May 7, 2009 in Photography by Richard
Urbex is a great way to work with low lighting and great for capturing textures colors and all kinds of shapes and shadows, plus it is fun as hell. Here is a photo set from some of my first Urban exploration trips.
We begin with a little history
Floyd Bennett Field opened in 1931 as New York City’s first municipal airport. Building 1, as the Ryan Center was known then, served as the control tower and passenger terminal building.
During the 1930’s “Golden Age of Aviation” thousands gathered around Building 1 to watch as new aviation records were set by Howard Hughes, Wiley Post, Amelia Earhart, and Jacqueline Cochran. During this time there was significant beautification done to the building by the Works Progress Administration.
In June of 1941 Floyd Bennett Field was acquired by the U.S. Navy who designated it Naval Air Station New York. During World War II Floyd Bennett Field quickly became the most critical Naval Air Station on the East Coast serving as a supply hub, aircraft delivery staging ground, and the home for submarine- hunting and convoy protection squadrons. Its military service to the nation continued through the Korean War and the Vietnam War until the Naval Air Station was closed in 1972 and transferred to the National Park Service as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.
I’m not going to go too much farther into the history except to say the previous presence of the Coast Guard, Naval air base, current and past police and various helipads and restoration projects spice up the place. Here is a map in which I have located the current abandoned buildings and highlighted them in yellow, the photos that I am showing today correspond to the red overlay. In the future I will explore the other buildings that are highlighted and post pictures also. (Stolen from this link and modified)
The main hangar room.
A hole always has its mysteries, although we chose not to explore this one….for now. (I am sure it is just pipes anyway)
Somebody has left me bright “green” garbage bags for a good shot and a hole in the roof to give the perfect light. Props also for the tire.
Just really love this old gas pump, although im sure its not as old as I like to think. I hope Ames was freed.
Not sure but I am going to take a guess it was the front of the Gas Tank, I just love how this metal looks like it is being eaten by the ground and returning to its natural Mineral State.
Complete carnage.
A old flight navigating map that we found in the dark, good old LED flashlight helped us find it.
White stuff I am going to assume(and maybe pretend) wasn’t asbestos, just the compound they use in plaster that drips everywhere after it rains a million times. Still Awesome that they formed stalactites.
Amazing find, I am sure these were used as show a little while back, or maybe only once a year.
Of course you were hoping I took a shot of the inside. There was an ignition key in the glove compartment and of course out of curiosity we tried to start it but the battery was probably not connected or non-existent. We left it alone for fear it might be a felony to even touch these relics.
Front of a navy seabeas WW2 utility truck.
If you look closely you can see the teddy-bears head ripped off.
Building 0, Trees 1
Almost looks like the chair Morpheus sat on in the first Matrix.
This was located in the abandoned Police Station, of course lucky stripe.
I swear I did not kill or maim the cat or even write that card, but it was a strange find in the last room at the police station.(ok we did place the card next to it, but we found it in the room)
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