The Shard, London

[SeffyboyUK]

Nice shots, interesting to see another Shard report. Made for a good read too!

 

[the|td4]

not impressed with this group at all, attention seekers never do impress me haven seen all the news crap !

Same here.

 

[nelly]

not impressed with this group at all, attention seekers never do impress me haven seen all the news crap !

Same here.

Guys, not wishing to turn this into a debate but people who push boundaries will always attract attention and rightly so, I suppose its the essence of exploration of all kinds from the beginning of time, sometimes, it's what it takes to push people to try new and risky things.

 

[Pincheck]

Guys, not wishing to turn this into a debate but people who push boundaries will always attract attention and rightly so, I suppose its the essence of exploration of all kinds from the beginning of time, sometimes, it's what it takes to push people to try new and risky things.

I don't mind a debate this isn't derelict is it its just a live infiltration, fail to see what is impressive about going into a building site. All it is are attention seekers trying to make a name for themselves.

The people i admire are the ones who do stuff but don't go about shouting "look at me ain't i the dogs bollocks"That gives me the dry Boke mate and always will.

Its only people trying to see who can piss higher on a wall as far as i can see and its sadly more common these days which is why i post very little these day

 

[nelly]

Now I know Ben will reply to this that DP isn't an Urban Exploration site, but Urban Exploration and Dereliction go hand in had to a massive degree and part of Urban Exploration is High Places and Live Sites and infiltration of these places.

Everybody has their own tastes, personally I can't get my head around Pill Boxes, to me they are just 4 (or more) walls with a slab for a roof, but if others enjoy finding, photographing and identifying them then bloody good luck to them, similarly I love a hospital or a church but I dare say there are many out there that can't see why, and for this reason, I don't usually venture into the Pill Box posts and I really can't work out why you clicked on a link that reports the highest building in Europe just to leave a negative comment with intermingled rudeness?

The reason that I said that I don't wish to turn this into a debate is that I don't want to hijack a bloody good report with bickering so for this reason I'm going to leave it here

 

[nelly]

P.S. I had to Google "Dry Boke", bloody foreigners!!!

 

[ImmortalShadow]

Massive amounts of kudos to you, man! That's seriously awesome. Superb photos as usual, too

 

[cogito]

Guys, not wishing to turn this into a debate but people who push boundaries will always attract attention and rightly so.

Nail. Head.

The antics of people entering derelict buildings or exploring previously unseen spaces in an urban environment (or otherwise) has long attracted media attention and it will continue to do so. Hell, there's a certain forum that heavily criticises the antics of the LCC and Dr. Bradley Garrett yet at the same time has a whole section of their forum dedicated to features and mentions in the news including guides on how to invoice the parties that use their photos. Hypocrisy? Most certainly.

Since the media have always picked up on the kind of thing that people like us engage in, it's down to us as a community to 1) embrace the fact that's not going to change and 2) paint ourselves in the light that we wish to be represented to the public. There have been a lot of features in the media that feature a lot of loaded language, misguided comments from whatever councillor or member of the Police force that has been available for comment and topped off with a dash of sensationalism and choice comments from the internet with no context whatsoever.

I for one can't think of a single person better suited to talking to the media/public about urban exploration and dereliction than Dr. Garrett, and the fact that the LCC have released images from the Shard simultaneously some 18 months down the line and the media have jumped on it has had no negative affect on the exploring and dereliction communities whatsoever, it's affected no individuals or groups detrimentally and the various businesses that it affects were already long aware and had a chance to make changes before it's gone public.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no problems here... Nothing to get your panties in a bunch over.

Just a lot of very, very enjoyable photos!

 

[krela]

I'm not that bothered about stuff like this being here. I think the argument is about attention whoring, which isn't really fair. The only reason this story is all over the news is because it became an Associated Press story that got syndicated by the various news companies. If you look around it's the exact same story with the exact same wording on most websites, and all the 'quotes' are lifted straight from the place hacking website. So no-one ever actually spoke to the press. It's a story which was always likely to get sensationalised because of the Olympics and because it's the UKs tallest building. That doesn't make it attention whoring.

It's also worth noting that EofD isn't Bradley Garrett and it's not his report that got picked up on.

If getting to the top of the UKs tallest building doesn't interest you then like nelly said, just move along. There's space for lots of different things here and not everything is going to interest everyone.

 

[nelly]

I take it that Bradley's double page interview in today's Sun won't be to everybody liking then

 

[Cuban B.]

Well I find there's two types of explorers going about, those who blab to the press and those who keep their mouths shut. If I know anyone that's blabbed to the press I'll cut all contact with them and encourage my exploring partners to do the same. I think that's the best way

 

[cogito]

The major point that a lot of people seem to have missed, is that Dr Garrett didn't go running to the press shouting PRINT THIS PRINT THIS. A couple of news outlets have been monitoring his Place Hacking blog which is to be expected after some of last years occurrences, and the press being the press will publish whatever they hell they want.

Upon this happening, things can get very dangerous very quickly. In the past if left alone, these reports quickly descend into sensationalist reports littered with loaded language, out of context quotes and a smattering of rhetoric aimed at the readers and viewers generally designed to make them ever more fearful of the unknown. What Dr Garrett did though was to work flat out for several days to ensure that every media outlet that got hold of it and contacted him was guided in a more accurate and appropriate direction as a means of damage control. As a result almost all the media coverage of the Shard escapades has been a lot more positive than many other media reports that we see popping up from time to time (normally on a more local scale) and a damn sight more positive than it could have been if he left them to run what the hell they wanted.

Of course, if you'd rather let the press run wild with a report that you produced and not utter a corrective word to them then be my guest. Although you'd be doing a lot more harm to the community than good that way.

 

[Cuban B.]

Assuming that is what happened (and I don't believe it is), by helping the press he's turned a story that would've probably featured in a couple of tabloids into one that went national across the newspapers and news networks. With the much higher coverage for a less negative and wider ranging urbex story, I think it will result in places in the area getting tighter, more of the wrong eyes looking at those sites, and more people cashing in on urbex related stories. All of which seem like a bad outcome.

 

[krela]

Okay I think we get your point Cuban B, this isn't Dr Garretts thread, it has nothing to do with him, now can we drop it please?

 

[Ninja Kitten]

well said Krela...lets enjoy the view... brilliant..wish i had the guts to do it ..ide be up there in a flash..

 

[King Al]

Superb pics EoD, great write up as always!!

 

[Pincheck]

Yes buts its still a live explore isn't it krela which you said was not what DP was about ? if i remember correctly. Which is why you closed the sub forum,on live explores as it then cut out the obsessive look at me crowed sorry but what Cuban said is relevant regardless of this thread.

 

[wolfism]

The major point that a lot of people seem to have missed, is that Dr Garrett didn't go running to the press shouting PRINT THIS PRINT THIS.

That's simply not true, what the Sun printed here was "Here he writes for The Sun to explain what it is like to scale Europe’s tallest building and why he risks his life to explore the hidden gems of the world’s cities."

Of course, if you'd rather let the press run wild with a report that you produced and not utter a corrective word to them then be my guest. Although you'd be doing a lot more harm to the community than good that way.

Arguably there are no positive outcomes for the "community", but set against that there is the kudos gained and any money which Bradley Garrett made from the images being published. I'm sure I'm not the only one who recalls his rhetoric when he first appeared on various forums as goblinmerchant – strangely he didn't mention being a Murdoch stooge as his objective?

Also it's naive of you to imagine that you can influence any story in the tabloids: particularly if as Krela says, it was syndicated. Or are you really suggesting that Bradley Garrett had copy approval on the story?

Anyhow, not to distract from EofD's thread: the photos are terrific, well done.

 

[Sectionate]

Any attention in the media is bad attention.

 

[nelly]

But as Krela just said, this is not Bradleys report