breathtaking, too.' Olena Zinchenko, who helped organise an exhibition in Kiev, notes that these pictures 'show our cities from the inside' and 'tell the story of industrial decline in the former Soviet Union.'
Under Russian law, trespassing on private property is punishable by a small fine, but entering abandoned and unguarded buildings is usually legal. Explorers like Yaroslav Segeda have discovered hidden wonders, such as a gypsum mine in eastern Ukraine that led to an underground city with its own traffic and street signs.
