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interview by: Bastiaan de Vries
all photos taken from www.abandoned-places.com
We've all known them as a child: the scary building down the street, the abandoned slaughterhouse, the run down hotel in the city... all places we only dare enter once, only to come out running and screaming, and never looking back. Years later, as adults, we still dream of them, the dark corridors, dusty closets and eerie bathrooms, constantly reminding ourselves never to enter such a haunted place again. There are, however, exceptions.
Meet Captain Henk Van Rensbergen. Born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1968, Van Rensbergen is by trade an airline pilot. But although he has a very grown-up job, he stays true to his childhood by not only exploring every abandoned building he can find, he also photographs and catalogues them on his site, www.abandoned-places.com -- featuring dozens of sites and hundreds of photgraphs -- so everyone can take a stroll through creepy locations like Triage Lavoir du Roton, Castle of Mesen and the Coalmine of Cheratte. (Van Rensbergen pictured below)
Recently we reviewed the new Raison D'ętre album called Requiem For Abandoned Souls. Not only was the music outstanding, the artwork was as well. Upon further inspection it turned out the man behind the photographs used in the artwork was none other than Van Rensbergen. This prompted me to get in touch and ask about his peculiar hobby and the dark side of abandoned places.
Maelstrom: What would you say was the most impressive place you have visited so far?
Henk van Rensbergen: The old CMB building in Antwerp was a great urban adventure: right in the middle of the city center, yet a completely isolated world. There were pitch dark cellars with old documents, luxurious offices, rooftop views... Tertre (below) was also a great discovery: a complete industrial complex seemingly abandoned overnight. Unfortunately, both places have been demolished now.
Maelstrom: Of course with taking pictures, you need equipment. Could you explain which equipment you use and why you prefer that above say a different brand or type?
Henk van Rensbergen: I started with a Pentax Program A reflex camera and a couple of zooms years ago until my photography teacher told me I’d should get rid of the zooms and think about buying a Leica M4 (pictured below). I followed his advice and haven’t looked back ever since. It’s sturdy, discreet, top quality gear. Very expensive, however (which is why I bought my equipment second hand), and maybe a bit outdated, but it does force you to look and think before you shoot, and that’s what photography is about.
Maelstrom: The pictures on the website, I think mainly because of the places that are depicted, have an old feeling, does the equipment you use need to reflect that?
Henk van Rensbergen: I think that one could use the latest digital camera to shoot photos in these places too, and get an “old feeling” to the photos if that is the intention. Still I think it’s possible to feel and see the difference between digital and film: the grain and smoothness of film translate better what I want to say with my photos.
Maelstrom: You come across some wonderfully abandoned places, but do you ever meet peculiar people on your adventures?
Henk van Rensbergen: I'm very careful to avoid such encounters, but yes, I've met thieves, the police and occasionally another photographer. (relics from someone's house, below)
Maelstrom: To take pictures like you do, I assume one needs a certain amount of talent and or artistic vision, what about more practical photography principles, what do you think is needed to take pictures of such quality?
Henk van Rensbergen: To some degree you must know the theory behind the shutter button – that will give you the freedom to express what you want to express. Measuring light and exposure are things you can learn. Using a tripod, knowing the limits of your lenses, depth of field are things you must understand and apply to get results. On the other hand you can talk about composition or sharpness but in the end it’s up to the photographer to actually play with his composition and eventually break the rules to achieve something surprising … (the military hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, below)
Maelstrom: What about the places you visit? What would you say was the most scary or dangerous location? Have you ever, say, locked yourself in, or worse, fallen down somewhere with no ladder in sight?
Henk van Rensbergen: Scary and dangerous may be different. I spent a couple of nights in the Lemaire hospital (below). It was terrifying: after a couple of hours in the darkness I just couldn’t stay any longer. On top of that, on one of those nights my car refused to start…
Van Rensbegen says this about the Lemaire hospital on his site:
"Why is this place so scary at night ? Why is my instinct yelling in my ears that my back is unguarded when I peer through my camera ? I know the background noises are natural, doors move with the wind, I know the water drips irregularly and branches knock on windows. Nobody can walk here without making noise, but when I walk around, the hospital trembles as in an earthquake (masking all other noises). And when I stop walking there is a suspicious silence, until on the third floor a door makes a grating sound... I hate and love going here by myself."
 I did lock myself in one day when a door slammed closed by a draft of wind. It was on the second floor of the Valdor hospital ("Frankenstein's hospital," pictured below - Roberto) and none of the doors had handles. After trying all sorts of stuff, a desperate kung fu manoeuvre opened the door. I carry a spare door handle ever since. Dangerous buildings are a different story: you’ve got to understand the dangers and be very careful. Rather say “no” than take stupid risks.
Maelstrom: I think the big question would be, why? Why this hobby? Do you think it could be because of the wonderful feeling of being absolutely alone physically, yet spiritually you are trespassing busy grounds? Perhaps somehow being in a place that turned in such a state that it became a place where no one has ever been before?
Henk van Rensbergen: Why? it has always been an obsession for me to venture in forbidden places: I did it as a kid – I’m still doing it now (where as many others just stopped when they grew up). I love to rediscover what has been forgotten, to relive what has happened, to listen to sounds that no longer are, to just sit down and imagine what the ghosts that are still around are telling me, showing me… Catching this inside a camera, on negative black and white or colour slide isn’t easy. I need to be alone to be able to concentrate and translate that feeling. (a bird from Warehouse B, or "The Prison," below)
Maelstrom: Your site also features some “impossible projects,” why do you call them impossible? Could you perhaps give some insight to one of the projects?
Henk van Rensbergen: The impossible projects were born out of my fascination for huge, mysterious, inaccessible buildings. Maybe also out of frustration of not being able to visit places like that I made up my own. I called them impossible because I knew I would never see them, visit them. Also I’ve tried to make them impossible, but have to admit now that nothing is impossible and that maybe these buildings really could exist one day (or have existed in the past) … (Warehouse B, or "The Prison," below)
Maelstrom: How far away has your hobby taken you? I assume you being a pilot is very handy, do you ever visit locations when you have to fly somewhere? Also, what is a location that you still definitely want to visit?
Henk van Rensbergen: I’ve travelled on purpose to visit places or regions (Hungary, Poland) but lack of time prevents me from doing it more often. Most of the places I visit are around Belgium (a paradise for my passion). I do sometimes explore when on flying but it’s double risky: I’m abroad which is always more difficult when you get busted, and on top of that I really can’t afford spend the night in jail when I have to fly the next day … so I limit this to no-risk explorations only. (Van REnsbergen has photographed sites as far away as Cuba and Beirut, depicted below, respectively. - Roberto)
Havana:
Maelstrom: Can you give us an example of a risky exploration? Have you ever gotten in trouble with the law because of your hobby?
Henk van Rensbergen: No-risk meaning that I have permission to visit the place and I don't have to worry about getting caught. I've been in touch with "the law" a couple of times but it always worked out well. I've always treated security people with respect: they do their job and you're causing trouble for them. Apologies and a reasonable explanation are in place: don't ever get caught stealing or vandalizing ... (the coalmine of Cheratte, below)
Maelstrom: Have you ever done any professional work? Say open a gallery of your work? If not, do you think you ever will? I imagine such a gallery attracting a rather curious crowd.
Henk van Rensbergen: I’ve done some work on request, but obviously photography is a hobby and not my profession. A couple of years ago we had a one-day exposition with two friends of our work. It was in the cellar of the Remy tower in Leuven. It was fantastic: spotlights for the photos, an old bathtub with ice kept the drinks cool and we played our favorite music until the sun came up again! Finding a place like that (and being authorized to use it) was pure luck. It would be nice though to expose again, I just haven’t started working at that.
Maelstrom: Do you know and/or listen to any music that uses much of the same types of imagery as your pictures? I'm thinking here about dark ambient acts, death industrial and to a lesser extent, black metal.
Henk van Rensbergen: I’m 35 now and at some stage I stopped following up the new evolutions in music and kept on listening to what I gathered all these years, only discovering a fraction of all the good new stuff that is being made today … (some people send me their own music, there’s some great stuff out there).
Maelstrom: What are your all time favourite artists? not only musically, but painters, writers, anything.
Henk van Rensbergen: Music has had a big influence on who I am and what I like. With age I’ve started to see and understand more, I feel I can more easily and correctly judge the value of music which is great because you can find music of incredible value in all different styles of music : from classic over jazz to rock, heavy metal and industrial, ambient music. (an image from Triage Lavoir du Roton, below)
If you want names I’d have to open up my drawer with CDs…: Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Uriah Heep, Nirvana, Metallica, Mano Negra, the Buena Vista Social Club, Cesaria Evora, Paolo Conte… There used to be a Belgian band called “the Neon Judgement”: I loved them when I was a teenager : their music had this apocalyptic industrial feel.
Voyeurs that love the eerie, the abandoned and the left behind can see all of van Rensbergen’s work at http://www.abandoned-places.com | 
